NAtural Jurassic....shaky video p17.

[Tim Harrison]

Yeah, I need to get a decent background sorted which would help too.

Amen to that ...not that your wallpaper ain't splendid or anything but it's not exactly NA is it ...and it keeps staring at me with those mesmerising eyes

 

[hydrophyte]

I just watched the video. Nice work!

 

[Iain Sutherland]

Plant selection is very fitting ady, will require some precise trimming to keep the stone featuring strongly which it deserves.
How are you finding the wood? Mine seems to have almost stopped leaching now... 1.5kg of carbon later!
Nice choice with the pencils too mate.

 

[Ady34]

Well make sure you keep an eye in the hydrocotle els its going to be everywhere! I left it unchecked in my nano and all of a sudden I had it strangling and tangling all my stems

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Plant selection is very fitting ady, will require some precise trimming to keep the stone featuring strongly which it deserves.
How are you finding the wood? Mine seems to have almost stopped leaching now... 1.5kg of carbon later!
Nice choice with the pencils too mate.

Just carried out a minor trim last night at water change. Tidied up some of the mosses, bit of hydrocotle, some stray fissidens etc. so hopefully ill keep things in check....although I'd like to cover most of the rocks with moss really.
The wood is still leaching, I've got carbon in there too, but not too concerned yet, ill just keep water changing and when it shows signs of slowing ill add some purigen which will hopefully give the gin clear polished look
Pencilfish are great fish, love watching them schooling and then separating and weaving their way through the plants, I want more but unfortunately (as warned by Ian) I've had a few jumpers. Frustrating and sad, but I had ordered an acrylic sheet to use as a cover which didn't arrive with the rest of the order to make the light shade last Wednesday, but should be here soon and will hopefully prevent more losses

While I was on water changing i gravel vac'd the substrate as it was getting some detritus build up, and moved it about a bit as it was making its way towards the front. Hustled the plants to stir up any trapped fish waste etc and shift any dirt from the leaves.....and try to agitate the filamentous algae which is not shifting. Got a little staghorn too on the top of the vallis, tank is still not quite settled yet but the maintenence made a huge difference visually and mentally. Ill do extra water changes and be vigilant with cleaning and hopefully it will go. Ill add to the cuc with more shrimp (added about 10 adult CRS tonight, but need more Amanos also) and more ottos and also a sae too.
Going to leave the lighting period as it is for now whilst not on top of the algae.
Mixed a new batch of EI ferts with more potassium nitrate just to see if there is any difference to the plants. The last lot I mixed had more potassium phosphate which didn't seem to have any noticeable effect, I just feel there is something lacking still so doing a few alterations to see if there is any improvements.
Ive been monitoring ph to get a better understanding of what's happening with my co2, and I've realised that if the ph goes below 6.3, the fish begin to be effected, sluggish, rapid gill movements, but at 6.3 they are fine so have set up an injection rate which begins 2 hrs pre lights on which gets co2 to peak acceptable levels, then I use 15 minute on/off intervals set on solenoid timer to maintain the 6.3 ph and a consistent level of co2. It was building up further if just left on and I want happy active fish to watch Will see how it works out, I'm guessing that it will be ok if the level of dissolved co2 is maintained, and its seemingly the only way I'm going to manage co2. It is giving at least a 0.7 drop in ph, but I've not been able to get a ph reading just prior to lights on as yet due to one thing and another. The only time I did was one afternoon just after a water change which gave a ph reading of 7.3, but this may not be representative. I've been getting ph 7 first thing in the morning, but like I say, I don't know if this rises further during the day yet.

Anyway, that's enough rambling, need to get some accurate ph readings pre injection period to know exactly what is going on, and need to monitor the plants to see if there's any changes from the altered EI dosing. Overall its going ok, but still much to learn before I have the same levels of success growing the plants that many members do
.....oh and Troi, I'm working on a background so hopefully ill have something a little more tasteful soon
Cheerio,
Ady.

 

[aliclarke86]

This all sounds fun. With the house move I have had to take a step back from my tanks and let them do as they will so to speak. Give it a month and I will have a new scape going and be enjoying all the excitement again of figuring out what if needs!

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[Jack12]

amazing scape Ady! when do you intend to increase lighting period?

 

[Ady34]

amazing scape Ady! when do you intend to increase lighting period?

Thanks Jack
Well, I was going to slowly increase the photoperiod next week (around week four), but having a small amount of filamentous algae I think I will leave it for now. May need to look at adjusting lighting intensity somehow.
Cheerio
Ady

 

[Ady34]

