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"Novus Aevum" - 14ltr

Great looking shrimp! I generally fed all my shrimp very little and provided moss, etc. The less the better, really.
 
Nice looking shrimp Clark, most of them look grade A, nice price though. I purchased some grade S and now they have grown up a little I have found that most are in fact grade A.

Keep up the good work, I wouldn't mind some of those for that price, want to post some to me?? hehe
 
So, if you've seen in my other thread, I thought my filter was cycled after kick starting it with mature media but the day after I'm getting strange nitrite readings. I'm trying to get out of the habbit of testing but have again slipped into bad habbits with the CRS!

Anyway, plants are doing ok, the stems are starting to take off. HC gets uprooted by the shrimp! The HC is getting to a nice height so thinking of trimming it now.

A couple of photos...

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View from sofa with equipment in...
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aaronnorth said:
looks quality Clark. Couldnt you get away with the heater, or buy a heater mat which are used in vivariums? It would just sit beneath the tank so it wouldnt be too hard to move.

Thanks, aaron.
The heater is something that I don't mind putting up with and for proper photos can easily remove it. I'd thought I'd show it in these so that people can see what it look like 99% of the time.
 
I think it's time to tidy things up in this tank and will do early this week.

The HM is showing amazing growth and I need to work out how to trim it properly.
The hairgrass again, is sending loads of runners out and that's coming through the HC.
The HC needs to be thinned out but showing really good growth.

I'm looking to lengthen the photoperiod on this tank, usually it's 6pm until about 11pm ish. I'll try and get it up to 8 hours per day.

The CRS have been quiet recently and they hide along the back, but then they've all molted so that's a good sign.
 
Quick update....

I'm down to two shrimp now.
The stems are growing really quickly but the HC is slowly turning a bit brown but no signs of algae.
The Hc has grown upwards again after a trim and i'm finding it hard to make it carpet. My hairgrass is much easier!

I'm thinking of adding pressurised co2 once finances allow.
 
Looking really good, a perfect little world. Just before reading your last post I was wondering how you were getting on without CO2. Do you think you could get away without the heater ?

George's Little Mountain is Easy Carb only but he used CO2 at the start, I want to set up a nano but I don't think I could currently afford another CO2 set. I wonder if anyone has succesfully piggy backed another diffuser off their main tank? (probably the CO2 would flow to the lowest resistance end but physics is not my forte :?: )

Looking foreward to the next instalment - T
 
I'm sure that pure co2 is much better than EC. However, with what I'm seeing with darkening of the old leaves and green new ones leads me to believe that I'm not rising enough TPN+. That idea came around after Reading the plant deficiencies on James planted tank website.
I've now doubled the daily dose of TPN+ to 2mls per day and will wait a bit to see if that works. In addition, I'm getting small amounts of green spot algae on the rocks so that leads me to think my problems are ferts related rather than co2.

I've aslso added a timer for the light so it's on from 3pm tip 10pm now each day. Rather than on a evenings when I got home - if I ever did!
 
Hi Clarke,well buddy what can I add to what has already been said,I remember when i first met you at Tgm you were wondering around like a kid in a sweet shop :lol: ,now 12 months or so on you are turning out lovely little scapes like this,it shows that if people are prepared to do a bit of homework,spend on decent gear,you can acheive results like yours,
Well done mate superb effort.regards john.
 
I'd appreciate any advice on getting HC to grow well.
I've only trimmed it back once and it's started growing up again, not horizontal.
Is it because I'm only doing 0.3ml of EC and 2mls of TPN+ (with extra KNO3) per day.
I've got 11W over this 14ltr tank, is that enough to encourage compact growth? It's on for 3pm until 10pm.
The new growth is nice and green now with old growth remaining brown - not just for the HC.
I'm having a slow increase in the brown algae in the tank but then this is only a new tank and would of expected that.
I'm trying to get some proper co2 into this tank but it's rather expensive and would like to continue on EC for as long as possible.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
Re: "Novus Aevum" - 14ltr (HC Advice Please)

You have about 3.6 wpg which should be plenty. My experiance with HC was that it did grow up for a while and then started to grow sideways (mine is 4-5 cm at it's tallest). I think you would get there with EC but for rapid satisfaction HC loves CO2.
 
Re: "Novus Aevum" - 14ltr (HC Advice Please)

TBRO said:
You have about 3.6 wpg which should be plenty. My experiance with HC was that it did grow up for a while and then started to grow sideways (mine is 4-5 cm at it's tallest). I think you would get there with EC but for rapid satisfaction HC loves CO2.

this is a small tank though so it will be lower than 3.6wpg.

most people have about 18-22watts on a tank size like this, but for best results like alrady said is extra NO3 & CO2. if you think they are sorted and at the maximum dose then you may need more light, to make it grow more compact, obviously this requires more nutrients if you go down this route.
 
Re: "Novus Aevum" - 14ltr (HC Advice Please)

Hi Clark

My HC looked pretty straggly and brown through the first 8 weeks or so - its only been in the past fortnight that its changed and suddenly looks bright green and is spreading well. That does coincide with me adding the KNO3 to the TPN+ so hopefully you'll see a difference in the coming weeks.

I keep reading that HC loves KNO3 and CO2, so maybe you'll have to go the injected CO2 route ?

Tony
 
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