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Looking very nice tetratech

I like how the moss is covering the ground ( it's on rocks, right? ). How many fish do you have in there now? 13?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I think there called river stones. The entire middle in front of the dw is java moss on the stones. Your close on your first count. There are 4 black neons (moved from 72g), 8 gold tetras and about 6 guppy fry, probably alot for a 12gallon, but the gold tetras are pretty small and all the fish right now are not big waste producers, so far the tank is crystal clear and starting to come together.

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O.K. I made a change to the tank. I had to take out the rotala on the right, because I needed them for my 72G. I think those are the only ones growing. But the big change is not in the tank. Could anyone guess by looking at the pick. I know LF likes to play games. Actually there are a few changes.



tetratech attached this image:


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You took off the black background and you also removed the thingy from the filter.

yes, thingy is technical term, look it up

I like it, tetra. And it's nice that it serves as a growout plant tank for the main one. I also like what you did with the moss, I plan on doing something similar with my shellie tank, which needs a major overhaul. Kind of reminds me of your old 46, but with a less on-steroids look to it.

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Thanks for the comments!

Actually the "thingy" strainer is still their it's on left, but it is different the black tube to the left of the strainer is actually a visi-therm stealth heater.

Also the black background I did remove a while ago, but sometimes if there's no backlight the pic looks dark.

BTW - Being a grow out tank has something to do with it, because with 1.1 wpg "not much growing going on", unless it becomes a moss incubator.

Last edited by tetratech at 08-Dec-2005 14:30

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Well hey, if anything, even if there's no fast growing going on, it keeps them alive and free of algae so that you can transplant whenever you want.

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Well the rotala looks like it's struggling under 1.1 wpg?

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Ok,

So if the change has nothing to do with the tank, then - you got a haircut

No seriously, a new camera?

Ingo

EDIT: OK, I got it --- A new light

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 08-Dec-2005 14:42

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

No not a new haircut
I didn't say it had nothing to do with the tank I said the change was not in the tank. O.K. here's a new pic giving some of it away.



tetratech attached this image:


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No artificial light?


Last edited by NowherMan6 at 08-Dec-2005 14:51

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Green Water?



I stick with the new light theory.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Well duh, the first thing is it is now an open-topped tank (How trendy). I removed the entire eclipse tank frame, light and filter and I have a small hob that was in my garage.

Last edited by tetratech at 08-Dec-2005 14:58

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Well duh, the first thing is it is now an open-topped tank (How trendy)

If it was REALLY trendy you'd have lucky bamboo sticking out the top of it, like some other random member of these boards whose name escapes me...














::ahem:: and so what's the other thing?

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Back in the saddle!

It's a new light, I am telling you since 3 posts

Gotta go home now

Ingo

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 08-Dec-2005 15:05

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Well I was walking around Costco the other day and I saw this light and I had the idea of taking off the top since the filter made noice and the light was only 1.1wpg. This light is a 27watt linear florescent that gives off 150watts of light. Now I'm now lighting expert, so what's the watts per gallon on my tank. And by the way it's a full spectrum bulb 6500k. So I went from lowlight to highlight for $19.99 (cost of light) Either way Hello Mr Protist!




Last edited by tetratech at 08-Dec-2005 15:22

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Here's the pic:



tetratech attached this image:


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tetratech,

Your watt per gallon question is actually not that easy to answer. I don’t know which one of the 2 values provided (27W and 150W) is the valid base for evaluating the WPG.

If it is 27W then you have 2.25wpg, medium light
If it is 150W then you have 12.5wpg, an insane intensity

Maybe you can explain further what it means that this light gives off “150W”. Is that on the label and tries to explain the output compared to an incandescent light? In that case the 150W value wouldn’t be a useful measurement.

Either way, you sure have more than doubled your previous light levels. How does one attach a UV filter to a HOB ?

