Aquascaper 600 - Fry

[alto]

Awesome post series

I really enjoyed your frustrations report - I have plants sitting waiting (degrading ) while I try to sort out something not completely awful in my 60P
Everything came back out again last night

 

[alto]

Well, suddenly I notice one of the Paros looking disapproving at me from inside the new tank

Funny how much fish can convey when they lack eyebrows

 

[alto]

I forgot to say how much I like your scape at the end!

Got a bit worried over the wide expanse of sand
- until the aqua botanicals went in

This was my downfall actually - trying to make that sand/stone/soil transition not look totally crap

 

[alto]

Just saw this new section at Tannin Aquatics

Studio Tannin

Andrea Freel has still done my favouritist Aqua Botanical scape (clearwater)

 

[Fiske]

Thanks for the likes guys (and gals). It means a lot.

I forgot to say how much I like your scape at the end!

Got a bit worried over the wide expanse of sand
- until the aqua botanicals went in

For a looong time I thought I was going for a more south american morichal look. Then I noticed I had 2 tanks full of crypts

They are twigs, nuts and leaves. No one is going to notice it's the wrong continent.

Just saw this new section at Tannin Aquatics

Studio Tannin

Andrea Freel has still done my favouritist Aqua Botanical scape (clearwater)

I'm an unashamed Tannin Aquatics fan. I'll check it out.

 

[DutchMuch]

agree with tim!

 

[Jayefc1]

Looks great and a very funny look in to the life of an aquascaper and what it can drive us too we have all been the there

Good luck

 

[Fiske]

Tank receives a fair deal of ambient light.

Partly in response to that, and my general impression of the Twinstar light, I have further reduced light intensity. Down from 30% to 20%, there is still plenty of light. 1 hour ramp up, 5 hours at 20%, and a 2 hour ramp down. This unit puts out metric tons of light!

Waterchange 40-50% every 2-3 days.

Bit on the fence with ferts though. On one hand plants haven't been fed for a while in the previous tanks, on the other (correct me if I'm wrong) most of my plants are rootfeeders, and had roots trimmed on replanting. So ferts wouldn't be of much use at this point?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

on the other (correct me if I'm wrong) most of my plants are rootfeeders, and had roots trimmed on replanting. So ferts wouldn't be of much use at this point?

All plants can take in nutrients throught their leaves, so root feeders isn't a particularly useful term.

Because you have some Frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum), and emergent Myriophyllum, you could use either of those as a visual indictor of nutrient status, via the <"Duckweed Index">.

You will only get the quicker growth advantages of using CO2 if nutrients are available.

cheers Darrel

 

[Luciën]

Your thank looks great in sunlight!

 

[Marc Davis]

Tank receives a fair deal of ambient light.

Partly in response to that, and my general impression of the Twinstar light, I have further reduced light intensity. Down from 30% to 20%, there is still plenty of light. 1 hour ramp up, 5 hours at 20%, and a 2 hour ramp down. This unit puts out metric tons of light!

Waterchange 40-50% every 2-3 days.

Bit on the fence with ferts though. On one hand plants haven't been fed for a while in the previous tanks, on the other (correct me if I'm wrong) most of my plants are rootfeeders, and had roots trimmed on replanting. So ferts wouldn't be of much use at this point?

The low levels of light are making the scape look so authentic in my opinion. Really well done.

 

[Fiske]

Hi all, All plants can take in nutrients throught their leaves, so root feeders isn't a particularly useful term.

Because you have some Frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum), and emergent Myriophyllum, you could use either of those as a visual indictor of nutrient status, via the <"Duckweed Index">.

You will only get the quicker growth advantages of using CO2 if nutrients are available.

cheers Darrel

I was fairly sure you could correct me on that. Duly noted. Thanks

Currently dosing 1/2 dose EI, but was a bit on the fence with that. I will continue, and keep an eye on plants on when to up it.

The low levels of light are making the scape look so authentic in my opinion. Really well done.

Thanks. That picture is in sunlight only. I really like it too! Favorite spot for a bit of coffee before work. Hopefully it won't prove too problematic. (the sunlight, not the coffee)

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Currently dosing 1/2 dose EI

I'd keep going with that, and see what happens.

looks great in sunlight!

Certainly does, when I used to have Black Neon Tetras their tank used to get the morning sunlight at ~07:00 around about the equinoxes when I'd just got up, and they would be in the sunlit corner sparring, lit up like little jewels. You won't have known they were the same species as dowdy fish that you saw in the shops.

At other times of the year they didn't get the sunlight on the tank and it didn't happen.

cheers Darrel

 

[Fiske]

Hi all,I'd keep going with that, and see what happens.

Will do.

Certainly does, when I used to have Black Neon Tetras their tank used to get the morning sunlight at ~07:00 around about the equinoxes when I'd just got up, and they would be in the sunlit corner sparring, lit up like little jewels. You won't have known they were the same species as dowdy fish that you saw in the shops.

At other times of the year they didn't get the sunlight on the tank and it didn't happen.

cheers Darrel

Never owned a fish that didn't like a spot of sunlight (not entirely true, I had a couple of cavefish as a kid/teen that probably never saw the sun , also Pangio sp. and Hara jerdoni and similar couldn't care less -- but you get my drift).

