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Jasons Learning Curve

Hi all,
Angelfishguy99 said:
Is it worth buying a ph-tds pen like these? https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B078NJR692/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2QXK5N6SI0N0O&psc=1 as i have no clue what my tds is.
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It is worth having a TDS/Conductivity meter, that one would give you a ball park figure, but I'd spend a bit more on a low range meter.
alto said:
I suggest tagging @dw1305 re the stones
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They look like they might be limestone, but all the rock in S. Ireland is old and hard, so it doesn't make a lot of difference.
Geological_Map_of_Ireland_Whittow.svg

By Eroica - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61027815

I would expect your <"tap water to be hard"> as most Irish aquifers are limestone, or have limestone influences. If you were out in the W. (Cork, Connemara, Kerry etc) it might be a bit different.
Angelfishguy99 said:
I do have access to more of these pebble rocks so i will take your advice and play around with adding more of a diverse range of sizes
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Definitely get some more. I like <"water worn cobbles">.

I don't comment on hardscape normally, mainly because none of my tanks are aquascaped, but I'd just put the wood in a more natural position, so that it isn't standing on end facing different directions.

cheers Darrel
 
Thanks for all your comments and help so far.

I am back home now, tried some of the landscaping rock briefly in the tank. As someone who is usually pretty creative i just can not seem to get the knack or any sort of flow with trying to do any sort of scape. Tomorrow i will try come up with something again seeing as the lighting getting delivered from China is taking its time.

87012897_197269538254708_4680746902113746944_n.jpg
 
That one looks better than all of the previous attempts so far. Remember to take into account space between the glass and the hardscape for maintenance. If you're planning to use co2 then take into account the flow of water to distribute co2 and the nutrients. It's one thing that didn't come to my mind when I set up my tank a month ago.
 
Angelfishguy99 said:
As someone who is usually pretty creative i just can not seem to get the knack or any sort of flow with trying to do any sort of scape.
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It’s a completely different medium

I don’t know if there’s a video where Filipe Oliveira talks about how many hundreds! of hours went into his early tree scapes (may’ve been a live event that was edited for actual event video) :)

The more you try, the more you learn the rocks, the tank dimensions, the “golden rules” (which are based upon human perceptions)
I recommend Takashi Amano Nature Aquarium Volumes 1-3, well worth detailed reading and viewing

Jurijs mit JS often discusses the importance of foreground. midground, background on scapes (and again how we view them)
(I’d try the wood towards the fore, rather than back)
 
alto said:
It’s a completely different medium
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It really is, at least starting out it is hard to find your feet. I am sure it will get better of time though. Am about to mess around with it again so hopefully something will come of it.
 
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Massive improvement to the latest hardscape photo... only thing I don’t really like is the triangular rock in the front just looks too triangular - I would swap it with one of the smaller stones in the back. It’s a nice stone though and so much better than the pebbles in my opinion.
 
Matt @ ScapeEasy said:
Massive improvement to the latest hardscape photo... only thing I don’t really like is the triangular rock in the front just looks too triangular - I would swap it with one of the smaller stones in the back. It’s a nice stone though and so much better than the pebbles in my opinion.
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I agree it’s looking pretty good now. I like the way he’s used larger rocks in the foreground and slightly smaller ones in the background, which enhances the perception of depth. It would therefore be a shame to move that larger triangular stone to the back; I wonder if it could simply be rotated very slightly so that it’s not confronting us face-on with that triangle.
 
ADG always does some great cobble scapes

https://aquariumdesigngroup.com/

There are a couple on just the front page
(unfortunate that ADG seems to have fewer scapes (especially videos) than previous version of their site)
 
Sorry i havent updated here in a while. The light arrived and then with a huge delay on ordering the plants it has been finally planted. Tank has been running for a week now. No problems to report as of yet, just the standard white fuzz on the wood and waiting for a diatom outbreak. Here is a photo with from the 9th and from today.
inCollage_20200416_205536865.jpg
 
Hey @Angelfishguy99 I'm not sure if it's good idea to place relatively fresh branches of wood in your tank, I can see it's still covered with bark, sooner or later it will react with the water and may release some unexpected compounds - proteins, resin etc. Have you prepared it for water in some way?
 
Witcher said:
Hey @Angelfishguy99 I'm not sure if it's good idea to place relatively fresh branches of wood in your tank, I can see it's still covered with bark, sooner or later it will react with the water and may release some unexpected compounds - proteins, resin etc. Have you prepared it for water in some way?
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Hi Witcher.

No i havent prepared it in anyway for water. Its well dead and dried wood, i have used similar in the past without any problems. Saying that though it wasnt in a planted tank just a standard community tank. Thanks for the heads up though, if i do start to run into any problems it'll be the 1st thing i check.

In the meantime i will do some research on it
 
So the tank will be 3 weeks old tomorrow. No real problems to report as of yet. Small bit of green thread algae was starting to show but after some advice it seems I started my with a too intense and strong photo period. I also added some mature filter media. I have also ordered a JBL inline diffuser to replace the glass diffuser. It should hopefully be here by Friday.

9th April
IMG_20200416_205411.jpg



Today (3 weeks from planting)
IMG_20200429_194437.jpg
 
Only ordered the inline diffuser 16 hours ago and it has already been delivered and installed. The diffuser says it needs a running time of 24 hours before it produces micro bubbles so i will keep an eye on it over the next few days.
 
Yeah carpet has turned out great, why you changing to inline diffuser? I just changed from inline to intank not to long ago haha depends on what you want.

Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk
 
Deano3 said:
Yeah carpet has turned out great, why you changing to inline diffuser? I just changed from inline to intank not to long ago haha depends on what you want.

Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk
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Hi Dean,

I am switching because i just feel like i will have better co2 distribution with an inline diffuser as i have a spraybar that runs the entire length of the tank and the glass diffuser does not produce the smallest of bubbles. Also another little pro for me is that there is 1 thing less inside the aquarium, the diffuser and airline are just a bit distracting.
 
Excuse my posting of similar images but I am just happy with how the aquarium is going. The below photo is growth from planted to 3 weeks exactly.
inCollage_20200430_161906625.jpg


I have never had growth like this so it's all very exciting to me. As you can see from the last image there are 4 swordtails temporarily in the tank as their old aquarium will be used for raising dart frog tadpoles. Anyways to get back on track they have been in there for a day now and it seems like they must eat green thread algae as it has drastically decreased since they have been added. I am not sure if they are known algae eaters but they haven't stopped pecking the plants and hardscape since being added.
 
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