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Time Will Tell (180L) - New Plants & Pics 22/3/2017

Aeropars

Member
Joined
9 Jul 2007
Messages
818
Location
Leicester
Hi all,

Yesterday was the day. The old tank was ripped down and a new 'scape was started. Its been very slow work as I don't have a place to relocate the fish to so I left them in situ and tried to be as careful as I could not to spook them too much. Its been a challenge to come up with a new layout as during the adding of additional sand and netted cat litter causes a significant clouding of the water meaning a loss of visibility.

I'll be recycling most of the plants I had in the previous 'scape but am looking to add some smaller leafed plants that sit will in the mid-ground. Photo's will be coming tonight/tomorrow but in the meantime here's the tank details:

I've learnt quite a lot over the last 6 months despite being in the hobby for many years. The key things are:
- The effect of hard water on chelated micro nutrient uptake.
- The importance of giving the gravel/sand a good clean with a gravel vac. For me this was key in reducing the prevalence of small amounts of diatoms on old leafs and hardscape.
- The Up in-line atomiser has far superior performance to normal in-tank diffusers.

Tank: 180L Juwel Rio. Sanded and painted high gloss grey.
Lighting: 4 x TMC Aquabeam 600 LED light strips with Aquaray Controllers running at 40% for 8 hours per day.
Filtration/Flow: Eheim Pro e3 450 (Rated @ 1800LPH) with Purigen bag and Eheim installation sets on the inlet/outlet. DIY spray bar outlet.
CO2: Pressurised 5KG FE with Up in-line CO2 atomiser.
Livestock: Angelfish, Indian Barn, Black Neon Tetras
Hardscape: Landscape Rock
Plants: C. Wendtii Green, C. Wendtii Brown, Narrow Leaf Java Fern, Alternanthera sp Rosanevig, C. Helferi, Blyxa Japonica, Micranthemum Monte Carlo
Fertilisation: EI macros. EI micros with Easy Life Ferro suppliement. I'm likely to change this to a branded fert for comparison.
 
Any food grade plastic bin will do as fish holding tank - run air stone or sponge filter or power head or your tank filter on the bin.
Add additional Prime (up to 5X dose to deal with ammonia), also Stress Guard if available
(I usually set up bin with 1/2 tank water, 1/2 tap)

This is generally much less stressful for fish :)
 
As promised here is a couple of pictures albeit teaser pictures :D

This is certainly the most intricate rock work I have ever done and I'm actually quite pleased with how the 'scape is looking. I've added a lot c more sand and built up towards the back right hand corner using cat litter "bricks" as you can see in the photos. One of the challenge I had was finding good use for the larger rocks I had which were a bit awkward to work with. I'm going to have a ton of Monte Carlo left over but its not in perfect condition so not sure if i should stick it on here or not.

Due to the cloudy water I'm going to have to finish planting tomorrow after its cleared so i'll update the journal further once that's complete. I'm thinking a lot of the plants I have won't suit this scape so i may end up looking for new ideas. If you have any later on in the journal, do let me know :)

Before:
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Hardscape attempt 1 - I wasn't happy with this so added more sand and closed the rocks together

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Rocks cleaned, litter bags made and ready to start!

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And the teaser....

33295620961_d7104f4392_b.jpg

"Time will tell" if this layout is successful

Until tomorrow....
 
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HI all,

Today I finished the planting of my old plants (lots of monte carlo going in the for sale section). I still need some more which I'll be looking to buy in the coming days but I'm not sure what. The area specifically is the back right of tank in front of the C.Helferi. There's quite a large area there which would look good with some low growing, compact stems but I'm open to suggestions there.

The second part I'm not too happy with is the area in the middle where the java fern is. I can't quite put my finger on why I don't like it but I'll have a play around with this area to get a better balance to it. There's also a few stems of a plant I was struggling to grow (I forget the name) so they look a little out of place but I'm keeping them in there as an indication of how I'm coping with my previous deficiencies.

Here's the pic:

33056236090_653a45e166_b.jpg


All comments and critique welcome.
 
