Hi ukaps,
This is the first time that i have decided to start a journal, so lets see how it goes.
I got an askoll pure s for xmas but fancied something different as i recently did one for my girlfriend and it was a pretty restrictive size and design. So because i work at Maidenhead aquatics tunbridge wells i just switched the tanks over lol.
This is what i started with:
Fluval spec 19
Jbl aquabasis plus
Colombo florabase fine black
1 piece of sumatra driftwood
a few pieces of lava rock
1 pot of eleocharis acicularis
3 pots of HC
1 pot of cyperus (only used half)
1 pot of Rotala Wallichi
1 pot cryptocoryne amicorum
1 pot cryptocoryne costata
1 bunch of Christmas moss (vesicularia dubyani?)
TMC aquagro co2 hobby kit
Jbl glass diffuser
Once it arrives i will be using TMC's all in fertilizer
On new years eve while i should of been out having fun i had to pick up a very ill mother of mine and couldnt be bother to go out in the rain so i started the spec tank
Laying the jbl aquabasis plus down first, i used about half a bag and created a small slope into the back left corner of the tank gradually sloping to the front right. About 1/2 inch deep at its deepest and just covering the base at its shallowest. I then proceeded to add the flora base and again used half a bag.
Aquabasis and flora base fine black has to be by far my favourite combo and only when looking for a lighter substrate would i just change the flora base. Aqua basis plus is awesome stuff, initially it does give a slight ammonia spike when used with very soft water (50/50 RO/Tap) and when disturbed it does make a mess but as long as the top substrate layer is thick enough you wont get any problems.
I later on placed the single piece of driftwood that i had already sized up and trimmed while at work using one of the dry display spec tanks. Using the largest piece of lava rock to support it and 3 smaller pieces "randomly" spread around (still not happy looks a bit to regimented i think).
I ended up with this..
This is not the easiest tank to fill without disturbing anything the usual method of placing damp newspaper over the top was not possible so i started to fill from the filter chamber but it kept digging out the soil where the water flowed out. It took along time but once everything was soaked i started planting.
Fully planted up i started to fill the tank and set up the CO2 kit, you can just see the jbl glass diffuser between the cyperus and the wood at the back of the tank and the worlds worst bubble counted at the front. The bubble counter makes huge bubbles and always falls over, ive emptied the 95g bottle in 3 days with just about 2 bps (no drop checker at the moment, i fancy the gush version of the hang on drop checker in pfk this month).
Quick question can i use the colombo bottles with TMC kit?
Im not too fussed about the CO2 as im getting a new nano regulator from tmc with an inbuilt solenoid and better quality alround aparently...
The TMC bottles only have about 500 psi in them whereas the Fluval 88 kit comes with over 1000psi (no wonder TMC's is so much cheaper)
Eventually i started filling up the tank without attaching the Christmas Moss because it was 10 minutes until midnight new year.
More updates to come soon with full tank shots with my camera and not just my asus pad camera
This is the first time that i have decided to start a journal, so lets see how it goes.
I got an askoll pure s for xmas but fancied something different as i recently did one for my girlfriend and it was a pretty restrictive size and design. So because i work at Maidenhead aquatics tunbridge wells i just switched the tanks over lol.
This is what i started with:
Fluval spec 19
Jbl aquabasis plus
Colombo florabase fine black
1 piece of sumatra driftwood
a few pieces of lava rock
1 pot of eleocharis acicularis
3 pots of HC
1 pot of cyperus (only used half)
1 pot of Rotala Wallichi
1 pot cryptocoryne amicorum
1 pot cryptocoryne costata
1 bunch of Christmas moss (vesicularia dubyani?)
TMC aquagro co2 hobby kit
Jbl glass diffuser
Once it arrives i will be using TMC's all in fertilizer
On new years eve while i should of been out having fun i had to pick up a very ill mother of mine and couldnt be bother to go out in the rain so i started the spec tank
Laying the jbl aquabasis plus down first, i used about half a bag and created a small slope into the back left corner of the tank gradually sloping to the front right. About 1/2 inch deep at its deepest and just covering the base at its shallowest. I then proceeded to add the flora base and again used half a bag.
Aquabasis and flora base fine black has to be by far my favourite combo and only when looking for a lighter substrate would i just change the flora base. Aqua basis plus is awesome stuff, initially it does give a slight ammonia spike when used with very soft water (50/50 RO/Tap) and when disturbed it does make a mess but as long as the top substrate layer is thick enough you wont get any problems.
I later on placed the single piece of driftwood that i had already sized up and trimmed while at work using one of the dry display spec tanks. Using the largest piece of lava rock to support it and 3 smaller pieces "randomly" spread around (still not happy looks a bit to regimented i think).
I ended up with this..
This is not the easiest tank to fill without disturbing anything the usual method of placing damp newspaper over the top was not possible so i started to fill from the filter chamber but it kept digging out the soil where the water flowed out. It took along time but once everything was soaked i started planting.
Fully planted up i started to fill the tank and set up the CO2 kit, you can just see the jbl glass diffuser between the cyperus and the wood at the back of the tank and the worlds worst bubble counted at the front. The bubble counter makes huge bubbles and always falls over, ive emptied the 95g bottle in 3 days with just about 2 bps (no drop checker at the moment, i fancy the gush version of the hang on drop checker in pfk this month).
Quick question can i use the colombo bottles with TMC kit?
Im not too fussed about the CO2 as im getting a new nano regulator from tmc with an inbuilt solenoid and better quality alround aparently...
The TMC bottles only have about 500 psi in them whereas the Fluval 88 kit comes with over 1000psi (no wonder TMC's is so much cheaper)
Eventually i started filling up the tank without attaching the Christmas Moss because it was 10 minutes until midnight new year.
More updates to come soon with full tank shots with my camera and not just my asus pad camera
