A wee trim...
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Taking a sump. Back in five minutes...
- Thread starter Geoffrey Rea
- Start date
More like a rescape!!!!
looking forward update 
The unglamorous end of the hobby...
Have become quite fond of the White Cloud Mountain Minnows and they seem far more chilled out at lower lighting. Not something I could really cater to with the current planting:
Find it impossible to watch the fishes behaviour without being painfully aware it could be more relaxed.
Decided to keep the scape, but go entirely Asian with the planting, with the only exception being Vesicularia dubyana Christmas moss. The Cryptocoryne varieties, Schismatoglottis and Bucephalandra are obviously fine with low light, leaving Tripartita and Pinnatifida as the wild cards.
Used the opportunity to stuff a bunch of ADA long bottom root tabs in to give the substrate a bump too.
Plants are in and the fish returned but the manzanita is still soaking in a bucket for now. Will add the wood and attach moss to finish up later this week.
Have become quite fond of the White Cloud Mountain Minnows and they seem far more chilled out at lower lighting. Not something I could really cater to with the current planting:
Find it impossible to watch the fishes behaviour without being painfully aware it could be more relaxed.
Decided to keep the scape, but go entirely Asian with the planting, with the only exception being Vesicularia dubyana Christmas moss. The Cryptocoryne varieties, Schismatoglottis and Bucephalandra are obviously fine with low light, leaving Tripartita and Pinnatifida as the wild cards.
Used the opportunity to stuff a bunch of ADA long bottom root tabs in to give the substrate a bump too.
Plants are in and the fish returned but the manzanita is still soaking in a bucket for now. Will add the wood and attach moss to finish up later this week.
Before:
Plants out:
Plants in:
Moss in, wood in. Piece on the left keeps thinking it’s still a floater so few rocks holding it down still:
Tank should be relatively maintenance free and slow growing. Lights turned all the way down to 5% on both ONF Flat One’s. No idea what the PAR is at substrate now, hopefully low enough without causing trouble. If it is can drop down to one light unit. Co2 adjusted to match and still running a six hour photoperiod to seven hours of Co2 input offset by four hours.
A lot of root tabs in this time, will continue running a lean water column though relying on tap water for nitrate and magnesium declining, the rest of the parameters aiming for mid-lean input the same as the 1200. Water changes will be 50-60% every fifth day for two months until the crypts are well established.
Bit of variation between the tanks now:
Plants out:
Plants in:
Moss in, wood in. Piece on the left keeps thinking it’s still a floater so few rocks holding it down still:
Tank should be relatively maintenance free and slow growing. Lights turned all the way down to 5% on both ONF Flat One’s. No idea what the PAR is at substrate now, hopefully low enough without causing trouble. If it is can drop down to one light unit. Co2 adjusted to match and still running a six hour photoperiod to seven hours of Co2 input offset by four hours.
A lot of root tabs in this time, will continue running a lean water column though relying on tap water for nitrate and magnesium declining, the rest of the parameters aiming for mid-lean input the same as the 1200. Water changes will be 50-60% every fifth day for two months until the crypts are well established.
Bit of variation between the tanks now:
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Wookii
Member
I like that a lot Geoff, it looks a lot more natural! How have the fish responded?
WCMM are much more chilled out @Wookii so seems to have done the trick having a lower light tank. Wasn’t sure what their original habitat in Baiyun Mountain was like as its all but been destroyed.
Can find very little info about the region. Just gone with ‘Asian’ planting although geographically these plants are from all over the place making it meaningless.
The bit I forgot to mention is pulled out some CPD’s from the summer tub against all odds so they’re in here too.
Can find very little info about the region. Just gone with ‘Asian’ planting although geographically these plants are from all over the place making it meaningless.
The bit I forgot to mention is pulled out some CPD’s from the summer tub against all odds so they’re in here too.
Very nice Geoff 👍
What sand/gravel have you used ?
What sand/gravel have you used ?
Thanks folks, it’s still in its emersed/dragged through a hedge backwards state you get at startup, but hopefully should grow out good.
A bag of pea gravel found in the shed (no idea where it’s from as it was out of the original packaging) and some Hugo Kamashi ‘natural’ fine gravel Tim.
A bag of pea gravel found in the shed (no idea where it’s from as it was out of the original packaging) and some Hugo Kamashi ‘natural’ fine gravel Tim.
Wookii
Member
Hey Geoff, a quick question on the Aqualifter pump you use on your overflow box. Does that run constantly to ensure maintenance of the syphon, or do you just run it when you need to start the syphon?
Do you think it would be suitable for pumping 20 litres per day from a storage container at floor level up into the aquarium?
Do you think it would be suitable for pumping 20 litres per day from a storage container at floor level up into the aquarium?
