Welcome to Ukaps!
Im looking forward to following your journal 😊
I hope you wont mind a few comments from me as I was reading your post, I only mean well
3. To achieve a full cycle with my filter.
This point stood out to me, "I wonder what he means by this? This almost sounds like something the Pondguru would say"
I have opted for an All Pond Solutions Hang on the Back 500 filter Filled as per the Pimp my filter man.
All pond solutions 500 Hang on Back filter with Biohome filter media …
Oh, yep, there it is.
His filter setup guides are alright, but quite a few of us on this forum have taken issue with his quite frankly
total lack of understanding how
plants work when it comes to nitrogen.
Please note: Tanks with heavy stock and feeding (e.g. cichlid, goldfish, predator or fry tanks) and marine tanks may require 1.5kg - 2kg per 100 litres to achieve the full cycle filtration which will result in the reduction of nitrates. Do not worry about plant growth being affected in a tank which reads zero nitrates - the nitrate is processed into soluble nitrogen which is easily used by plants, boosting their growth.
This is just wrong and shows how little he knows about plants. Plants can only take up bound nitrogen, not the gas he claims his media will produce.
We have
several threads on the forum about the differences in biomedia, if you are interested in reading more. I wont get into a tirade about his claims of
a full cycle and insinuating that his media is
the only media on the market that will allow you to unlock this magical full potential, as it would turn into a very long rant, and because we as planted tank keepers use plants to remove nitrates so efficiently that we must continually add nitrate back into the tank through fertilizer as otherwise our plants would starve.
The TLDR is that it doesnt matter what media you use, almost all of us have been through this process of buying expensive biomedia, figuring out it doesnt make a lick of difference, and come out the other side to the liberating truth that you can use whatever you want and it will do a perfectly good job.
The good news is that the biohome media you have got is perfectly fine and you can continue to use this. If you need more filter media in the future you can look at cheaper options and use the saved money to buy more plants, which is much better and more fun to spend money on.
I have been working on a hood for my setup to match my other walnut furniture.
it is not finished yet but I think it looks quite good … It will stop the fish jumping out and hide away the plumbing. Any thoughts appreciated.
View attachment 191516
I really like the look of this hood, I wouldnt mind seeing more details of it if you have pictures? Im looking to make something similar in the future 😃
Are you planning to keep the light exposed? A lot of aquascaper lights are not rated waterproof enough to be used under a closed hood, so this might be wise.
I am working my way to achieve the 25 posts and my next query is, after my tank is cycled, how should I start the lighting sequence. I can programme my Twinstar with this little controller but for how long and should I gradually increase the %.
Start at 6-8 hours of light, 6 if youre the patient kind that doesnt like anything to go wrong, and 8 if you just want things to get going asap. We are all different
Limit your ramp to 30 minutes to ramp up and 30 minutes to ramp down. Extended periods of low light benefits mainly algae and not plants. You can add these 30+30 minutes on top of your other hours.
You would be wise not to run your light at 100%, this is a very common mistake. Im not personally familiar with this light but im sure the others will chime in with a suitable startup percentage for Twinstar. As your tank gets settled and your plants grow, you will be able to slowly increase the percentage