90cm river bank scape (conquered HC)pic heavy

[Rabb.D]

Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape (brown algae attack)pic h

i have another question, will Amano shrimp uproot my HC in this stage? i think amano shrimps will solve the algae problems now, just wondering if they'll uproot the HC...

 

[Mark Evans]

Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape (brown algae attack)pic h

will Amano shrimp uproot my HC in this stage? i

Everything is possible, but I'd say that it'd be OK. The 'for' far out way the 'against' 8)

 

[Rabb.D]

Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape (brown algae attack)pic h

that makes sense... i guess its part of the learning curve... i'll give it a shot

 

[Rabb.D]

Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape (brown algae gone)pic hea

just a little update before i forget.... added the battalion of oto's on the 21st of January, and guess what the brown algae are all almost gone, just a little but here and there... woohoo.. what a relief now i'm concerned on how to feed the oto's, i'm not a buddhist ... but i still don't like seeing the oto's die, so for any other newbies like me having new tank syndrome or brown algae bloom, oto's do a great job of cleaning up the tank especially if you're worried of introducing amano shrimps in case there's delicate plants like HC... they'll clean it up in days...

i'm guessing there's probably other issues that contributed to the eradication of the brown algae like raising the light fixture, which should have helped a lot... now i need tips on feeding the oto's boiled vegetables seems like the most common answer... and giving back the fish to the LFS will be just as good as flushing it down the drain so its not an option

 

[Rabb.D]

Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape (pennywort)pic heavy

hello, just a little update

it's been quite a while since i updated, mostly because i was hoping i would be able to get a lawn of HC before i made another post... unfortunately, i've given HC a rest for now... mainly because i could not find a more efficient way to diffuse Co2, and with the chiller gone and a fan for replacement... the Co2 now is battling with O2 diffused from the surface by the fan.. so its quite hard to supply enough co2 for HC to grow unless.. i up the bps to over 10bps which makes the tank full of bubbles and really ugly, even though now i'm using ISTA's inline diffuser it's still difficult... so now i opted to using lawy marsh pennywort as my foreground, and also my background, though it hasn't grown in yet...

i decided to give the HC a break as i was also getting a little too frustrated... so I decided to go for something easier and give it another try when i find a more efficient way to diffuse Co2, i didn't want the HC demotivating me... also added some fish namely harlequin rasbora, one of my favorite namely because it comes from this region, and some green neon tetra, because i wanted to add a more subtle color to the green... on another note the fan is keeping the temperature at a quite constant 27.5-27.8 peaking at 27.8 unless i make a water change and the afternoon heat piles up on the temperature... here are some pics

edit: on second thoughts i'm getting lime green on the dropchecker, which i think is indication of sufficient Co2, so will try HC again... the Ista inline diffuser seems to be working

green neon tetra's

Harlequin Rasbora's

here is the Ista Fan... for a single fan and a tank this size its very powerful

here's the temperature about half an hour ago

and here's the obligatory FTS

 

[Rabb.D]

Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape (pennywort)pic heavy

added 2 mini bolbitis... melting a little.. but still quite hopeful it will grow a little picture update...

another pic from my favourite viewing angle where i usually sit and stare when i have the time...

my only plans for the tank now is to add 3 more mini bolbitis at the stump area... to cover that ugly spot.. not too sure if it'll grow yet since my current mini bolbitis has signs of melting... and it's quite costly.. then it's just waiting for the plants to grown in... and see where are the areas where i can make improvements... and play around with the scape and make it look decent... after all has grown in... i have plans later to add a pair of dwarf cichlids... maybe red in colour like the popular agassizi.. just to add some personality to the tank... since this tank is my only tank... i'd rather make this tank last as long as i can... and learn as much as possible aquascaping wise and in the horticulture side... right now i'm thinking maybe another year.... or maybe a year and a half... then maybe the inevitable rescape

 

[Rabb.D]

Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape (pennywort)pic heavy

now i'm using the ista inline diffuser... taiwan made.. seems to work

ork well cost about 58.80

in action

so far so good, but only at lower bubble counts.. right now i have it at 3-4 bps... but any higher the bubbles will come out into the tank... strangely this inline diffuser is also meant to be placed before the canister filter... a little unsure if the Co2 will degrade the filter... but its in the instructions..

 

[BigTom]

Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape (pennywort)pic heavy

Hydroctyle seems to be spreading well, will look great when it all fills in.

 

[Rabb.D]

Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape (pennywort)pic heavy

Hydroctyle seems to be spreading well, will look great when it all fills in.

thanks a lot.. i'm quite happy with the progress of this tank... tried taking as much as possible into consideration... did few months reading before i jumped... no algae.. except some bba and a diatom bloom... so quite successful for my standards scape wise and horticulture wise except when failing with HC

 

[Rabb.D]

Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape (pennywort)pic heavy

just wondering... why are the pictures blurred at above 100kb?