Morning @Wookii
It’s on constantly. Reason being that in the event of a power cut, it restarts the syphon again. It would be a single point of failure, but the design of the sump and water level it contains allows only just enough water to enter the display to reach maximum before the return pump runs dry, circumventing a flood scenario and very angry wife.
The return pump senses when it’s running dry and cuts off for ten minutes and tries again. At worst, say if you’re on holiday for example, this cycle would continue until the pump went bust which would take a while thanks to the dry running cut off feature. However, over a long enough timeline, the probability of failure would become 100%.
So yeah, aqualifter pump on always unless you like playing dice with an over the top overflow system.
Aqualifter would be a painfully slow option, it pumps a measly 22 litres per hour.
This is an option worth considering, it’s the pump I’ve used for years for pumping in jerry cans of RO to the tank so can vouch for it:
https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/aqua-marin-water-change-pump
Hope that helps. Any other questions just shoot.
G
It’s on constantly. Reason being that in the event of a power cut, it restarts the syphon again. It would be a single point of failure, but the design of the sump and water level it contains allows only just enough water to enter the display to reach maximum before the return pump runs dry, circumventing a flood scenario and very angry wife.
The return pump senses when it’s running dry and cuts off for ten minutes and tries again. At worst, say if you’re on holiday for example, this cycle would continue until the pump went bust which would take a while thanks to the dry running cut off feature. However, over a long enough timeline, the probability of failure would become 100%.
So yeah, aqualifter pump on always unless you like playing dice with an over the top overflow system.
Aqualifter would be a painfully slow option, it pumps a measly 22 litres per hour.
This is an option worth considering, it’s the pump I’ve used for years for pumping in jerry cans of RO to the tank so can vouch for it:
https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/aqua-marin-water-change-pump
Hope that helps. Any other questions just shoot.
G
Wookii
Member
Thanks mate for that. The slow pumping rate is fine to be honest, as the waste water will overflow from the main tank through a 22mm overflow pipe in the tank wall, so I can't have anything that dumps the water in too quickly or it may risk overfilling the tank. I'm using a solenoid and gravity currently from a raised header tank, and that takes about an hour through 6mm tubing - but I want to get rid of the header tank and put it on the floor.
My other concern is using a pump that doesn't mind running dry, in the event the container is empty before the pump switches off - which I assume the Aqualifters are fine with, as they can do air or water, is that right?
Should fit the bill then
It certainly will cope running dry and gurgles when the water runs out so will alert you.
Three weeks:
Still a proper snooze fest as you would expect from the planting.
Crypts are growing albeit extremely slowly. Not too much of a problem though as in the last three weeks this tank has required nothing other than water changes. Even the glass has remained clean so can’t complain. Any algae on the rocks from the previous scape is slowly and steadily receding without intervention.
Moss and Pinnatifida could do with more light but at this stage they’ll have to tough it out until everything else is established.
Was worth the switch though as the White Clouds are far more relaxed and a pleasure to watch under more subdued lighting. This iPhone makes this scape appear very bright, which it is not. The ONF’s are both set to 5% intensity.
Never really gone all out with crypts but imagining it will be interesting enough in due course.
Still a proper snooze fest as you would expect from the planting.
Crypts are growing albeit extremely slowly. Not too much of a problem though as in the last three weeks this tank has required nothing other than water changes. Even the glass has remained clean so can’t complain. Any algae on the rocks from the previous scape is slowly and steadily receding without intervention.
Moss and Pinnatifida could do with more light but at this stage they’ll have to tough it out until everything else is established.
Was worth the switch though as the White Clouds are far more relaxed and a pleasure to watch under more subdued lighting. This iPhone makes this scape appear very bright, which it is not. The ONF’s are both set to 5% intensity.
Never really gone all out with crypts but imagining it will be interesting enough in due course.
Wookii
Member
@Geoffrey Rea - what happened to your "New Decade, New Decadance" thread - I can't seem to find it anywhere?
Haven’t you heard @Wookii ? According to a crack team on here clean tanks put together by committed aquascaper’s don’t exist.
Must have gone ‘poof’ mate because it wasn’t real 😂
Wookii
Member
Lol well it must be real I saw the photos - I can see it through the tank in this journal in the image above! Either that or you are an absolute photoshop genius . . . in which case you have a promising ADA competition career ahead of you! 😆
Nope, nope... The secret society of the Aquascaping Bureau of Ballsy Adjustments (ABBA for short) train their students well. What you see through the glass in that there image is actually a ham sandwich that has been doctored to look like an aquascaper 1200. Mad skills mate.
However, I’m a budget aquascaper, can’t afford the premium photoshop subscription so it’s all done on an old 486 computer using Microsoft Paint for free.
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