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here goes nuttin folks....

leetaylor

Member
Joined
27 May 2008
Messages
136
Location
Banbury
Hi,

Before I start I think it best to warn you that I am very dyslexic so please excuse my spelling....its Bad..I know it but children in need spent shed loads of money 20 years ago on me teaching me to read and write as well as I do..and I dont think it is going to ever get much better now im in my 30's


Anyway.......

After keeping tropical fish since i was about 8 gradualy increasing the sise of my tank I came to a point about 12 months ago when I looked at my Aquastart 500 and it looked back at me and we both decided that planting was the way forward.

I added some plants with no knowlage of anything other than plants needed light water and somthing to weigh them down.

Nateraly they didnt last too long.....
so I did some reasearch and ended up with co2 and a bit of liquid fert...she ended up looking like this....

img6400jn0.jpg



The Java moss in the corner went mad and I got some cherry red shrimp:

img6484ez0.jpg


Unfortunatly I think my clown loach decided it liked them as snacks so RIP shrimp!


I then learnt about proper substrate....
I also remember having to remove the substrate once many years ago when I had an undergravel filter that clogged up so realy didnt want to have to go through that again.
So
My tank and I looked at each other and decided it was time to tell my Girl Friend (saint that she is for putting up with me) that we wanted/needed....well it was essential that I got a bigger tank.

This took 6 months....

The deciding factor was our local fish shop had a sale on....I managed to get the Fluval Roma 125 for £160 (and I checked with them about the leaks..apparently its been fixed now...and I know where the guy lives so it had better be!)

I also decided that this time i was going to get all the kit before putting any water in the thing...

I baught a new teratex ex700 as my current canister filter was not quite man enough...decided to go for a CO2 reactor (which I plug into a fire extingushier) and decided (just before I ordered any plants) to get the hydor inline 200w heater.

So....pre plants this is what I have:

img6500fg8.jpg

Notice this is before the inline heater arrived....I also got an extension to the spray bar to ensure a more even flow around the tank

img6503mj2.jpg


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This was taken during the leak check....no leaks I was impresed with myself!

And I had to...yes HAD to ...put some moonlight LED's on the thing...

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img6518cn2.jpg


Substrate.
Ok...Im no expert so I whent with a gut feeling after reading stuf...

Lower layer...Tetraplant compleet substrate...5KG
Middle layer...Seachem Flourite Red (in what ever sised bag it came in
Top layer...standard gravel

It looks far more nateral than the Blue stuff anyhoo

img6527mc6.jpg

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More updates to come when water and plants added!!!!!!!!
 
Nice.
How do you stop yourself from playing with those cool rocks :lol: I'd be arranging and re-arranging them endlessly. I think I'd stick the big one in the middle and then two minutes later, I think I'd like them staggered from front to back. Can't wait to see the rest of your adventure.

Your writing is just terrific, perfection is boring anyways....not that I'd know much about it!
 
Thanks for the comments on my writing...I do try my best...typing is not so bad...my handwriting now that could easily be sold as a picasso!

Re the rocks...
I wanted to go for a slope from left up to right....
3 reasons..

1 the big rock then hides the inlet pipe for the filter

2 the tank is in the corner of a room so you cant see in from the right hand side so this is where i want to build up the bigger plants so smaller things would be pointless

3 this is my "atristic" vision of the tank....I have this idea that I want it to looklike geological fault line with sedimentry rocks pushing up out of the ground....Been facinated with earthquakes and volcanoes since I was a Kid so this kind of picks up on this...I picked the rocks so the sediment lines flow as best as I could.
 
Waters here!

Most of the plants arrived so in went the water...despite the substrate washing it is still all clowdy....ill update when its not pea soup!

img6539.jpg
 
Haven't seen anyone use rocks with holes in, but they actually like quite nice!

About your spelling, I honestly wouldn't have noticed! It's fine.
 
The fish...especialy the plecs love them!

When neons get randy...not that the eggs have ever managed to survive the drop to the bottom of the tank befoe getting munched...they dart through them....it looks especialy good unter moonlight when they do it.
 
