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Andyh's 60L kitchen tank

George Farmer said:
Nice one, Andy. A real family of fishkeepers!

That's a very impressive first 'scape. Better than my first effort and most guys on here!

Camera sounds cool. What's wrong with the fish photos? Blurred? Noisy?

PFK did have a break from the planted scene but it's back on now... ;) The last three or four issues have features UKAPS members' tanks! I have some planted/aquascaping articles in the pipeline too.


Yes very true we are family of fishkeepers, it does get a little obsessive at times! I think my wife thinks i am mad :crazy: You have mentioned that you have a marine tank before in you posts so this may interest you, My brother just got a Fu Manchu Lionfish (Dendrochirus biocellatus) I took this pic with my phone at the weekend, but it is so cool and stays v.small and has the most amazing eyes.
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Ref the Fish photos i struggle to "freeze the fish", I always get some sort of motion blur. I am limited as i don't have an external flash and i am reliant on the lighting from my tank. However i do turn all 4 t5's tubes on at the point.

I just don't seem to have nailed the technique yet.

I am a PFK subscriber and always will be, glad to hear that planted tanks are still going to feature. I particularity enjoyed the article on Tonser's Tank. :thumbup: UKAPS baby!
 
Hi Andy,

The scape is looking awesome mate, you must be well chuffed :thumbup:

just a quick one if you don't mind.

I'm five weeks into my set up (Serenity Peak Journal) and everything is going great apart from irritating surface scum.
I'm going to start dosing the Brighty step 1 soon, so hopefully this will help and I think I need to add a Koreli wave maker like yours. My filter is rated at 700 lph so I think it will benefit from more circulation.

What size is yours and what is the best position to have it?

Thanks in advance

Mark
 
LondonDragon said:
Looking great Andy, love those red cherry, very deep red indeed, where did you get them?

Are you pulling my leg!

Half of them are yours!I bought 20 from you, mixed them with some super reds and this is the result lots of super reds! :thumbup: :lol:

By the way are you selling any cherries at the moment as I wouldn't mind some more fresh bloodline for my other tank :D
 
myboyshay said:
Hi Andy,

The scape is looking awesome mate, you must be well chuffed :thumbup:

just a quick one if you don't mind.

I'm five weeks into my set up (Serenity Peak Journal) and everything is going great apart from irritating surface scum.
I'm going to start dosing the Brighty step 1 soon, so hopefully this will help and I think I need to add a Koreli wave maker like yours. My filter is rated at 700 lph so I think it will benefit from more circulation.

What size is yours and what is the best position to have it?

Thanks in advance

Mark

The surface sum is easily broken up if you agitate the surface, with your tank just lift your lily pipe up to the surface (just to cause some surface disruption. Its quite common for people to lift them over night. To allow surface scum to broken up. I have a eheim external rated at 750l p/h (so its prob doing 500lph with media etc in it.) i Also have a Hydor Koralia Nano powerhead doing 900l/ph. Excellent bit of kit. Ref circulation that is really dependant on your tank etc.
I found this thread only this morning and found it a great read its all about flow in the tank.
http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1167



One thing i wish i had done was started dosing the Step 1 slightly earlier, I started at approx 6 weeks. When you do start, start with small doses and build up over a couple of weeks to the correct dose. :thumbup:

Your tank is looking great by the way and have to confess i borrowed your toothbrush dipped in easycarbo idea for getting algae off the rocks. :clap:
 
andyh said:
Are you pulling my leg!
Half of them are yours!I bought 20 from you, mixed them with some super reds and this is the result lots of super reds! :thumbup: :lol:
By the way are you selling any cherries at the moment as I wouldn't mind some more fresh bloodline for my other tank :D
Haha nice to see they turned out nicely, you have a better selection than I do now haha I will buy some of you instead :p
I kept selling all the nice ones and now I am left with crap LOL
 
LondonDragon said:
andyh said:
Are you pulling my leg!
Half of them are yours!I bought 20 from you, mixed them with some super reds and this is the result lots of super reds! :thumbup: :lol:
By the way are you selling any cherries at the moment as I wouldn't mind some more fresh bloodline for my other tank :D
Haha nice to see they turned out nicely, you have a better selection than I do now haha I will buy some of you instead :p
I kept selling all the nice ones and now I am left with crap LOL

I added your 25 to about 30-40 and i have produced some average ones, but luckily a large amount are this red.
 
Your tank us looking great--very natural.

