Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal Finished.

[Ady34]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal..Planted..i

Looks great Ady. Should be stunning when it grows.

That looks the business Ady! Like Ian says when the plants grow in its going to be a cracker you must be well pleased with it.

Just echoing everyone else's response, I think it's an absolutely stunning layout.

It is going to be an absolute dream when it does grow in! Well done matey, fantastic work!!

Looks great Ady! Really like the diagonal flow of the rocks coming forward and the little plants appearing so naturally in the cracks of the rocks. I did wonder when looking at your inspiration pictures a few weeks ago how those cliffs with green on them would look under water but I can already recognise some of those features in your tank! Nicely planted as well with the tenellus and other plants at either side of the tall rock.

Would be great if you can create a lot of surface movement - like waves hitting the cliffs!

Thanks for the positive feedback guys it's much appreciated and I'm also looking forward to things growing in.

Now there's a hardscape with immediate visual impact. Looking forward to seeing it mature.

Yeah definitely catches the eye.

well planted ady this is going to look stunning when grown in can see what you mean about keeping taller grasses to the right it will draw your eye left to right across the tank as if you were looking from the sea up the coastline so to speak all around amazing job mate

Thanks Tim, Yeah I've replanted now so will pop a new pic up from the phone to give an idea of the look. Will need some future trimming to get the plants at the correct heights to draw the eye but I much prefer it now I've made the changes, it's more in keeping with what I wanted to achieve....don't know why I planted them there in the first place really

Thanks all for the comments
Cheerio
Ady

 

[Ady34]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal..Planted..i

Fts with plants moved:

Cheerio

 

[Nathaniel Whiteside]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal..Planted..i

Looks great Ady!

If only it wasn't Drilled!

 

[Ady34]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal..Planted..i

Looks great Ady!

If only it wasn't Drilled!

Cheers Nat, I've got caps to cap the drilled base but chose to leave the out pipe as the convenience of gravity when filter priming is great. Also i think the force of gravity power helps reduce the effect the inline diffuser has on restricting flow....mind you thats probably just my imagination
Hopefully the stauro will grow this time and disguise that pipe nicely....don't think itll grow big enough to hide the spraybar though
How was your holiday mate? And how's your tank looking on return?
Cheerio
Ady

 

[Nathaniel Whiteside]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal..Planted..i

I know what you mean mate, reducing pipework with bends is also a positive! Just meant from a photography point of view.

Holiday was great cheers mate, and tank looked nice when I got back, which was a surprise.

Trimmed some of the hemianthus micranthemoides out yesterday. Give my Danios a bit of swimming room

Everything is really leggy at the moment, need to thicken it all out with cutting

Cheers,

 

[Nathaniel Whiteside]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal..Planted..i

Oh, Took this pic while in Turkey, Reminded me of something, can't ever think what ...

 

[darren636]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal..Planted..i

what an ugly landscape. Would look terrible if someone made similar for an Aquascape. Man..... I love the turquoise coast.

 

[Ady34]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal..Planted..i

Oh, Took this pic while in Turkey, Reminded me of something, can't ever think what ...

Cool, they're everywhere, you just cant get away from them, Turkey...UKAPS...
Cheers for the post Nath, nice to see some non google image shots!

what an ugly landscape. Would look terrible if someone made similar for an Aquascape. Man..... I love the turquoise coast.

Cheerio,
Ady.

 

[Ady34]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal..Planted..i

Currently carrying out every other day 60% water changes.
Photoperiod: 5 hours.
C02 period: 5 hours - on 2.5hrs pre lights on (to achieve lime green dc) and off 2.5 hrs before lights off. Even with more water surface movement the water seems to hold onto the co2 as even the next morning the dc is still green. Perhaps there is a build up in the filter which acts as a reserve and continues to feed the tank with c02....will have to monitor.

Few tank shots.

Ammania sp. Bonsai starting to sprout:

Atop the grassy cliff:

one of my favourite photos, love the reflection of the other end of the tank:

The Archway:

and a FTS cleared and taken on the proper camera!

Cheerio,
Ady.

 

[Tim Harrison]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal..Planted..i

Taking shape nicely.

 

[Gary Nelson]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal..Planted..i

Stunning Ady, and great photos too! The archway looks fab the growth is really good too considering how long it's been planted - I still think it needs a sunken helicopter in it though

 

[Ady34]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal..Planted..i

Taking shape nicely.