I'd be well tempted to plant stuff in the holes in the rocks. :D
 
Those rocks are definitely cool. My catfish would love them too. I can see otos sleeping in them out of the current! Oto hotel.
You could fit a mossball into one too.
I'm glad I don't have a masonry bit that large, I'd never keep my paws out of the water. Just imagine the shadow play possible.
Thanks, leetaylor, I can't wait to see it evolve.
fisch.gif
 
Ok....proper update number 1

After reading lots of posts on here I have decided 3 things

1 I am going to het one of those Hydor pumop to improve fllow
2 I am gona be brave and mix some dry ferts for my self (although I am foing to start off with Tropica plant nutrition + first to give the plants a good start and a fighting chance in case I dont get it right)
3 Im going to get a drop checker

Any other ideas of kit I should have (with in a non lottery winners budgit) that I might need????

Anyway Back to the tank...the plants are in and already showing signs of growth (the background plants have grown a coupple of inches already....the growth I am most impressed with is on the hair grass though as you can realy see the new shoots.

img6568ud4.jpg


I also have bubbling plants too so I must be getting the CO2 nearly right!

img6570qz1.jpg


Now I know you are all seeing the bits of dirt on the leaves...this is left over from the origonal tank filling up and hence why I think I need more flow!


I have added a coupple of fish too now as the ammonia cycle "seems" to have finished..

5 Neons and this sucking loach transplanted from my old tank....
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Now you can see why I have rocks with holes in...I think the fish look cute looking out from there little hidy holes!
 
oh dear......NEVER accidently buy the wrong type of Apple snals....I have more plants floating on the top of my tank now than planted in the substrate!....GRRRRRR
 
Re: here goes nuttin folks.... May Update

Hi,

Right things have been growing nicly...appart from HC which I am havuig no luck with!

I am having to prune abit too...

Big thanks to London Dragon for the shrimp..they are fantastic!

Here is a pic..I did take some closeups but can never get anything in focus!...need to reevaluate shutter speeds etc.

img6855i.jpg
 
Quick update .....shortly after this pic was taken I got an infestation of black brush algie which covered the rocks and plants with brown fury gunk....following the advice on here i OD'd with flourish excell which worked but all the "grassy" plants died back....then came what I now see as my Nemisis od 09/10......duck weed....I dont know how the hell it got in there but I was soon taking armfulls of the stuff out daily! it has taken me about 7 months of fighting this I had to abandon all plant keeping so ferts were stopped as was co2 to try and get a hold of them and at last......3 weeks with no duckweed! yay!.....also the black brush algea has gone too!!!!

I now have an explosion of Java moss that has covered the rocks (there must have been a spore on one of the rocks from the old tank)...it looks ok if that is the look your going for but it is growing soo quickly it is quickly outcompeeting the plants left in there....

so

the new plan!

Much as I liked them at the time I am going to swap the rocks for bog wood...rip out all the plants that are not salvagable and start a fresh!.....nuttin 2 will be making an appearance soon I hope!
 
Re: here goes nuttin folks....mk2

Hello again all....rescape time!
Right....I decided to take the rocks out and go with a Bogwood look...having looked at the rocks for a year..nice as they were I wanted somthing more nateral looking

So...after buying the bogwood...and more plants to replace everything that had died My tank now looks like this:

36201833540_f78a59374f_b.jpg
img7072t by leetaylor, on Flickr


I also had to replace my regulator as my old one shered off when screwing it back onto the FE...lesson learnt dont buy a disposable bottle reg system and expect it to be brilliant! what i like about the new one is I have the bubble counter attached and it is soooo less noisy than the old jbl one

I do have a question/ask for feedback thingy though...as you can see from the pic i have a bare spot behing the bog wood...any suggestions for somthing that would look good there?
 
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Had to move the tank (orders from the wife!)...had a mass death of neons but everything else was ok. Will get some pics up soon
 
HI,

The carnage of the move has settled down and I actualy prefer the new spot for the tank (its not in a corner anymore)

The tank is growing well

36598266825_bbda014c97_b.jpg
img7527e by leetaylor, on Flickr

I still think the back right needs a lot more...any ideas for plants there would be realy welcom!!!

You can see all the chrerie red shripm on that pic, thanks to london dragon for these which I bought about 10 of 18 months ago...they have been breeding like mad and realy add to the tank....some are VERY red...but this Male one was posing so I though he would make a good pic

35788781713_f275122b82_b.jpg
img7533d by leetaylor, on Flickr

please let me know your thoughts....
 
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Have you considered a white backing? I think it could really bring out the colours in this :)

Very nice!
 
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