What is the fish with the black dorsal fin spot?
 
hydrophyte said:
Your tank us looking great--very natural.

What is the fish with the black dorsal fin spot?


hello Hydrophyte,

I think you mean the Boraras Maculatus. as in the last issue of PFK
is this the one you mean?

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Yes, that's the one. What a wonderful fish.

I think I might have seen a link to that article in Practical Fishkeeping. I wish that we could get the hard copy of that magazine here in the states more easily. It is top notch.
 
Hi Andy,

Love the tank, my small nano will be going in my Kitchen as an experiment as my first time with a planted tank. Hoping to take a bit on inspiration from yours. :D
 
wbaguesty said:
Hi Andy,

Love the tank, my small nano will be going in my Kitchen as an experiment as my first time with a planted tank. Hoping to take a bit on inspiration from yours. :D

Its a great place to have a tank in some respects because you get too see it so much! Good luck with the scape, make sure you get some pics up on here.
 
I will do mate, it wont be a patch on yours.

Its the mostly used room in our house. Il be starting this tank with an older tank I have but looking to get a nice new tank from Aquariums Ltd after a few months.

Just been ordering some stuff todey like substrate etc, ferts.

Will start a Journal off next week probably.
 
10 weeks old, and the dark nights are here...

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Crystal Red shrimp:
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Shoal of Emerald Eye, and the Hydrocotle
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The tank is starting to look very mature now. Some of the faster growing plants are taking over a little especially the Echinodorus Tenellus (looks like Hair Grass) is growing like wildfire. The Rotala Rotundifolia is also getting a little dense, so i have decided to have a big prune.

My goal was to try and uncover some of the slower growing plants and to stop the Tenellus growing everywhere and it keep it confined to a couple of key areas.

Before the trim, lots of Tenellus growing in the middle, which was smothering the Hydrocotyle Verticillata & the Staurogyne sp. :

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After the trim, found loads of dead leaves and damaged Staurogyne which wasn't getting enough light. But to my surprise found lost of healthy shoots. I want the middle to be mostly Staurogyne so i have removed all the Tenellus as there was loads. I also cut the Rotala right back as it was very dense, it does look a little harsh but this grows very quickly in my tank.

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As you can now see there is lots of Staurogyne shoots which have now been uncovered, ideally i want these to completely cover the middle section.

I did also find a fair amount of staghorn algae which i thought i had eradicated on the yellowing and shaded leaves they have all been removed.(Although to be fair there wasn't too much of it.) I also completed a large water change.

Also, on the last 2 pictures, have you seen the size of the Hydrocotyle at the back, they have grown v.quick and are far bigger than any of the others! Looks great though and very healthy

Is there an additive/fert you can dose the tank with to help the plants recover after the pruning? Do i need it?

Thanks for looking

Andyh
 
Great tank, I've followed this journal from the beginning and it almost makes me want to move to Derby (almost!).

Excellent pictures
 
andyh said:
Is there an additive/fert you can dose the tank with to help the plants recover after the pruning? Do i need it? :?: o_O
Whether you need it or not is debatable andy but I think ViktorLantos has talked on here about using one of the ADA products after a prune, i think it may have been green gain?? As youve gone ful ADA it may be something you could look at.

From the pics above id say this has to be my fav tank on ukaps at the moment. the way youve grown it in looks so natural, well done mate :D
 
Simon D said:
Great tank, I've followed this journal from the beginning and it almost makes me want to move to Derby (almost!).

Excellent pictures

Simon, thanks for comments not sure that its worth moving house for :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: But thanks for your comments :thumbup:

stuworrall said:
andyh said:
Is there an additive/fert you can dose the tank with to help the plants recover after the pruning? Do i need it? :?: o_O
Whether you need it or not is debatable andy but I think ViktorLantos has talked on here about using one of the ADA products after a prune, i think it may have been green gain?? As youve gone ful ADA it may be something you could look at.

From the pics above id say this has to be my fav tank on ukaps at the moment. the way youve grown it in looks so natural, well done mate :D

Stu, Thanks for the info i will pm viktor to see if its green gain? I am loving the ADA products.

Thanks for your comments, i am really pleased with the tank and i am learning so much. Still got a few parts of the tank i want to look slightly different but i am nearly there. I am just planning my next tank a 35l. I wanna do something completely different. :crazy:
 
Hi Andy,

It's getting better and better every pic, well done mate :thumbup:

It is ADA Green Gain which helps strengthen the plants after trimming.

Looking forward to your next project.

Mark
 
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