Ingo

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 09-Dec-2005 04:13

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

If it is 150W then you have 12.5wpg, an insane intensity

Could you imagine the kinds of life forms that would develop :%)

I'll have to do more research on the bulb. It's a:

120V 60Hz 27W 6500K Bulb. The think it's like when you use one of those energy saving bulbs in your house that uses let's day 15w bulb burns as bright as a 60w bulb.



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It's 27 watts.

Open top tanks are the only way to go. I use nothing else.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Thanks Bensaf, I figured it probably wasn't 150 at 12.5 wpg. It looks like four cf bulbs jointed together and at 6500k I think it's pretty good for tank. Are you getting any emersed flowering?

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STOP POSTING SUPER COOL LITTLE TANKS!!!



I have been thinking about setting up a 9 gallon on my desk with a betta. Something that I shouldn't be doing right now. I should probably take a break from this place and get some stuff done. I have problems!!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

tetratech,

Could it be that your dog will mistake the open tank for his/her water bowl?

I wouldn't dare to have an open tank as our cat for sure would not be able to resist the temptation.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Could it be that your dog will mistake the open tank for his/her water bowl

Well my dog isn't as agile as a cat and couldn't really get to my tank that sets on top of an dresser. I have a shetland sheepdog and although she instinctively herds my kids I don't think her instinict crosses over to aquatic livestock.


STOP POSTING SUPER COOL LITTLE TANKS!!!
Wingdsc,
Thanks, Well the plants are going to change now that I have decent light.

Last edited by tetratech at 09-Dec-2005 11:16

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Are you getting any emersed flowering?

You mean from the plants, right ?

Yeah, quite a bit. I had a Apon Crispus that would flower almost constantly, Cambomba, and Bacopa flowered a lot too if you let them past the surface. The Amazon Sword flowered once. I've just noticed it's just sent up a new flower stalk now. It hasn't hit the surfce yet but if it pierces and flowers I'll get a pic this time.

I like open topped tanks for a number of reasons.

Just feel they look better for some reason (notice all Amano's tanks are open top).
It's good to be able to see the plants from the top down, they look very impressive that way.
On a big well planted tank that needs a good bit of trimming just being able to get in there without having to lift a hood is a lifesaver.
On small tanks being able to see the top increases the beauty 100% , the small tanks tend to be below eye level.
And there's the emmersed flowering.
Having driftwood sticking out the top and/or planted with Anubias really gives a natural wild look.
Watching your Rainbows hunt bugs that get too close to the water surface is cool.

There are trade offs.
More evaporation, possible fish suicides, need a bit more Co2 going in.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Having driftwood sticking out the top and/or planted with Anubias really gives a natural wild look.

That look I really love. There's an aquarium adventure (11,000 sq ft) and they have alot of opentop biotope setups, very impressive, very museum/public aquarium-like.

I would love to do that on my 72 but I have a 36 inch fixture I would have to either suspend it or get a special bracket made that would go in 6" on each side. (By the way your 60ish gallon is glass or acrylic, probably glass.

Can you recommend a good flowering plant that would work in my 12 gallon with my new 27w cf/sand? Here's a pic in bedroom blue (added blue background so I could hide the light arm behind the tank and keep the light dead center.



tetratech attached this image:


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There are trade offs

That is true, completely forgot about the downsides except for the cat-attack .

The downside that comes to my mind is that all PC lights that I have seen so far carry a warning label that states something like “do not use over open tank, evaporation can damage the lamp, blah blah blah …”.

I can at least imagine that high humidity creeping into the light socket etc. could create some serious issues.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi,
We had two cats, and each "supervise" while I'm cleaning
my tank. One, however, loves to fish. I came back into
the room to find her perched with three legs straddling
the tank and swiping at the fish with the fourth.
The other while she supervises, can't stand the thought
of even a single drop of water touching her fur.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Fish are friends not food lol at least thats what I told my cats. You probably already know about this but just in case you dont, there are many pet sprays that keep pets away from certain areas, I use Boundary spray the only downside is that after awhile the cat/dog will get used to it and it will be less effective.

