Re: Swamp Creek
Great looking tank, made even better by the video, great work, congrats
Great looking tank, made even better by the video, great work, congrats
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Swamp Creek - 2 years on updated June 2012
- Thread starter tyrophagus
- Start date
tyrophagus
Member
Re: Swamp Creek
Thanks George and LondonDragon that means a lot coming from great scapers as yourselves
I'm still having problems with my crypts melting. I've been told it's just down to co2 but having changed to the UP Aqua atomiser and increased my flow to more than required I am surprised that I still lose 20 leaves or so after every weekly water change. Has to be more to this than just CO2.
I'm wondering if I'm over filtering and losing N. I have a eheim pro3 2076 full of sintered glass. I dose EI for a 300l on a 200l tank.
Thanks George and LondonDragon that means a lot coming from great scapers as yourselves
I'm still having problems with my crypts melting. I've been told it's just down to co2 but having changed to the UP Aqua atomiser and increased my flow to more than required I am surprised that I still lose 20 leaves or so after every weekly water change. Has to be more to this than just CO2.
I'm wondering if I'm over filtering and losing N. I have a eheim pro3 2076 full of sintered glass. I dose EI for a 300l on a 200l tank.
Re: Swamp Creek
How long have the crypts been in the tank? Have you moved them recently? Crypts have a tendency to melt if you uproot them and replant, even if they have been in the tank for ages, best to plant and leave alone
How long have the crypts been in the tank? Have you moved them recently? Crypts have a tendency to melt if you uproot them and replant, even if they have been in the tank for ages, best to plant and leave alone
J Butler
Member
Re: Swamp Creek
Hi Tyrophagus,
First of all I'd just like to thankyou for the excellent Journal you have put together, I've been lurking around the forums for a little while now and I'm about to take the plunge and revamp my sorry looking aquarium, I've come back to this on numerous occasions as an excellent resource!
I hope the tank has settled down now as I know you've had quite a journey with it, any chance of a quick update?
I did have a question for you, when you were addressing the flow issues and introduced the second loop for your heater and CO2, you mentioned that you then fed this through your main spraybar. Did you plumb in both your external filter and external pump into your spraybar? (if so, could you outline how if it's not too much trouble) Or are you now running two outlets, one for each pump?
Hi Tyrophagus,
First of all I'd just like to thankyou for the excellent Journal you have put together, I've been lurking around the forums for a little while now and I'm about to take the plunge and revamp my sorry looking aquarium, I've come back to this on numerous occasions as an excellent resource!
I hope the tank has settled down now as I know you've had quite a journey with it, any chance of a quick update?
I did have a question for you, when you were addressing the flow issues and introduced the second loop for your heater and CO2, you mentioned that you then fed this through your main spraybar. Did you plumb in both your external filter and external pump into your spraybar? (if so, could you outline how if it's not too much trouble) Or are you now running two outlets, one for each pump?
collins
Member
Re: Swamp Creek
Brilliant scape!...name suits it well!!!!
Brilliant scape!...name suits it well!!!!
tyrophagus
Member
Re: Swamp Creek
Thanks Mate
I've been meaning to update the journal for a while. It's been a bit of a journey of discovery for me. I seem to have solved my crypt melt and algae problems. I need a free moment to pen a proper post and I will soon.
The crypt melt was solved by adding magnesium to each water change.
I have 2 separate loops and 2 separate spraybars. One sits at the top of the tank and is driven by the powerhead the other is at the substrate level and points up the back wall of the tank and is driven by the filter. I've been wondering myself whether to plumb them both into the top spray bar.
This is a crappy phone photo
J Butler said:Hi Tyrophagus,
First of all I'd just like to thankyou for the excellent Journal you have put together, I've been lurking around the forums for a little while now and I'm about to take the plunge and revamp my sorry looking aquarium, I've come back to this on numerous occasions as an excellent resource!
I hope the tank has settled down now as I know you've had quite a journey with it, any chance of a quick update?
I did have a question for you, when you were addressing the flow issues and introduced the second loop for your heater and CO2, you mentioned that you then fed this through your main spraybar. Did you plumb in both your external filter and external pump into your spraybar? (if so, could you outline how if it's not too much trouble) Or are you now running two outlets, one for each pump?
Thanks Mate
I've been meaning to update the journal for a while. It's been a bit of a journey of discovery for me. I seem to have solved my crypt melt and algae problems. I need a free moment to pen a proper post and I will soon.
