Andy D's Splendid Tank

[Andy D]

Some progression.

I have the egg crate in place and the plants have been inserted through it. A few days on and the roots are developing.

I have added some clip-on lights from Ikea. The colour of the lights themselves is fairly similar to the walls in an effort to help them blend in and be as unobtrusive as possible. The actual colour temperature though is not to my liking. They are 2700k and I knew I was taking a gamble but they will do for now. Ideally I want something close to the 6500k of the aquabars. All solutions to this gratefully received.

Ramshorns are in and I have a few egg clutches already.

On the main tank I now have the lower light supported by some Arcadia Stretch rim clamps.

Some shots (forgive the tissue background. This is only temporary and is covering up some wiring and plugs etc).

 

[Alastair]

Love the planting either side Andy. The ikea lights do take a little getting used to but after a while the colour doesn't seem so bad.I love them. Great journal mate

 

[Andy D]

Cheers Al!

I am coming round to the temp of the lights....slowly.

 

[Andy D]

Time for an update.

I have had to increase the height of the suspended Aquabar as the Peace Lillie's and Lucky Bamboo were starting to grow beyond it. I have reduced the intensity to try to slow down the growth rate.

Since lowering the second Aquabar the Water Lettuce has grown massive and now individual plants measure about 4-5" across.

Seeing as most of my plants are Anubias it will come as no surprise that not a lot has happened internally.

The spider plants in the cubes are doing well.

Here are a few shots:

 

[allan angus]

great display i love it

 

[Martin in Holland]

Good example of how little light is needed for a good growth.

 

[Andy D]

Today has been 'operation remove as much duckweed as possible whilst understanding this is ultimately a pointless endeavour'!

In fact I got rid of quite a lot of the smaller floating plants although there are still quite a few left. I have also pulled up all of the Lilaeopsis and made two clumps of it and placed it by the stones.

I have now replaced the Ikea lights with Superfish IQ43 LEDs. I am much happier with these.

Peace Lillie's are still growing like mad. I might have to cut them back soon. I've managed to get some half decent pictures today!

 

[rodoselada]

very nice Andy!

 

[aliclarke86]

Wow this has come on since I was last checking in, the peace lilies look great!

 

[Alexander Belchenko]

stunning. Love that jungle corner. Esp. 2 little tanks at sides. Never thought that plant will thrive as water (riparium?) plant. That gives me ideas.

 

[Mr. Teapot]

Brilliant! Very, very nice.

 

[Vinkenoog1977]

Love it!!!

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Andy, Superb little jungle
The new lights are much better. Nice looking too

 

[ian_m]

Superb. Is that a triffid I see growing there ?

 

[kirk]

Brilliant, your fish must love the cover.

 

[sciencefiction]

It's really nice Andy. You've done a great job with the multiple lighting.
Mine grew so big they shadowed all my tank. I've removed 2 separate pots from my big tank because I still haven't got around of getting more light but the way you've done it works best as it obvious from your beautiful tank pictures.

 

[Andy D]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone!

 

[Rob Dahl]

Very nicely done Andy. Looks delightful.

 

[Andy D]

Time for an update.

There have been a few changes since the last update. Not so much with this tank but I bought 3 more tanks from ND Aquatics.

As a result of this the Do Aqua! Cubes have been moved to the front room windowsill. They have had some Anubias added and I'll see how they go. This tank has then been shuffled to the side to make way for another tank. There may be a journal for that at some point.

Anyway, this tank was starting to get dim so this means the water lettuce needs thinning out. I removed 2 plants of this size:

A little while ago the AquaEl Neoheater I love so much stopped working.
I contacted Swell whom I bought it from and I must say the service was excellent. They took it back, tested it and as they did not have the same model to replace it with they refunded my money.
In the meantime I have been using a Superfish heater. Today I went to install my new Rena Smart Heater but the only place I can put it is in the back left corner and the open top of the heater is completed protected from the flow so I am concerned it will cause issues. (I should have thought about that sooner ). I have stuck with the Superfish heater and will look at other alternatives.

A couple of shots of the tank:

Took a photo of the top view and noticed I finally have a proper flower growing (left hand side):

 

[Rob Dahl]

Plants all look extremely healthy Andy.