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" Simpsons

"The downside that comes to my mind is that all PC lights that I have seen so far carry a warning label that states something like &#8220;do not use over open tank, evaporation can damage the lamp, blah blah blah &#8230;&#8221;."

Has it ever caused any problems or have you heard of problems with pc lamps? If I upgrade, Im considering a PC light and an open top.

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

katieb,

I personally have not heard of any problem. But the chicken I am I would not dare to test it myself .

The warning seems at least theoretically reasonable and as such I stay away from eperiments until others do it first and succeed, as I said, chicken .

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Well, I guess I'll be the guinea pig. My light as you could see from my pic is raised pretty high up, about 1/2 a foot and there isn't much agitation so I don't think I'm going to have a problem. I guess I could always rig a little splash shiled a few inches below the bulbs to minimize water contact.

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I didn't want to be the first to say anything, but now that you have 20+ WPG on this tank, maybe there's a better title for this thread than "12 Gallon lowlight Planted setup"...

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Back in the saddle!

I didn't want to be the first to say anything, but now that you have 20+ WPG on this tank, maybe there's a better title for this thread than "12 Gallon lowlight Planted setup"...



Well I think in reality the tank is about 2.3 wpg, but I take you meaning. Actually I think it was you Nowher, your thread was originally titled "...just a few questions" I also thought it was funny especially after like the 100th post.

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Touch&#233;, tetra

Hey, it pretty much is only a few questions still... just a helluva lot more comments now



So, any green water on this new tank yet?

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Back in the saddle!

And where have you been the last 2 days tetratech?

I missed you

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks LF! Where do I start, let's see:

My laptop computer keeps turning off and is becoming almost useless, so no I have to send it back to Toshiba for repairs and I'll have to find a temporary one to use.

I spend this morning in the ER with bad pains, turns out I have kidney stones, not 1, not 2, but 3. So if you are some one yell from your home in Jersey, it's me on L.I. and I just passed my stone.

But hey the tanks clear and the plants are growing




Last edited by tetratech at 12-Dec-2005 15:39

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Wow,

Well, the laptop got to much humidity in it from the open tank

And your kidney stones, well you are an old man

Seriously, I hope it all goes well.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I'm suppose to try and capture the stone for analysis.
I would put it in my tank but it's got alot of calcium in it and I don't want anything to affect my fragile water parameters. ]:|

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I wouldn't make much of an impresison on the harscape anyways, except if they were 12 inches tall

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Wowo you guys are getting out of hand!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Yeeeeah, we... ummm... didn't need to hear all that...

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Back in the saddle!

Sorry guys, it was just one of those days and I had to make a joke of it.



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If you can't laugh at life then you can't really live. Its ok I know how such things go.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Nono, didn't mean to try to make you feel bad. It was quite funny the way you said it...

But seriously, good luck with that. kidney stones are a man's worst enemy... ]:|

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Back in the saddle!

As there have been no comments from any ladies, let me say good luck with the stone passing. I have heard it is the closest a man may get to experiencing childbirth. After, you will understand why men don't have the babies.
The new tank looks very interesting. Do you need to top it off daily? I'd grow an orchid nearby as they like humidity and it would be a good source of that.
As always it was a treat reading this thread.:%)

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

Lumykrib,
Thanks for the good wishes, yes I would agree with the childbirth comparsion.

As far as the tank, seems it needs to be topped off maybe twice a week.

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hey tetra,

just checking in on this tank. in your other thread you mentioned BGA coming up... any thing happen with that or is it under control?

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Taking a break from the perverted brady bunch reality show?

Anyway, yes I did see some bga on the sand since I upped the light from 13w to 27w. I tested no3 which of cause was very low based on the fact that I wasn't dosing anything and my tap has little although I do have 12 fish in this tank. I also have very little plant mass in there so I decided to move some wisteria cuttings (what else) for now to help with the new ferts I'm adding.

