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Dan's "Dagobah"

Re: 60/30 first attempt "Dagobah"

LondonDragon said:
Its looking great now, a lot more filled in, the helferi as grown lots and your HC is spreading a little too. congrats :)

Cheers LD, I appreciate the comments :D

SteveUK said:
Aww, pics are down :(

Pics back up and running smooth!

Here's a pic of my only red nose shrimp... I actually got him free with the 7 cherry shrimp that I purchased. Un-fortunately he has disappeared :( The only explanation I have is that he jumped out the tank!??! Has anyone else experienced any shrimp jumping ship?
P1020303-1-1.jpg
 
Never had shrimps jump ship. But, have had them dissapear (aka hide) and them miraculously reappear months later!

Your tank looks great. The force is definitely with you :D
 
a1Matt said:
Never had shrimps jump ship. But, have had them dissapear (aka hide) and them miraculously reappear months later!

Your tank looks great. The force is definitely with you :D


Cheers Matt, ive looked everywhere for him but he's awol! He (or she!?) used to just drift around in the flow nose down and was usually always visable.. It makes me wonder if the cherries are bullying as the red nose is on its own!?

Get off my land! :lol:
P1020292.jpg
 
Hi Dan

I have had the same experience as Matt has, regarding disappearing shrimp. Sometimes, particularly if they are on their own, they get timid and hide a lot. Other times they go into hiding to shed their skin. I have a shrimp (I've still to identify what species it is!) that came in as an imposter with a bunch of amanos. He only appears every two or three weeks! So there is hope for your red nose! Perhaps if you add some more, he may come reappear (safety in numbers an all that!).

On the downside, I have had experience of escaping shrimp. Amanos have a tendancy to 'bug out' when introduced to a new tank, particularly when there is a change in water parameters. I lost four that way before twigging that they were climbing out on the spraybar pipes. I'm not sure whether red nosed shrimp share this curious habit!

Cheers

Allen
 
Brief update..

2 weeks on and things seem to be growing in nicely. The Cherries and Otto's are doing ok and I have just introduced 6 Serpae Tetra's to the tank. They seem happy enough but do seem to hide alot!? Could this be that the 2 T5's are too much for them as I did read that they like a bit of shade.. ?

I've upped Easycarbo from 1ml to 2ml daily and the HC seems to appreciate it as new shoots are popping up all over the place. The P.Helfiri is thriving and really starting to fill in now with new plantlets appearing all the time which upon spotting them I am re-planting. The Micranthemum Umbrosum is getting a grip now and starting to spread but some of the leaves do seem to be turning slightly yellow. I wonder if this could be a sign that the tank requires more nutirents to be added? I currently dose 1ml of TPN+ on a daily basis and am considering upping this to 2ml daily. Any advice here would be reassuring!? I dont want to poison my inhabitants!

Here is a quick (phone) pic for now..
photo.jpg


It's maintenance night tonight which I'm actually looking forward to as I have new scissors! (geek! :lol: )

Cheers for loooking!

Dan
 
LondonDragon said:
WOW looking great Dan :) I also like those red nose shrimp, never seem them on sale anywhere locally! congrats :)

I've seen them in Wholsesale Tropicals (was about a year ago that I was last in there mind) . They were about £3 each.

Nice tank, I really like the mass of hygro. in the back right corner. It's a favourite stem of mine :)
 
It's looking great, nice one! How are you finding the Hemianthus Callitrichoides under these conditions?
 
Dan Crawford said:
Thats looking REALLY smart mate 8)

Im flattered, it makes it all worth while! Before I found UKAPS i was keeping gold fish and plastic plants, so thanks!

LondonDragon said:
WOW looking great Dan :) I also like those red nose shrimp, never seem them on sale anywhere locally! congrats :)

Cheers LD, It's getting there! Yeah I like the red nose shrimp too.. He's gone missing though :( I've not seen him for weeks! They have plenty at MA Southampton by the way..


a1Matt said:
Nice tank, I really like the mass of hygro. in the back right corner. It's a favourite stem of mine :)

Thanks Matt, The Hygro is doing really well and constantly spreading, also a fav of mine. Nice and easy to grow too! ;)

rawr said:
It's looking great, nice one! How are you finding the Hemianthus Callitrichoides under these conditions? !

The HC has been tricky to be honest and the hardest plant in the tank to get going. It's finally started to take off and spread slightly. I've been spot dosing the easy carbo with a syringe every other day.. whether this has any effect i dont know!

