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Wow tetra, you're a good man, truly a man willing to comprimise. Putting a big ugly canopy over your tank? I'm impressed...

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Back in the saddle!

Yeah I'm the man, who knows who the boss is - my wife

One thing actually that I do like about the canopy is that it looks more like a public aquarium, where the room is dark and all the light is n the tank. You aren't distracted by the light that you see coming from the reflector.



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I do agree that the tanks seem to look much more built in when you have a contraption on top of the tank but I am willing to bet that it will be a big pain in the butt with the amount you will have to take the thing off.

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

No an all-glass canopy won't fit over a coralife with legs. Just the 4 ft fixture on a 4ft tank will fit under a canopy, as the fixture is slightly less than 4 ft. I guess the only way to do that would be to cut a couple slits in the side of the canopy for the legs. All of the weight of the canopy rests on 4 corner pegs so cutting some on the sides would be ok. That would take care of the length wise problem, but I'm not sure if the coralife with legs will fit height wise either. For that, you could cut a couple peices of wood to place in the four corners bringing up the canopy.

EDIT: on the other hand a couple of T5 HO bulbs will fit up into the canopy VERY well. A 2 bulb 4 ft T5HO(icecap) retrofit kit from reefgeek would be nice in there. Other places sell them, but usually don't include choice of bulb and are therefore more expensive. Plus I've delt with them twice, with success. Really if you are planning on a canopy I'd go ahead and do a retrofit kit, even if it's pc. it'll save you money, and won't be as bulky. Fixtures were designed for tanks without canopies. Retrofits were designed for tanks with canopies.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Thanks for detailed breakdown matty. So pretty much without the legs it will fit. The retrofit sounds interesting, but as Wings points out I'm gonna be taking this thing on and off quite often especially with all the trimming I do, so it's got to be smooth and easy.



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How much smoother can it be than just taking one thing off? If you have a fixture on the tank, you have to take off the canopy and the fixture, unless you can work around the fixture.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I don't think the AGA canopies are designed for massive light and with it massive heat, but I don't know that for fact.

One thing is for sure though ( - or not, but I think so): a massive canopy makes any tank look smaller as it appears without it.

Oh, and as for where I got my lights: The super sized fixture on the 125 was from Hellolights, they were the only ones to offer a 72" fixture for shipping and had a great prize as well. My other fixtures are all from Big Al's as the price is pretty much the same, but I get points and fast delivery at less cost.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks LF for your comments on the females and the lights.
I guess the drama continues, because I'm not convinced of anything with these females and I am convinced the stores don't know what they are getting some times.

Anyway as far as the lights. I too like ordering from Big Als when I can for the reasons you stated, but right now the lighting prices I'm getting for the 48" are:

BigAls $230 (some reason the salt one with lunar is $200)
AquaBuys $200
HelloLgt $195

DrsF&S isn't listing the freshwater one, but the salt is $200. I've started to notice their pricing is beating bigals alot lately. Also why are the freshwater aqualights always in the alumimun housing and the saltwate ones in the black? Any clue?

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The ones we get at my store are all the aluminium just with different bulbs. Changes are they are trying to make them different for less confusion.

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

Yeah, I don't know why they do that either. My 72" unit is black, but it has by default 2 actinic and 2 10,000K bulbs in it, aka saltwater setup.

I am with Matty on the female Apistos, they all look alot alike, well - at least most do. It may be interesting to start bets on how long it will take until all sub-species are mixed up in one gene pool.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

A couple of rare morning photos of my tank. Tough to take morning shots with the glare coming from the back of my kitchen hits the tank, but here ya go.

Here is a full tank shot. A couple of changes to note:

The rocks have been reworked alittle more to show more constrast between the riccia and the blyxa. In order to do this I had to remove some more wisteria (holds breadth, right LF)

I think the tank is even more random, even the center area is not as "manicured" I also like the way the wisteria randomly exists around the foreground keeping it together.

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A closeup shot showing the different levels and such in the tank. Also alot of fish activity. Those 4 rummys who have been with me since the beginning still school nicely. Much better schoolers than the cardinals, but unfortunately for most hours of the day they don't show up well in the tank.

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I had about 10 rummys about a year ago, and I never saw them. The tank was planted up with (gasp) fake plants and driftwood so there were plenty of places to hide and they used them all the time. The water stayed very clean, they had a TON of color, and there wasn't a whole lot of traffic in front of the tank or anything, they just hid....all the time. I think they were the most disappointing fish I ever bought. Once in a while I'd put my hand behind and on the sides of the tank to scare them out...this was the only time I ever saw them.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Very nice tetratech, and looking way more diverse than before. I like how the wisteria is arranged in a cresent shape on the right of the tall group, coming taller from the back and wrapping low to the front.

Currently, I find the tall rock with Riccia too massive for the rest of the arrangement. And it hasn't even fully grown in yet. Most other places in your tank have smaller spots with the same plants, as you point out the break up of Riccia in the front with wisteria. This one though is one big Riccia spot. Just my opinion,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Nice shots & nice changes. Those rummys look really nice.

Cheers
TW

Matty,
That is pretty much the opposite of my small rummynose school. They are pretty much back and forth in front all day. Did you have any predator type fish with them?

LF,

I like how the wisteria is arranged in a cresent shape on the right of the tall group, coming taller from the back and wrapping low to the front.

Glad you noticed that, it is one of my favority spots of the tank right now.

Currently, I find the tall rock with Riccia too massive for the rest of the arrangement.

I don't disagree with you, I'm still playing around with the placement of the large riccia rocks. The right covered rock is alot bigger than the right covered one. I went with rocks I had (remember I'm the other Jeff) and the left one is really too small or the right one is too big, I'll probably end up replacing the left one and making it bigger.