 

[Rabb.D]

Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape (mostly full)pic heavy

helo a little update... the pennywort is almost filled in now, except for the right side, some pics

another angle

progress has been good so far, this tank being the easiest to maintain compared to previous halfhearted attempts... considering the lack of algae except the bba(which is now dying) and besides the HC failure, plants were easy to grow and maintain, i personally attribute this to good research a lot on here and homework for i think 2 months during the collecting and saving phase and also.... obviously down to the choices of easy growing plant... this is the first serious attempt and first succesful attempt(at least up until this point...) in the hobby... also can't forget the permitting father and the much indifferent siblings in the small house... lol

scape wise there's still things i want to do... so obviously very much due to the limiting budget and the idea of a having a longer sustaining high tech planted tank, at the moment i'll be giving it till the end of the year to see what other improvements i can make with the scape... also plan on adding a yellow and pink/red spectrum 39 watt t5ho tube

was actually thinking of adding some HC on the top left of the driftwood to having a hanging and veiling effect on the left side...

also added some new goods to the setup namely an up aqua inline atomizer which works great besides the leaks from the co2 tubes due to the high pressure required to work the atomizer some pics...

just bought this check valve with secure scew nuts to prevent burst and leaks from my previous brass check valve, tied up to make sure the connection of the co2 tube to the regulator is straight, to prevent leaks

 

[faizal]

Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape (mostly full)pic heavy

That is a very nice looking tank . IMHO i think it's better if you should use the black colored co2 tubing,...I think JBL has one. It's a lot better at preventing leaks as compared to the regular silicon tubing,...especially when one's using the UP aqua.

Congratulations

 

[Rabb.D]

Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape (mostly full)pic heavy

That is a very nice looking tank . IMHO i think it's better if you should use the black colored co2 tubing,...I think JBL has one. It's a lot better at preventing leaks as compared to the regular silicon tubing,...especially when one's using the UP aqua.

Congratulations

thanks for the kind words also thanks for the contact... will check out black tubing, i've seen it before, just never really considered it to be any different, until now... but the co2 tubing i'm using now seems to work great its not the softer rubbery type but the harder plastic kind of tube and the up aqua works great...

on the tank... its not actually finished yet... there still so many things i can do, just takes some free time to stare at it and come up with something... on another note it would be great to see your own tank for a change... when do you plan on making a journal?

 

[faizal]

Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape (mostly full)pic heavy

I am the biggest failure to hit UKAPS. But thank you so much for asking.
My tank's picture is neatly tucked away in the low tech forum. It is NOTHING like what you've got going there.

on the tank... its not actually finished yet... there still so many things i can do, just take some free time to stare at it and come up with something...

Okay ,...but your aquascaping skills are so much better than what I've come up with in the past. .

 

[Rabb.D]

Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape (mostly full)pic heavy

Okay ,...but your aquascaping skills are so much better than what I've come up with in the past. .

actually i think the only reason everything went so well was because i had nothing else to do... maybe you're too busy? :idea:

 

[faizal]

Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape (mostly full)pic heavy

...... maybe you're too busy? :idea:

Actually to be quite frank,.... I couldn't come up with anything . Anyways I am looking forward to copy someone else in the near future. Still looking for the woods & hardscapes

 

[Rabb.D]

Re: 90cm river bank scape (foreground experiment)pic heavy

was not too happy with the foreground, the pennywort being strandy and all... so decided to give it a good trim and push the weeds into the ground, but since the roots are still too much of a focul point when looking at the scape from the front i decided to add something that would detract the visuals from the roots and move it higher up the scape, namely in this case 3 pieces of driftwood, placed in the foreground...

was considering to tie Christmas moss on the driftwood, but it might have the opposite effect of what i was looking for, and instead make the driftwood just blend into the foreground, the driftwood on the right is still floating, the reason for the stone...

other considerations i might add is Blyxa japonica and saggitaria subulata, to reinforce that more tropical and less manicured look, without it being a jungle...

 

[Rabb.D]

Re: 90cm river bank scape (foreground experiment)pic heavy

so a little update... added some anubias nana petite mini in the midground... here are some pics... just to give a better transition from foreground, midground and to the back... eeh getting somewhat philosophical now.. hehehe

although i'm still can't figure out where to put, Blyxa japonica and saggitaria subulata in the mid ground... still looking for a good spot... will take a few days of staring at the tank which i haven't done lately... but will go about doing when i have time... fun stuff, fun stuff...

 

[Antipofish]

Re: 90cm river bank scape (foreground experiment)pic heavy

Super pics. Would love to see the enlargements of them and really get inside that tank. Its a cracking scape.

 

[Rabb.D]

Re: 90cm river bank scape (foreground experiment)pic heavy

Super pics. Would love to see the enlargements of them and really get inside that tank. Its a cracking scape.

oh wow thanks a lot... will definitely get some good close ups... haven't even tried that part of photography yet will give it a shot hehe