It's coming along and im really liking the thick set look of the ammania bonsai, great little plant!
Need to closely monitor flow at the right rear where the pogo erectus is as I'm suspecting it's a bit slow there. I Intentionally planted the blyxa japonica far right rear as it lives in still/stagnant pools so thought this would be the area of least water movement, but was hoping for better flow where the erectus is from under the archway.....may have to add the very unsightly koralia yet

Stunning Ady, and great photos too! The archway looks fab the growth is really good too considering how long it's been planted - I still think it needs a sunken helicopter in it though

Thanks Gary, much appreciated.....unfortunately only galleons, submarines and fighter jets in the lfs at the moment, will have to wait for the helicopter. I may prep the e. sp. mini now by trimming a helipad landing pad into it!
At the slight risk of being a bit tacky I am going to get my Dad to print a matt background for me of a 'sky' photograph he's taken, not sure when he'll get round to it or in fact whether it'll work, but it may be marginally better than the purple patterned wallpaper!.....we'll see.

Cheerio
Ady

 

[Swee]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal..Planted..i

Hello, your hardscape is not commun, and ambitious Maybe you can win in details if you'll put some small piece of rocks in the sand and some gravels like congo sand. A rock to hide your pipe on the left could be nice for me. I think one other difficultie is that you didn't took the heigth with the hardscape, so maybe you need to take it with plant or wood

 

[Ady34]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal..Planted..i

Hello, your hardscape is not commun, and ambitious Maybe you can win in details if you'll put some small piece of rocks in the sand and some gravels like congo sand. A rock to hide your pipe on the left could be nice for me. I think one other difficultie is that you didn't took the heigth with the hardscape, so maybe you need to take it with plant or wood

Hi Swee,
Thanks for the comments, yeah I know what you mean about adding some smaller rocks to the sand bed. I actually bought some smaller pieces and some 'rubble' from the rock bucket bottom to try and grade it more but I just didn't like it. The smaller pieces of rock I have didn't work in creating the effect I wanted so I have chosen to leave them out in favour of a 'cleaner' but less natural look.
With regards the height I only wanted one focal high point in the hardscape, and I wanted it to be rock only. The plants when grown will offer some height, but overall, especially the left hand side I want to be relatively low and flat. The Staurogyne will grow and help disguise the filter pipe you talk about....I'm not quite at the level of die hard aquascaper yet and although I've tried to make steps towards removing visible in tank equipment, I find the convenience of the drilled base filter inlet too great from a maintenance perspective
Cheerio
Ady

 

[Ady34]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal...co2 issue

Hi all,
Well, starting with some issues already!
Seems to be co2 but I'm a little confused really. It started a few days ago with a small patch of eleocharis sp. mini going grey/pale. This issue now seems to have spread further and to the ammania sp bonsai in both areas of the tank that it's planted in. Looks like co2 related but the left hand side in particular receives excellent flow and the dc which is at the right hand farthermost point from co2 shows a lime green at lights on. Photoperiod is currently only 5 hrs. I haven't raised the light unit so is it likely that it is low co2/too intense light (2x t5 ho)? Could the 1-2 grow species suffer if all the gel it's grown in isn't completely washed off?
Would unhealthy plants still pearl as I'm getting this almost immediately after lights on and I'd have thought this wouldn't happen if there was too little co2?
I'm doing every other day 60% water changes, do I need to up this to every day? There are large swings in water chemistry also as the seiryu increases TDS hugely from my tap water.

E. sp. Mini and ammania sp. bonsai issue:

Drop checker colour at lights on, goes a little yellower throughout photoperiod:

Micro co2 bubbles:

Was trying to set the co2 at a level safe for livestock rather than pummell the tank with co2 and then have to ease off for fish/shrimp additions. Should I change my tactic or could this be another issue rather than co2?
Advice appreciated.
Cheers
Ady

 

[Ady34]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal... Co2 Issu

Scratch the questions, it's obviously co2, I've added a double layer of 5mm float glass covers between the lights and water surface to try to reduce lighting intensity until I can raise the light unit.