Hi,
about due an update.
Things havn't been going so well. The filamentous algae is a bit persistent, and with other tell tale signs im guessing too much light/too little c02 is the prime candidate The bolbitis leaves are growing deformed, the vallis is at a standstill and there is a general lack of growth throughout. Things look ok, but not thriving and with the algae im sure i need to address my lighting. Ive tried removing one bulb but that results in 2 lights going out and im sure its right on the brink of success so dont want to be running only 2x36w fluorescents as i ideally want to see some progress. I had been using the halide intermittently which resulted in more algae growth so i know that too much light is the cause. Im using only the flourescent lighting now. I can only raise the unit about another inch, but ill try that first. I need to recalibrate the ph meter also as its throwing out some strange results which doesnt help me diagnose exactly. Maybe c02 had dropped off a little too so upped that again today without ill effect on the fish so maybe these small changes will help. If not its either suspend lighting from the ceiling to raise it further or diffuse the light somehow. This growing plant stuff is tricky
The corydoras are painfully shy, scooting off at the slightest movement. I only see them at feeding time when they emerge from the rocks to feed. They seem happy enough and are feeding, but very flighty Unfortunately the pencilfish are jumpers and im down to only 3 now which seem to have settled on staying within the confines of the wet stuff, i have an acrylic sheet which i can cut to fit the filter pipes and emergent wood, but that will slightly spoil the view so considering my options fish wise.
Im not that happy with how its gone so far, but will endeavour to correct the issues. On the plus side the fish arnt bothering at all with the shrimp and i have some crs shrimplets in this tank too so i will add a whole lot more from the nano tank Also the Maidenhair fern is now starting to produce some new fronds so im happy that that is going to do well.
Few photos:

Maidenhair fern with some new fronds, along with a little emergent java moss:

Some shrimp:

And some problems.
Here is some riccia, to the right is some i put in early which isnt great but much better than that to the left which was put in sometime after. For a supposed weed, this is very slow growing and not hugely healthy either. Below is more that was introduced at a later date (this was 1-2 grow that was kept in the fridge for 2 weeks, dont know whether this effected it at all):

And the bolbitis with curled/mishaped leaf formation....likely c02 issue?:

Finally a fts with the corys out for feeding time:

Cheerio,
Ady.

 

[Deano3]

still looking great ady sure you will resolve the issue , hopefully them few small changes will get everything in balance , love the Maidenhair fern I have wanted something that grows out the top of the tank for a while think it has a great effect and looks great

keep the updates coming let us know how you get along

Dean

 

[Gary Nelson]

Yes I agree, it looks great .... your bound to get a few teething issues mate with the light, I am sure you will tailor it to what the tank needs and crack the magic amount. I have found that Bolbitis can sometimes grow a little that way anyway too - the immersed plants really look nice too

 

[zanguli-ya-zamba]

Hi Ady,
sorry to hear that it is not going as you wish mate !!!
Did you try to improve C02 distribution ? Maybe you could try an other outlets positioning !?
I know that these day you have "played" with injection timing and rate. What did you end up with ?
Maybe we could look at there ! Maybe all this changes in CO2 timing and injection rate are not yet assimilated, and need a bit more time to stabilize ??!
These are my guess, but as you know I am not at all an expert, just a young padawan lol
Sorry but I have totally forgot how do you diffuse CO2, up atomizer ? reactor ?
Hope that we can find a solution to that, I really like that tank and don't want to see it going on the "brown" side lol (certainly more you than me lol).
This tank is a beauty mate !!!

cheers mate

 

[Ian Holdich]

Looking good!

That's weird about the riccia, I'm sure it'll bounce back and you'll never (ever) get rid of it, ever.






Ever ever.

 

[BigTom]

That's weird about the riccia, I'm sure it'll bounce back and you'll never (ever) get rid of it, ever.
Ever ever.

Looks to me like you've got normal 'floating' and dark 'sinking' forms of the riccia.

Tank's looking great for having had a trim.

 

[Tim Harrison]

Looking Awesomer by the update...

 

[Ian Holdich]

Looks to me like you've got normal 'floating' and dark 'sinking' forms of the riccia.

Tank's looking great for having had a trim.

Apparently they are one of the same...the sinking riccia take on the sinking form after a while (apparently).

 

[BigTom]

Apparently they are one of the same...the sinking riccia take on the sinking form after a while (apparently).

Yeah clumps of my dark green riccia occasionally go bright green and make a break for the surface if they're not too intertwined, I just reckon that Ady's 1-2 grow stuff looks like it's in that phase/stage/form/growth pattern/whatever. So i guess it may (or may not!) switch to the bright green form at some point.

 

[Jack12]

Ady great looking tank, I have been battling algae with my previous set up - very high CO2 injection rates through atomiser, 2500 L/H flow distribution, different ferts nothing seemed to help. Secret was to decrease lighting and raise the fixture higher above the tank. I know people say that ADA lights are not powerful, but in my experience they produced way too much light then i could handle. I am sure you will work it out!

 

[Lindy]

If you can't raise the light more and can't put a glass lid on with frosted vinyl on(I tried 8mm acrylic and it curled badly) then how about putting some light diffusing mesh under the light fitting? Something like the stuff they use in conservatories? You could make a wee wire frame to dangle from your light fitting and cover it with the mesh.

 

[Iain Sutherland]

It's looks good Ady even with teething problems. Might to worth putting the skimmer front left to try assist the circular flow??
It's frustrating when plants show low co2 but fauna are flighty and shy which has always been high co2 for me.
Wiggle jiggle.... Sweet spot

 

[Dave Pierce]

Hope it all works out for you ady, as you said probably co2 & circulation issues.

Your tank was inspiration for my latest scape and inspired me to do an 'island' style scape.

Sure it will work out, looks fantastic despite the small problems you have.

Cheers
Dave