"Dutch something or the other" 120 Gal

[plantbrain]

I caught the Red phantoms which are great red fish, and put Rummies in the tank, they are FAR better suited to this display.

A very good fit.

Tom are what you call Red Phantoms, the same as what we call Serpae Tetra here ? Or something different ?

No, they are different. Behavior and aggressive is different, schooling etc.
Nicer fish than serp's frankly.

 

[Antipofish]

I caught the Red phantoms which are great red fish, and put Rummies in the tank, they are FAR better suited to this display.

A very good fit.

Tom are what you call Red Phantoms, the same as what we call Serpae Tetra here ? Or something different ?

No, they are different. Behavior and aggressive is different, schooling etc.
Nicer fish than serp's frankly.

Funny cos since asking the question, I have seen them in two different shops ! I dont like them as much as Serps as far as colouring goes, but thats not the be all and end all of fish, and I know what you mean about aggression, lol. Although there is a bit of sparring going on they are not outright thugs though

 

[plantbrain]

Rummie noses are a very good match, the best fish yet for the scape.

 

[Morgan Freeman]

Congratulations on stealing a rainbow and turning it into a scape.

 

[plantbrain]

Congratulations on stealing a rainbow and turning it into a scape.

Must be the Irish in me.

 

[plantbrain]

The Tornado Ludwigia:

There's a hole on the left side that will add some more Buce's in the rear.

I'll move the E triandra and the H araguaia some, and fill in the red macrandra and the wallichii in the rear again. There are a few other plants, I'll be moving around.
I'll likely remove the tornado and place in the back as a replacement for the P stellata.
Then add a new plant in that spot.

The UG obviously needs to fill in.

I have a few stems of Bacopa salzmannii, has a nice purple coloration and is very easy to grow.
Might work a little with that as an off green color contrast.

I might try the Erio type 3 or the more prostrate Erios again..........or L pilosa.

 

[Morgan Freeman]

Fantastic. I think the Dutch style needs more credit than it gets.

 

[plantbrain]

Fantastic. I think the Dutch style needs more credit than it gets.

I'm afraid fewer and fewer people are doing the style and giving a more strict approach.
This aquarium has some elements of Dutch style, but it's a long way away from winning a NBAT type competition.
There are just too many things that do not comply with this tank, regardless of the overall impression.

Still, the grouping and contrast can be viewed as somewhat Dutch.

My so called iwagumi 70 Gal is a far cry from a Japanese style rock garden format display. People refer to it as such, but it's not even remotely close. I honestly do not think about such things when I set up a tank. I do plan some, but it's a very loose plan at best.

I give more thought to Landscaping and Bonsai however.

 

[plantbrain]

These are pics 3 days after treatment with API algae fix.
You can see zero damage to all plant species and fish are fine.

This tank had a touch of BBA flair up due to the purposed reduction in CO2(pH went up 0.3).
This induced a nice healthy aggressive green hair algae bloom mostly, the UG was covered as where most stem plants and the R wallichii.

There is no hair algae left.

I was hoping to test the Algae fix to kill the low grade fire shrimp.
This failed, I found dozens left.

The algae test however, was a success.

Seems the algaefix will kill many/most of the shrimps, but not 100%.
In test tanks without as many plants and soil etc, this is not the case.
Soil likely binds and bacteria laden tanks can perhaps break the pesticide AI much more than the bare tanks.

I'm quite pleased at the selectivity.

As many cannot remove all their shrimp, this at least gives then some chance and perhaps you can remove them here and there during treatment, and there's no adverse impact on mosses or any vascular plants I can discern.

So far this product was effective killing the most troublesome hair algae species(Rhizo, Spirogyra, Vaucheria, Cladophora).
I have not tested it on Algae balls. Those are easy to remove during treatment.

I do not think it kills diatoms, BBA, BGA at all.
Otto's and plecos can address most all diatom issues I've ever seen.

BBA:CO2/Excel Spot treatments with Excel/H2O2, SAE's etc.
BGA:Blackouts, KNO3, EM and KNO3 post dosing.

GDA: I need to hear back from more folks on this. Result seem encouraging. I had a strong aggressive bloom and it took care of it with one treatment.
Other long time victims are trying it.

Note the UG, the growth and the difference since the Rummies have been removed is astounding.

Compare when I induced the algae:

Then the week prior to that:

 

[plantbrain]

UG Recovery 2nd week after Rummy nose tetras were removed: compare to the above older pics.

Compare this with the pic posted on 9/20.

A few days later new growth:

 

[foxfish]

Looking good Tom!
Can I ask you exactly what model NW pump you are using please?

 

[plantbrain]

I do not us ea NW pump of this tank, I just fed the CO2 gas into the intake of the return pump which is not modified at all. The return length is about 1.5 meters. My 70 Gal does the same thing, but the mist is annoying in that tank.
Not so much here.

Not sure why.