Added a few Cyperus helferi to the area between the C. crispatula -- really helped fill that area out and add a bit of colour. Hope it will fill out nicely. Got a few new Bucephelandras too: "Bukit Kelam/Sintang" and "Lamandau Purple"; also from Aquasabi (do I need to plug these guys here? Quality stuff). Spent some quality time with those and superglue during what ended up being a ~70% waterchange. I had some Riccardia moss surviving on a bit of mesh for a LOOONG while -- ripped it off and glued it to some of the uppermost wood... Not expecting much, but we'll see.

Obligatory crappy phone pics right after my messing about, will add better later (lights not this high usually, just turned on the emergency light for the shot):

 

[Fiske]

So, yeah, a small 2nd week update:

Everything is chugging along nicely, am about to do the first clean on the Oase 600 prefilter... I've been putting it off for a while since I really need to restructure the inside of the cabinet first. If your cabinet feels to roomy, stuff a big freaking external filter in there, problem solved. It's a mess really:

All the electric stuff needs to go on the right hand side. Looking out for a magnet for my tools. Might need someting for plant/fish food too, not sure what to do here yet...

Lots of growth happening, C. crispatula making new leaves, prompting me to remove some more of the old leaves that had a bit of algae on them.

Aponogeton finally taking off! I'm chuffed! These are plants I for some reason don't see too often (no idea why -- they are exceptional IMHO). Aquasabi was out of stock (usually are), but I signed up to an email alert, and got one after a while. I picked up 2 bulbs ASAP and dumped them in my 45P. This was some 6 months ago. And they were not pleased. They didn't grow much, and one lost all leaves, probably didn't like being under a blanket of java moss... The other stopped growing, produced a plantlet on a stalk, and grinded to a halt. Now new leaves are shooting on all three bulbs and the largest are doing some serious rooting. Can't wait for these to fill in!

Two old bulbs on the right, new one to the left, all with new shoots.

The guys are in:

His brother from another mother:

It was the plan all along to get some Otos. The habrosus kind of dropped into the bag because I liked them a lot. Still do. Their size is perfect for the sense of scale I want to achieve.
LFS guy was feeling generous so I got one more of each species; total tally 7 otos, 13 cories.
Seven Otos are a bit overkill, but I hope they will fit in nicely. Not seeing yuge amounts of schooling from either, Otos go around on their own mostly, the cories in groups of 2-6.
I'm not going for more fish for the foreseeable future, tank is plenty busy now.

Feeding frenzy at the OK Corral:

Ending up on the obligatory FTS:

There's some stuff happening along the road after this pic, more on that later.

 

[Hendre]

Wow! Just read through this and I must say it's absolutely awesome! It's clean and green. Honestly, this tank is a keeper

 

[Fiske]

Thanks for the likes, guys.

Full disclosure: I have plenty of algae. And things might still tilt the wrong way. Although passing the 2 week line now, at least massive crypt melt seems to have been avoided.

Bonus:

Chilling with a tab at Catfish Corner:

 

[Fiske]

Cleaned the prefilter on the Oase today, after sorting my cabinet. Much needed, I might skip using the prefilter in the future if I need to clean it every week. Cabinet is still messy, but way better than before. Got the electrics lifted of the floor, and mostly separated from the watery parts (don't look to closely, kthanx, I am contemplating a solution that will fix it proper). Still a bit WIP.

I have to haul the Oase all the way out of the cabinet to empty it. Coming from Eheim, I was a bit amazed I had to prime the filter to get it going again, even though I didn't empty it. Not sure how keen I am on that. It seems to trap air very easily, and have a hard time getting rid of it again. So quite a bit of farting from the spraybar. Tilting it helps, but this thing weigh 10-12 kilo with water, and it all seems a bit precarious. I can just see it slipping and ripping a hose loose.

There's some stuff happening along the road after this pic, more on that later.

Yeah this. So the java fern in the middle was just stuffed in. Fairly big piece, and not being fastened it tilted a bit unto the crypts. I took it out, made 2-3 smaller pieces and tried to stuff them in better. Seems to work so far, hopefully they will root good.
Not to happy about the right side of the tank at all. The Aponogetons are placed a bit too close to each other, and that will be changed once I see some decent growth on them. The crypts in front are currently transitioning from the old leaves to some new ones that seem to be a bit smaller and lower, hopefully. If not, I might lose them altogether... Good thing I planned for this tank to be able to have removing plants and replanting a less messy deal than my former tanks. The undergravel Tropica Substrate works great, but remove plants, and everything is a muddy puddle for days, and then your filter is a mess.

Shot a crappy vid, but the LEDs were dimmed so it is stripey. Should be avoidable by running lights at full tilt death star level, so noted for the future:

 

[Hendre]

The colour in those cherry Shrimp is insane!

 

[Fiske]

The colour in those cherry Shrimp is insane!

They are a mix of garden variety cherries and some Fire Reds Sakura Red. They also get lot of catfish tabs and stuff, plus the Twinstar light makes some good work towards making reds POP. So a combination of factors, really. But yeah, they do light up the joint.
Did a 40-50 % wc today and got to see a huge school of otos and cories going around all the cories were like "Hey, let's follow the big guys"! No time to shoot a vid, alas.