The crypt melt was solved by adding magnesium to each water change.
I have 2 separate loops and 2 separate spraybars. One sits at the top of the tank and is driven by the powerhead the other is at the substrate level and points up the back wall of the tank and is driven by the filter. I've been wondering myself whether to plumb them both into the top spray bar.
This is a crappy phone photo
roadmaster
Member
Re: Swamp Creek
Crypt's are looking much better!
Am keenly interested in the spray bar and what material it is made up of.
Am trying to rid my tank of rather ugly Eheim green spraybar and wondering what could be used or purchased to allow me to do away with this spray bar.
Would like rigid material so that I could drill holes to my liking and thus maybe get a little more flow from my 2217 on low tech tank.Vinyl tubing I have tried looks white and is too flexible.
Many thanks in advance for any suggestion's from member's .
My apologies if question has been answered previously.
Crypt's are looking much better!
Am keenly interested in the spray bar and what material it is made up of.
Am trying to rid my tank of rather ugly Eheim green spraybar and wondering what could be used or purchased to allow me to do away with this spray bar.
Would like rigid material so that I could drill holes to my liking and thus maybe get a little more flow from my 2217 on low tech tank.Vinyl tubing I have tried looks white and is too flexible.
Many thanks in advance for any suggestion's from member's .
My apologies if question has been answered previously.
J Butler
Member
Re: Swamp Creek
Hi Roadmaster,
The link below should take you to the section of the journal regarding the spraybar (i'm hoping to try something similar also )
Tyrophagus' DIY Spraybar
The tanks filling out nicely it seems! I'm loving the cryptocoryne wendtii brown, certainly gives it that swampy feel that the scapes name seems to suggest you're going for.
I might open a topic regarding any pitfalls arising when plumbing two pumps into one outlet, my grasp of flow dynamics is somewhat lacking!
roadmaster said:
Hi Roadmaster,
The link below should take you to the section of the journal regarding the spraybar (i'm hoping to try something similar also
)Tyrophagus' DIY Spraybar
The tanks filling out nicely it seems! I'm loving the cryptocoryne wendtii brown, certainly gives it that swampy feel that the scapes name seems to suggest you're going for.
I might open a topic regarding any pitfalls arising when plumbing two pumps into one outlet, my grasp of flow dynamics is somewhat lacking!
roadmaster
Member
Re: Swamp Creek
Many Thanks for the link!
Many Thanks for the link!
Swamp Creek
This is a really helpful journal - I have a Grobeam and have suspected for a while that it's not producing enough light. Would you still go with LEDs if you were starting again? I guess with a PAR meter it means you can get it bang on... And the shimmer is nice.
Am going to copy your pump / diffuser / heater set-up - makes so much more sense than spending £££ on a larger filter.
Thames water have checked their non-published tests for me and found that Mg is low in east London. So they do have the data, if you're interested. Posted it somewhere in my journal but don't have the link to hand.
Keep us informed - and would love to see you trying a bit of HC in there - would be a good test of the LEDs.
This is a really helpful journal - I have a Grobeam and have suspected for a while that it's not producing enough light. Would you still go with LEDs if you were starting again? I guess with a PAR meter it means you can get it bang on... And the shimmer is nice.
Am going to copy your pump / diffuser / heater set-up - makes so much more sense than spending £££ on a larger filter.
Thames water have checked their non-published tests for me and found that Mg is low in east London. So they do have the data, if you're interested. Posted it somewhere in my journal but don't have the link to hand.
Keep us informed - and would love to see you trying a bit of HC in there - would be a good test of the LEDs.
tyrophagus
Member
Swamp Creek
Well 2 years on and I still have the same setup with a few tweaks to planting. I'm still finding it difficult, especially getting good growth at substrate level. I have recently made a change that has me very hopeful that it may have been a CO2 issue all along! (it's almost always a CO2 issue Clive!)
I changed my regulator.
Now I never thought this was an issue. My old regulator had been with me for 10 years and seemed to work just fine, produced a mist of C02 and turned my drop checker yellow/green. I went on holiday for 2 weeks and came back to a tank that the other half had done her best to maintain. It was full of spirogyra and flilamentous algae! When I cleaned it up I realised the co2 was not working and it turned out to be a blocked regulator. I replaced it.
I nearly killed my fish, three times! Then I did kill some fish! Stupid. but the new regulator took some tweaking.