Hi All,

Yesterday I had some more plants turn up to fill in the gaps and I'm really pleased with how it looks and can see how I want it to look as it fills in.

I ordered the following from aquarium Gardens:
- Staurogyne rubescens
- Hydrocotyle tripartita Japan
- Pogostemon Erectus
- Alternanthera Reineckii ''Mini'

All turned up in cracking condition so I would highly recommend this place!

I would have posted further images however after planting and adding a dose of Iron from EasyLife Ferro the water went very cloudy. Can anyone tell me why this happens???

In other news the Monte Carlo seems to have started growing again and I have a few runners visible as well as fresh new growth on the Blyxa. No algae at present but I'm sure that will change :D

I'll be sure to take some more pictures tonight for some visual interest.

Lee
 
That is a sign of precipitation. I don't know what chelator(s) is used in that product. There is no "official" info about it, just forum's posts or a few reseller's advertisements here and there. And the info is confusing too. Some say it's Fe2 (ferrous), which means the chelator has to be Gluconate. Some say it used DTPA and EDDHA, which mean the Fe has to be in Fe3 (ferric) form.
 
I'm guessing that's not good then and that it is no longer available to the plants at this point? Is there a way around it at all? I did dose a full 20ml in a dingle dose so wondered if dosing this at the same time as my micro solution might be a better approach?

I did buy this on the assumption it was DTPA as I thought I may have some Iron deficiencies in my plants before the re-scape.
 
I've just made a new patch of EI macros but with a different formula from what I have been using previously. I've gone with the following all based on calculations from James Planted Tank EI Calculator:

Disolved in 1000ml water
40ml dose

Potassium Nitrate 93g = 12.67ppm Nitrate
Potassium Nitrate 93g = 8ppm Potassium
Potassium Phosphate 13g = 2.02ppm Phosphate
Magnesium Sulphate 100g = 2.2ppm Magnesium​

As promised some updated pictures are below showing the new plants:

33591451615_734e839fd3_b.jpg


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33462676461_67695a4d4a_b.jpg


33462674731_4fb8d57f69_b.jpg


33591459205_e95752f9e7_b.jpg
 
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Redone the calculation sand it seems I'm still OK even though I forgot to calculate the additional Potassium. A 40ml dose gives the following:

Potassium Nitrate 93g = 8ppm Potassium, 12.67ppm Nitrate
Potassium Phosphate 13g = 0.83ppm Potassium, 2.02ppm Phosphate
Magnesium Sulphate 100g = 2.2ppm Magnesium​
 
Hi all,

Quick photo update. I've added a skimmer Inlet which looks much better than the green Eheim jobbies. Added some Rotala as well as moving the C. Helferi to behind the Java Fern.

You can see from the pictures that the Rotala has changed form form how it was in its previous tank. When received it looks a lot more pink. From an interesting thread started by Konrad Michalski it would appear this is due to either my hard ware causing an Iron deficiency or too much potassium in the water. I'm going to have a play once established and see what changing the dosing amounts does to it.

Something is eating my H. Tripartita as well.... i assume my angel fish or the Siamese Flying Foxes.

Heres some dirty iPhone pics :D

33354910750_a5bbc4ceb2_b.jpg
Untitled by Lee Parsons, on Flickr

33610461031_954702e223_b.jpg
Untitled by Lee Parsons, on Flickr

33739627085_5fac55153b_b.jpg
Untitled by Lee Parsons, on Flickr

33739627195_aa17b47fe9_b.jpg
Untitled by Lee Parsons, on Flickr

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Untitled by Lee Parsons, on Flickr
 
Hi all,

Quick photo update.

Hi Aeropars,

I know this is an old post, but can I ask how it generally went with the Grobeam 600's in the end?

I'm switching tank and moving my 600's over to the new, but have had problems with these in the past.

This may have been due to the placement of the lights and amount of c02 being injected (which I will remedy with my new setup).

But just wanted to know how you got on with these in the end?

Cheers

Will.
 
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