Right now I'm going with excel, flourish, no3, po4.



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Interesting. Sounds like whats happening in my 2.5. My betta used to live there and i didnt use a light over it. Just had some anubias, very low maintenence. Since he died I have a 9watt lamp over it and some BGA is already growing on the anubias leaves. I think Im just going to experiment with this tank and see where it goes. Ive also been dosing no3 and po4. At least BGA is easier to get off of sand than gravel. use a turkey baster if you have one. IME it's the best/ easiest way to do it.

Re: the 12 fish. They're all tetras though, right? I think we overestimate how much waste little tetras like that put out. Definetely not enough to allow no3 to approach acceptable levels that would benefit plants.

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Back in the saddle!

I think you right. It would probably take 1,000 tetras to equal the production of one bristlenose.

I do not some bottom feeders through to move the sand around. So I'll probably add some otos or I think there's a pygmy cory. I don't want anything too big or destructive. Actually I would love to add about 10 yamato shrimps, but I don't know how much they will move the sand.



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Have you considered malaysian trumpet snails? Add a hand full and they'll breed their own numbers up. They're natural burrowers so they like to dig and move the sand around. They also don't touch plants, they'll just feed on any left over fish food. I've actually found it amazing how close their breeding habits are tied to available food. Sometimes when I over feed, a day or so later I notice huge amounts of babies. When i cut back they're all gone. Control how much you feed your fish and that'll control the MTS. They do leave a bit of waste around though...

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I did think of the MTS, but alittle down on snails right now after how I saw how destructive the ramshorn snails where. Problem to is any strong digger will kick sand on top of the javamoss covered rocks, so maybe all cory's even the pygmys are out.



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I think pandas are safe. They are the smallest and I don't think they rearrange too much. They do like when you leave dips and valleys in the sand for them to play in. Definitely get otos, they have amazing algae eating qualities. I'm worried mine are going to eat themselves out of a home. They will be so disappointed when they have to resort to eating algae wafers!

I am also avoiding the whole Brady Bunch thing going on over in Little Fish's thread. Much saner here. For now...

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

I am also avoiding the whole Brady Bunch thing going on over in Little Fish's thread

Watch it, or I am assigning you to one of the girls

Otos are actually rather picky algae eaters and don&#8217;t eat a broad variety either. And I believe no algae eater would eat BGA as it is a bacterium that is supposedly even poisonous.

I think NowherMan and tetratech are more looking for bottom creepers to keep the substrate lose, right?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Yes, that's correct LF, but if you could find something to eat some BGA I would be grateful.

Pandas are a possibly, but there is a pygmy cory that I believe is even smaller. Going the other way has anyone ever seen a giant oto. I saw them in the LFS the other day. It was about the size of a BN but thinner.

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but if you could find something to eat some BGA I would be grateful.

If anyone found a species of fish that ate BGA they could make a mint breeding them. Sadly, I don't think anything eats it, and for good reson: supposedly it's on the toxic side to ingest.

Also I believe you're refering to cory. habrosus - I dont think they even break one inch. They're pretty small.

And if I may throw in another good word about MTS - I know youre jaded from experience with ramshorn snails, but MTS will not TOUCH plants... besides maybe climbing on them or pooping on them. You'll never see one munching though.

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Back in the saddle!

Never heard of a giant Oto. So you say it is about 4 inches long?

Could it be that you saw a false SAE? Or maybe even a true SAE?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

It definitely had a face like an oto and I believe was lableled garanuatan Oto.

I think the cory. habrosus would probably work in the tank. Now I have to go find them.

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Hard to find locally, www.azgardens.com has them in stock.

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My fish reaction was, uh interesting but why would I want a giant oto. I beauty of the oto is it's small unintrusive way of eating algae.

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