For some reason the new reg seemed to add more co2 to the tank at the same bubbles per second. This is anecdotal of course and I had no way to measure co2 except the drop checker and my fish. While I could use the previous regulator and have a yellow drop checker with healthy fish, if this reg gets the drop checker near yellow the fish struggle.
So I keep the drop checker green now. Fish are fine and the plants have started to grow faster than before. I used to have staurogyne growing but the older bottom leaves died and it became leggy, I'd replant it and the same would happen. What's changed is the older leaves seem to be surviving better and for the first time ever they produce side shoots!
I reckon it's down to a dodgy regulator.
4 months ago I added an extra aqua ray nd1000 tile, so now I have 3 over a 45x45x90. They run at 65% output but I get a better spread of light. This change did not produce any improved growth, but I thought I should point out an additional change that was made.
The tank is no longer in the kitchen but has been moved to a wall in the lounge 2m from some bifolding doors opening up to the garden. There's loads of light in the area. I have suffered from algae issues, especially flilamentous types and recently bba.
I'll keep you posted on the algae issue now I think I have my co2 sorted. I'll also get some pics up and explain my easy water change system.
Later..
Well 2 years on and I still have the same setup with a few tweaks to planting. I'm still finding it difficult, especially getting good growth at substrate level. I have recently made a change that has me very hopeful that it may have been a CO2 issue all along! (it's almost always a CO2 issue Clive!
)I changed my regulator.
Now I never thought this was an issue. My old regulator had been with me for 10 years and seemed to work just fine, produced a mist of C02 and turned my drop checker yellow/green. I went on holiday for 2 weeks and came back to a tank that the other half had done her best to maintain. It was full of spirogyra and flilamentous algae! When I cleaned it up I realised the co2 was not working and it turned out to be a blocked regulator. I replaced it.
I nearly killed my fish, three times! Then I did kill some fish! Stupid. but the new regulator took some tweaking.
For some reason the new reg seemed to add more co2 to the tank at the same bubbles per second. This is anecdotal of course and I had no way to measure co2 except the drop checker and my fish. While I could use the previous regulator and have a yellow drop checker with healthy fish, if this reg gets the drop checker near yellow the fish struggle.
So I keep the drop checker green now. Fish are fine and the plants have started to grow faster than before. I used to have staurogyne growing but the older bottom leaves died and it became leggy, I'd replant it and the same would happen. What's changed is the older leaves seem to be surviving better and for the first time ever they produce side shoots!
I reckon it's down to a dodgy regulator.
4 months ago I added an extra aqua ray nd1000 tile, so now I have 3 over a 45x45x90. They run at 65% output but I get a better spread of light. This change did not produce any improved growth, but I thought I should point out an additional change that was made.
The tank is no longer in the kitchen but has been moved to a wall in the lounge 2m from some bifolding doors opening up to the garden. There's loads of light in the area. I have suffered from algae issues, especially flilamentous types and recently bba.
I'll keep you posted on the algae issue now I think I have my co2 sorted. I'll also get some pics up and explain my easy water change system.
Later..
tyrophagus
Member
Re: Swamp Creek
Darren EI only doses for Mg if you add it as magnesium sulphate or Epsom salts. Normal EI relys on the magnesium in your water. Because I have rock hard water I thought Mg would be high but I cannot get info out of water supplier. Ca must be high given the state of my kettle.
I added Mg as a trial and found a big difference in the melting of the crypts. I still get some melt. Probably about 10% of the melt I used to get, and it's still associated with water changes. Where befor I would lose entire plants to melting I now get the odd plant that loses a few leaves.
darren636 said:
Darren EI only doses for Mg if you add it as magnesium sulphate or Epsom salts. Normal EI relys on the magnesium in your water. Because I have rock hard water I thought Mg would be high but I cannot get info out of water supplier. Ca must be high given the state of my kettle.
I added Mg as a trial and found a big difference in the melting of the crypts. I still get some melt. Probably about 10% of the melt I used to get, and it's still associated with water changes. Where befor I would lose entire plants to melting I now get the odd plant that loses a few leaves.
tyrophagus
Member
Re: Swamp Creek
Mike that's a question I have asked myself over and over. Then recently I went out and bought and extra tile. I suppose I'm committed to them as I've spent the cash. I have often wondered if my problems are down to them, however I think they produce all the light needed, my problems are elsewhere as they never run at max output.
I have three tiles over a 180 l and they run at 65 % for 5 hours a day.