JamesM said:
Very nice :)

That filter has to go though ;)

Dont worry I have one on route as we speak! That means more plants to fill the space where the internal is now..gutted! ;)

Anyone got any suggestions on what plant to fill the space :?:

Cheers

Dan
 
Dan Walter said:
Anyone got any suggestions on what plant to fill the space :?:

I'd extend the Rotala across to fill the gap. Trim and replant the tops a few times to get it dense. Then trim it into a shape (I am thinking of an rainbow shaped arc if that makes sense).

Having a dense mass of it will complement the mass of hygro nicely and give you a nice strong background IMO

Then if you don't like it you will have enough cuttings to swap for something else on this forum ;)

Someone else may have a vision of an extra plant that will mix nicely though....
 
Hi dan,just read this from start to date,I think you have made a nice start especially as it's your first go,well done
Regards john.
 
a1Matt said:
I'd extend the Rotala across to fill the gap. Trim and replant the tops a few times to get it dense. Then trim it into a shape (I am thinking of an rainbow shaped arc if that makes sense).

I was thinking along a similar line Matt but thought I would have to buy another Rotala to fill the empty space where the internal is now.. I didnt realise i could just trim and replant to make it more dense. Nice one for that ;)
There's a Ceratopteris thalictroides residing in front of the Rotalas which is really starting to spread nicely and i've recently purchased a small Rotala Wallichii, both of which should help fill out that corner a bit once the internal is removed.. Speaking of which I now have a Fluval 204 :D so this weekend should be a good one!

john starkey said:
Hi dan,just read this from start to date,I think you have made a nice start especially as it's your first go,well done
Regards john.

Thanks John, I really appreciate your comments. It's a massive learning curve for me which becomes more enjoyable the further it develops and grows.

Cheers

Dan
 
Small update.

HARDWARE:
I've added a Fluval 204 external filter which tidy's the tank up considerably :). The clarity of the water has greatly improved when compared to the internal. I imagined that the flow would increase dramatically but it doesnt seem all that much different to the flow of the internal. I'm currently running the standard outlet attachement but am considering using the spray bar that i have. Would using the spray bar help with flow in a tank my size (60x30x30cm) ?

PLANTS:
I've had a major trim of most plants in the tank. The Hygro's were out of control and creeping about the tank and popping up all over the place so i've given them a major haircut and re-planted the stems st the bank of the tank. I also trimmed all the Rotala rotundifolia and replanted the stems around where the old internal was. The Rotala Wallichii has now been planted in front of the rotundifolia with the thought that this will help make the corner nice and dense. The mosses have had a hair cut as has the PG as that was looking a mess. The HC is spreading :) but still very very slowly :( .

NUTRIENTS:
I'm still using the easycarbo at 2ml per day and have upped the TPN+ to 2ml per day also.

INHABITANTS:
The Serpae's just seem to chase each other around then hide in the undergrowth. They seem to love it when the lights are off and sit in the upper levels at this time.
All of my shrimp went missing for about 2 weeks then i spotted them huddled in a cave.. I then saw one carrying eggs and another nursing a very young new born! Im chuffed to bits with that as i thought they were being bullied by the Serpae's! All shrimp are now back out in the open and seem happy to hop around in between the Serpea's :D Still no sign of old red nose though :(

PICS:
Here's one pre-trim
photo-4.jpg

My HC having a pearl
photo-1.jpg

And the tank with it's new haircut and new filter.
photo-6.jpg

Here's one of my cherries
P1020529.jpg



Cheers for looking!

Dan
 
It's been a while since posting on here so i thought I would update. Also, nice to see that members are still producing great aquascapes which is always encouraging :D

This 60x30x30cm set up was not injected with Co2 but instead I dosed with EASCARBO & TPN+ dosed at 2mm per day. I had to play around with the dosing slightly and also with the position of the filter output hose to get the best flow in the tank. Water changes were 50% per week and a plant trim/algae removal every other week.

Unfortunately this isn't how the tank looks now. A few weeks after this shot the plants seemed to go growth crazy and I had to remove major portions of each plant. I also had major outbreaks of a bush like algae so decided to rip this scape down and start again. This was my first scape and I simply wanted to see if I could grow plants without throwing away too much money from the off.

Things i have learned from this set up.
Silver sand gets very dirty very quickly.
HC spreads but give it time.
Hygrophila Difformis is pretty but grows way to fast for a small tank.
Hardscape gets hidden easily.
Look out for shrimps when netting dead leaves etc.
Think about where you re-plant cuttings.

Finally, this shot is when i was at my happiest with the look of the tank so im posting this shot as the final picture. Im no photographer so appologies for the poor picture.
photo-14.jpg

HERE'S TO THE NEXT SCAPE!

Cheers
Dan
 
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