 

[Ady34]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal... Co2 *#@#

Major melt
Its just spreading through the e. sp. mini, ammania sp. bonsai and alternathera reineckii mini and now staurogyne repens like a disease! Sucks all the colour from the leaves and wilts..... classic c02? Probably the damage already done from too much light/too little c02 in the first week.
The light intensity was reduced last week, c02 upped and the koralia circulation pump added, but dont know how long or even if the plants will turn around especially considering the staurogyne has just started its demise over the last couple of days.....however the marsilea is sending out runners as is the tenellus and the pogostemon erectus hasnt melted even in the area of least flow! :?
Still learning
Should have maxed c02 to ensure a good start, but have obviously fallen pray to the mindset of 2x 39w T5 ho not being too high a light intensity Should have hung my light unit after all to raise it.
Diatoms now too.....need a cuc but not adding anything till things stabilise....toothbrush it is, but oh how cloudy the water gets scrubbing the rocks
The highs and lows.....keep smiling

 

[Antipofish]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal... Co2 *#@#

Keep going Ady. You know all the right things to overcome these problems. the stauro will bounce back.. I cut mine RIGHT DOWN to the base pair of leaves and it came back. Took a few weeks mind.

 

[Ady34]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal... Co2 *#@#

Keep going Ady. You know all the right things to overcome these problems. the stauro will bounce back.. I cut mine RIGHT DOWN to the base pair of leaves and it came back. Took a few weeks mind.

cheers Chris, but the stauro aint coming back, once it starts it just disappears Its melted right through to the stalks. The e. sp. mini may come back and not all the ammania has gone but most of it.....fingers crossed as im buying nothing else to replace them until its stopped and sorted.
Have to say its not the best feeling sucking out masses of mush every other day on water change
Just goes to show how important the basics are though, keep the lighting low and max the c02, no compromise!
Cheerio,
Ady

 

[Ady34]

Re: Fluval Studio 900. 'Coastal Erosion' Journal... PMA!

Right, PMA!

After getting a little down about this:

....and a bit of the old diatoms too,

have had a step back and focused again on how to fix it based on what I've learned from the forum and the advice I would most likely offer others in a similar situation...... reduce lighting to optimise co2 availability to the plants. Reducing lighting intensity slows the pace at which the plants are trying to grow and therefore reduces the demand for co2 and ferts making it easier to give both them and any fauna a happy environment.

So this is what I've done, popped up some rather industrial looking brackets to sit the light unit on which offers up the flexibility you need to raise or lower your light unit depending on circumstances. It's not the prettiest solution but very simple and effective. Currently set at 8inches above the water surface:

Co2 has been reduced now too as I've added a bit of a cuc (should prob have let the plants recover properly first but hey, diatoms and a downer = livestock), I'll monitor and adjust c02 if needed. The new residents are 10 cherry shrimp, a couple of ottos and a couple of hillstream loach. Amazing how a little life in the tank makes you feel better! Prob add 10 amano shrimp to help rid the diatoms!

Cherry shrimp, saw them in a local maidenhead aquatics and thought they looked decent quality so bought them:

Hillstream loach, cool little dudes, would never have even contemplated them for a co2 tank without Mark Evans keeping them. I know hillstream loach is a vague description but these are beauties with blue tails and little white spots all over them. Plenty of gas exchange with surface movement and decent flow from the filter and koralia, if they seem to be suffering ill pop them into the CRS nano as read they dont mind slightly cooler temps:

Whilst making myself feel better I also bought some replacement plants still to plant up, i know i said id buy nothing else until id sorted the issues but i think i know whats needed now so more stauro (will grow this bl**dy plant) and some alternathera rosaefolia mini in place of the reineckii mini and ammania bonsai to the right of the tank which have melted.

The more centrally positioned ammania bonsai seems to be coming back round and there's still plenty of green left in the e sp. mini to suggest this too will recover now I've got my head screwed on properly!

So just after I'd added the new inhabitants yesterday the next disaster struck....G6 dropped to less than half flow, a problem also suffered by Gary Nelson. Cleaned, replaced impeller, no change! So removed the chemical cartridge and some improvement, but not optimum so a call to Hagen tomorrow to see if I can get any joy!

Anyway I've rambled on a bit now so leave you with a question, what fish should I add when the time is right and filter issues resolved? Been thinking of various ones like blue tetra, ember tetra, danios, but can't decide. Ideally would like a schooling fish and relatively small, and would prefer it to be a fan of bright open water as that what's going on really with the open feel. Also not shrimp eaters, ha ha. Suggestions welcomed.

Cheerio
Ady