I like the fact I can adjust the output and I like the fact that they are environmentally friendly with low energy consumption and low heat ( less wasted energy )
I'd use them again. I just wish they looked smarter.
mikeappleby said:
Mike that's a question I have asked myself over and over. Then recently I went out and bought and extra tile. I suppose I'm committed to them as I've spent the cash. I have often wondered if my problems are down to them, however I think they produce all the light needed, my problems are elsewhere as they never run at max output.
I have three tiles over a 180 l and they run at 65 % for 5 hours a day.
I like the fact I can adjust the output and I like the fact that they are environmentally friendly with low energy consumption and low heat ( less wasted energy )
I'd use them again. I just wish they looked smarter.
Re: Swamp Creek
Morpheus to Neo: I can only show you the door, you must walk through it.
Cheers,
Only 95.44% of the time mate.tyrophagus said:Well 2 years on and I still have the same setup with a few tweaks to planting. I'm still finding it difficult, especially getting good growth at substrate level. I have recently made a change that has me very hopeful that it may have been a CO2 issue all along! (it's almost always a CO2 issue Clive!
Morpheus to Neo: I can only show you the door, you must walk through it.
Cheers,
tyrophagus
Member
Swamp Creek - new position for tank
Hi Folks. An update on the tank which has not been rescaped in 2 years. I did a bit of renovating last year about this time and if I think back it was a very stressful dusty period. We decided to extend the lounge and create a new bedroom upstairs in the process. It worked out great.
Best of all I got to plan a new site for my tank in the lounge. It used sit on the dresser in the Kitchen.
This picture shows us somewhat into the build, the area outside the doors used to be patio
Doors out and you are looking at the new site for the tank
Plumbing installed! A hot and cold water supply plus a drain to the outside and 2 double sockets
A channel installed to run cables from lights behind the plasterboard
Measurements taken for custom cabinet
Hi Folks. An update on the tank which has not been rescaped in 2 years. I did a bit of renovating last year about this time and if I think back it was a very stressful dusty period. We decided to extend the lounge and create a new bedroom upstairs in the process. It worked out great.
Best of all I got to plan a new site for my tank in the lounge. It used sit on the dresser in the Kitchen.
This picture shows us somewhat into the build, the area outside the doors used to be patio
Doors out and you are looking at the new site for the tank
Plumbing installed! A hot and cold water supply plus a drain to the outside and 2 double sockets
A channel installed to run cables from lights behind the plasterboard
Measurements taken for custom cabinet
tyrophagus
Member
Swamp Creek - moved to new site
So I'm pleased with my new tank position. I get to sit on the couch opposite, look out into the garden or at my tank.
The tank is plumbed into the mains via a mixer tap to get just the right water temperature. The tank is also plumbed into an outside drain. No more carrying water, no more hose pipes and water all over the kitchen floor. Its a manual setup in that I have to open a tap to drain the tank, then open a tap to fill the tank. It's such hard work
These pictures were taken with my phone (I'm inherently a lazy person)
So I'm pleased with my new tank position. I get to sit on the couch opposite, look out into the garden or at my tank.
The tank is plumbed into the mains via a mixer tap to get just the right water temperature. The tank is also plumbed into an outside drain. No more carrying water, no more hose pipes and water all over the kitchen floor. Its a manual setup in that I have to open a tap to drain the tank, then open a tap to fill the tank. It's such hard work
These pictures were taken with my phone (I'm inherently a lazy person)
tyrophagus
Member
RIP Malcolm
I don't want to depress anyone but I thought as this journal documents the progress of Swamp Creek its only fitting that I should add RIP Malcolm, the cat wearing the jumper in the first photo of this journal. He was the first living creature in my tank! Unfortunately we made the decision to euthanase him yesterday as he was starting to struggle with his medical condition. Dysautonomia stops you from producing tears and nasal secretions and amongst other things causes your eosophagus to dilate so you can't swallow. He was a brave lad and will be missed.
I don't want to depress anyone but I thought as this journal documents the progress of Swamp Creek its only fitting that I should add RIP Malcolm, the cat wearing the jumper in the first photo of this journal. He was the first living creature in my tank! Unfortunately we made the decision to euthanase him yesterday as he was starting to struggle with his medical condition. Dysautonomia stops you from producing tears and nasal secretions and amongst other things causes your eosophagus to dilate so you can't swallow. He was a brave lad and will be missed.