 

[foxfish]

OK, thanks, what is the pumps flow rating?
Its just that I am fascinated with your set up, you seem to just use one near surface return from the pump & a surface return to the pump but you must be achieving a complete flow pattern right down to the substrate!
I notice there is plenty of room around most of the plants, is this a key factor?

 

[REDSTEVEO]

looking nice Tom, what lighting have you got over out of interest?

4x 54W T 5's Tek fixture, 3 powerchromes and an aquaflora Gieseman bulbs. Par is about 50 at the sediment.

George,

Just a quick one, are all those lights you have listed above inside that one pendant unit hanging above the tank? The reason I ask is that I have got a Giesemann Moonlight 260 which I had set up above a marine tank I used to have about ten years ago. The Giesemann Moonlight 260 contains 2 x 150 watt Metal Halides (14000 kelvin) and 2 x T8 30 watt Marine Blue (UV) tubes, and a 5 watt dichrioc spotlight that can be programmed in time with the moon cycle.

The unit has been sat in its original box in the loft for years and I have often thought about getting it down to see if it could be adapted in some way. It cost me about £900.00 when I first bought it so its seems a shame to see it going to waste.

Brilliant photo's by the way.
Cheers,

Steve

 

[plantbrain]

OK, thanks, what is the pumps flow rating?
Its just that I am fascinated with your set up, you seem to just use one near surface return from the pump & a surface return to the pump but you must be achieving a complete flow pattern right down to the substrate!
I notice there is plenty of room around most of the plants, is this a key factor?

About 8x tank volume turnover per hour.

700-800gph.

Water leaves the filter and shoots across the top and then down in the opposite corner.
Then meanders through the plants and finally back up to the overflow on the far side.

 

[foxfish]

Ok thanks Tom, I am using a aqua turn conversion on a three speed pump, the impella seems to really break up the bubbles without a needle wheel http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aqua-Turn-con ... 3f1c1484f0

 

[Antipofish]

looking nice Tom, what lighting have you got over out of interest?

4x 54W T 5's Tek fixture, 3 powerchromes and an aquaflora Gieseman bulbs. Par is about 50 at the sediment.

George,

Just a quick one, are all those lights you have listed above inside that one pendant unit hanging above the tank? The reason I ask is that I have got a Giesemann Moonlight 260 which I had set up above a marine tank I used to have about ten years ago. The Giesemann Moonlight 260 contains 2 x 150 watt Metal Halides (14000 kelvin) and 2 x T8 30 watt Marine Blue (UV) tubes, and a 5 watt dichrioc spotlight that can be programmed in time with the moon cycle.

The unit has been sat in its original box in the loft for years and I have often thought about getting it down to see if it could be adapted in some way. It cost me about £900.00 when I first bought it so its seems a shame to see it going to waste.

Brilliant photo's by the way.
Cheers,

Steve

Steve, there is no reason why you cannot use that light fitting. In fact, given its price, you SHOULD use it. The moonlight series are awesome. Its all a case of how high you hang it... Mark Evans uses MH and he actually says he has quite low light because of how he hangs the halides. I even saw that you can buy a controller that will fade the halides in and out !!! Someone was selling one on Ebay for £50. I had that very same unit which I bought for a reef tank I was setting up some time ago. Ended up selling it before I used it (along with a lot of other expensive reef kit such as a Deltec AP850 skimmer) as I decided to move abroad

 

[plantbrain]

That was the older Tek light I use to have, I now have a much superior ATI fixture with dimmercomputer.

It's wonderful and worth every penny.

I get 50% more light and have full programmable dimming control that's smooth as glass.

This tank used the Tek 4 or 8 bulb fixtures.

I've started using different bulb combos and get much nicer coloration and reflection.
This tank is 6 weeks old at this stage.

 

[cosmin_ruz]

I like it! Plant colors are great!

 

[plantbrain]

Note the UG today and compare about 3.5 weeks ago, there is simply no denying the Rummy nose attacking this plant.

I am still going to add the Rotala sunset back. I placed it in the 180 Gal and then removed it and placed it back here. It's growing very well so I'll fill that row out in the next 3-4 weeks or so.

Also returned at the Buce's.
I have some Erios, extra Buce's, and Red tennellus I'm pondering what to do with in the Right corn of the tank:

I may work some wood, moss attached to wood, Mini Pellia attached to wood etc to create a border.......or just add one of those species as a group. I'm leaning towards the Buce's.
Another weed might be Riccia on a piece of wood etc.

I'll remove the Blyxa Kimerly.
They will get too large for this tank's display.

Downoi is a really nice plant for this side, does extremely well in this tank.
L. senegalensis has done very well from the cuttings I got awhile ago. Not the best contrast plant in this tank however. Need to think and search for some better contrast plants with that one.
L. pilsoa(old name) is in a nice spot, I'll keep that there from now on. There's some smaller grow out Ludwigia pilosa on the far Right also, those will eventually be removed.
I may need to bring back Myriophyllum tuberculatum, nice copper color and very fine pinnate leaves.