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Corner Tanks..... a nightmare to scape?

mzm

mzm

Member
Joined
4 Feb 2010
Messages
160
Location
Malta
Here are some photos of my tank as it looks today.

On my way to a perfect scape, I have invested heavily in equipment, LED lights fixures, pressurised CO2 etc. without, in my opinion, getting the desired results. I have tried many a different setup, usiing bog wood as now one time and using moor wood another. I just dont seem to get the lush and beautifull growth some of you guys manage to get on here and whilst there could be hundreds of factors leading to this, I am at a loss as to why my scapes dont succeed.

Being a corner tank does probably pose challenges and I would be delighted to read some comments from corner tank owners who have managed to create a great scape in such tanks.

Here are some pics. Apologies about the quality since I am using my iphone to take these pics:

This is the left side of the tank. The bubbles you see is co2.

img0021qg.jpg


This is the right side of the tank. Again a lot of co2 bubbles....

img0020cu.jpg


Close up of the CO2 for all those who think that I may not have enough flow.....

img0019fe.jpg


img0018ku.jpg


Full tank shot from the side. Not happy with this setup at all and really look forward to recomendations and suggestions:

img0017d.jpg


I have not been able to grow HC and most plants successfully in this tank..... Most hard plant types dont grow either which I find frustrating considering that light, ferts, flow, filtration seem to be in check (I even invested in a chiller to keep the temperature at a constant).

Look forward to your comments!

Regards,
Michael
 
Hi,

Corner tanks are very tricky! I have an Aqua one 180l and I have only just got this right after almost 6 months of battles - I have found the best configuration for mine is a spray-bar down the whole left side with a koralia mounted just below (at the front) and slightly pointing downwards to help aid the flow a little more.

I see you are using 'CO2 injection with monitor & controller'? I also have one of these but have it set to only cut off CO2 at Ph6, more as a safety measure for the fish. Are you using yours as the manual states? if so, you maybe getting CO2 fluctuations, CO2 needs to be always at a steady generous amount.

Your life-stock look very nice, I have Bosemani rainbow in mine... they look fab amongst the lush green.

P1000548.jpg
 
Hi Viper thank you for your post.

I have done exactly the same. A spraybar pointing down on the left with a power head underneath it to distribute co2 throughout the tank. The co2 monitor is as in your case just to cut of at PH6. Controller is on two hours before lights on and off one hour before lights off.

The bosemanis are great and make a nice addition of colour to the tank.The angels are supposed to be Altums (this is how they were sold to me) however they are turning out not to be so I am currently in a bit of a dispute over those and should get these replaced by real Altums......
 
Hi Viper just saw the pic now (took some time to load lol).

Is that Tenellus in the front?
 
mzm said:
Hi Viper just saw the pic now (took some time to load lol).

Is that Tenellus in the front?
Click to expand...

Yes it is, added the pic as an edit ;)

Michael, have you seen Ian's tank? his seems to be going great guns!
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15058
 
Great job with the Tenellus Gary!

Wow Ian must be doing it all right in his tank! Have to read to his journal and see whether I can find a magic formula in there!! :)
 
Thanks, it can be done but like you say it's just finding that magic formula! I think that all corner tanks are totally different though and dependent on what is in the way of flow, wood/plants/rock - I ended up trying all-sorts of configurations to get the flow right, I'd move things around and watch what improvements happened over a couple of weeks and just keep tweaking it... having said that I also made adjustments that made it worse sometimes!

Keep at it and you will master it... May the Force be with you!!! :p
 
....if only I were a Jedi :) would make it so much easier!
 
Thanks.

Seems like there are not a lot of people with corner tanks or comments on here......

My next tank will probably not be a corner tank either althought the space it is currently situated in is ideal.
 
That's the good thing about a corner is that it doesn't take up a lot of room. Scaping a corner isn't as difficult as people would think. The hard part is getting the flow right in the tank.

here's a few of my past journals and present, there are some helpful comments that helped me along.

the newest scape (bare with it, i finally get the wood right!)
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=16918

again bare with it as it grows in
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=16204

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15058
 
The hardest thing i found with my corner tank after getting the flow right was getting the light to penetrate to the substrate (and i`m talking t8`s here, not sure if its the same for t5`s) and getting a good spread of light , i ended up fitting an extra 3 t8 tubes to my trigon about 6 weeks ago , and the difference its made is unbelivable , and i shall be purchasing a t5 luminaire in the next month or so.

As far as flow , i`ve ended up witht he same config as viper regarding spray bar/koralia, but i also have an additional 1000lph powerhead that i`ve done a needle wheel mod on to distribute my co2 (which alone doubled the rate of growth )

I notice in your full tank shot that the center front of the tank seems to almost be under a spotlight ? and reading your specs it seems you have nuclear level`s of light , but im not familiar with LED`s , i belive ianho just uses 2 t`5s

As far as scaping it goes , im still a novice myself and not really all that artistic , so im still struggling but i`m gonna stick with it for another year or 2 and try and make it work . then when i convince the wife that a nice ADA tank is a good idea it should be easy to get a good scape in a standard tank :p
 
Agree, Gaz...because the Trigon, Aquaones are tall tanks it is more difficult with the light. However, i'm a big believer in not adding more light. Again, it's more important to get the flow and distribution right. Yes, i use 2x T5HO on the tank and managed to carpet the tank with HC within 6 weeks.
week 1
top.jpg

week 6
morehc7.jpg


so, it can be done, under T5 lighting in a Trigon. I just wished i taken pics of the flow in the tank at that point. I was using a spraybar and 1 Koralia nano 1600lph. The spaybar on the back wall and the Koralia pointing down at the HC. At the moment i'm using a Hydor outlet that comes with their filters and the nano Koralia. The have been moved around a little, but flow is still good, this is because certain stems were struggling with the high current. I will try and get some pics up on paint later (if i get chance), to show the ways I have distributed flow successfully around a corner tank.

Again, i'm with Gaz, it's more important IMO to learn to grow plants first, and the scaping comes afterwards.
 
Thanks for everyones input! Some nice scapes you are managing to create in your Trigon. I have tried to grow Hc and failes miserably and as you guys say, its the flow which probably makes the difference since I seem to be pretty well covered with light.

Really looking forward to your pics on flow.
 
Hi Steve, many thanks for posting that link. Its amazing what you managed to do with that tank!

Regards.
Michael
 
Hi Michael, you know what I can't help admitting it but yes I was rather proud of it in the end. The trouble is they don't stay that way for as long as I would like. Unfortunately they outgrow themselves and after several hard prunings they eventually form into something completely different.

Its a hard job working with or against nature!!

Cheers,

Steve.
 
HELLO my fellow corner tank owner :)

In answer to the post title. YES!!!!

This is why mine is on its last few months before taking it down. Feel free to browse through some of the scape types i tried over the years in the journal link in my sig.

Best Regards,
John

p.s. Here is sneak preview of the current version (last before breakdown).

tank-1.jpg
 
Hi John, thanks for your post. So when you say that you are taking it down does that mean you are going to start over again with it or are you getting a different shaped tank?

Regards,
Michael
 
mzm said:
Hi John, thanks for your post. So when you say that you are taking it down does that mean you are going to start over again with it or are you getting a different shaped tank?

Regards,
Michael
Click to expand...

I'm moving to a rectangular tank of about the same volume. I've gone as far as I want/can with the corner. Overcoming problem after problem caused by the design. But others you can't get past, like the inability to easily clean the back corner without removing all the lid and stand on a chair, correct flow without additional pumps.

I'll try and sell the tank on.

Best Regards,
John

p.s my new journal is starting in that section currently.
 
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