Robyn,

Thanks

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tetratech,

I agree, the left one could be a little bigger, but the right one should be a little smaller as well. It right now has the size of the entire plant species to the left of it (rotala, right?). Maybe not in height but in width it does so.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

LF,
I've made a quick change just for you. See if you can notice the difference:

Here's the first photo again:



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And here's the LF change:



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You raised the rock on the left, or replace it with a larger one

Right?

Makes the left side more fitting to the right, nevertheless, IMHO the one on the right is too big.

Sorry to be such a PITA, but there is nothing else to bicker about in your tank

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Yes, I raised the rock (couldn't cover a new one with the riccia that fast) and put some pieces of wisteria in front of the rock. Your right though the rock on the left actually had already been lifted by another rock underneath. I simply adding another rock to lift it higher. I'll probably go looking for better rocks but I'm pretty much using what I had. Actually the rock on the left is a petrified wood and the big rock on the right is a moss stone I had in my backyard.

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and the big rock on the right is a moss stone I had in my backyard

You know, my wife has some small bolderish looking rocks as borders for her flower beds. You have no idea how often I had been tempted to steal one or the other so I can add them to my tank

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

You know, my wife has some small bolderish looking rocks as borders for her flower beds

I would take one and replace it with a fake rock. If she's like my wife, she won't notice the difference.

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Did you have any predator type fish with them?

Well a couple of apistos, but that wouldn't bug them I don't think. That's all that was in the tank other than a clown pleco.

I was a bit tired when I wrote that post and forgot to actually comment on your tank

I think the new "LF" change really helps balance out the tank in a way I personally(in my lack of scaping skills) couldn't put a finger on.

One thing I like are the little stand alone "adventuresome" wisteria here and there. It looks very realistic in the "it just happened to land right here" sort of way. I'm hoping to get this affect in my tank eventually. I don't want blocks of plants, but sort of a natural blurring and a few adventuresome plants here and there. A little bit of blyxa or chain sword popping up out of the feild of baby's tears or something like that. Maybe an epic battle between the oncoming rush of glosso coming down the falls and the bit of moss clinging for dear life on a rock popping out from the falls. Something like that would be pretty cool, and I think you have a bit of that in the random spots you've been working on.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Lately, a couple of us have talked about new rocks & sometimes finding them (or stealing from wive's gardens).

I wondered if this link I stumbled across might help, in making sure the rocks are aquarium safe. It seems to say the vinegar test may not always work.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/rock_metals.php

Cheers
TW

Hi,
Good article Robyn. We carry dilute HCl in to the field
to test for carbonates. Vinegar will not work on all
carbonates for a few reasons. First, the carbonate bond
may be too strong and the acid too weak to break the
bonds. Second, could be due to surface weathering. As the
rock is exposed to the elements, it develops a layer on
the surface that can be a few microns thick to fractions
of an inch thick. This weathering rind will prevent the
acid from reaching the unweathered carbonate below the
rind, and give a false reading. Generally, to eliminate
that possibility, we scratch the surface of the rock or
cleave a piece off the the sample so we get a fresh,
unweathered surface and test on that surface.
The idea of the vinegar was to use an acid that is
most commonly found in nearly every household.
Not everyone has access to HCl.

Frank


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

Robyn,

Frank wrote what I thought once I was finished skimming through the article.

Even if I had access to such chemicals, how often would I need them? Maybe once in 6 months if I have multiple tanks, maybe only once at all. Any chemical that I don't need to store in the house is a good one

Vinegar and a little bit of faith will have to do, at least for me.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks Frank & LF

I received the article via a newsletter I get from having signed up to a US cichlid forum. I wonder why they advise the use of something that is not readily available - seems a bit pointless doesn't it.

Just out of curiousity, I'm going to ask around here in Aus how hard it is to get, but experience tells me that if you find it hard, so will I. My children are all older, so I need not be so worried as LF in regards to having chemicals in the house.

I was interested, cause I tried the vinegar test on my gravel in the 43G & even after scratching the surface, I got no result. But something affects pH & hardness in that tank, even during a time when nothing other than fish, plants, wood & gravel were in there. So I was already doubting the vinegar test, before I read this.

Cheers
TW

Well I think one of my bolivians has died. I haven't seen him in 7 days even at feeding time. One of my bolivians is about 2 years old.

Great now I have one bolivian, one bosemani. I might bring the bosemani back along with maybe the 5 pencils to reduce the species count.

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Sorry about the Bolivian tetra. We discussed his age a few weeks ago, I wonder if it was indeed him. If so, at least you know he lived a good long life... after the hwole, ya know, brewery thing...

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Back in the saddle!

Sorry for the loss tetratch. Will you get a new friend for the surviving bolivian?

Cheers
TW

Thanks guys. Yes, we did talk about it Nowher and I knew it was coming. Robyn, I probably won't replace the ram, because the other one is pretty old too and I'm currently reevaluting the stock in my tank. Don't like to get rid of anything, but I'd like to move more toward a one species schooling fish. I still have the two young blue rams in there to compliment the schools I have.

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Sorry about the Ram, tetratech

Do you think it has been completely eaten by the tank mates? I would seriously start looking around in the tank for any remains.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Do you think it has been completely eaten by the tank mates? I would seriously start looking around in the tank for any remains

Thanks LF, I honestly can't find it. I started poking aroudn the back but no luck. I also have about 7 Amano shrimp in the tank. They probably picked at it as well.

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Sorry bout the ram, tetratech. It seems like everybody is having fish drop off, bummer.

In well established tanks(especially one with inverts or scavengers), unless you find them right away, you probably won't find them at all.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

In well established tanks(especially one with inverts or scavengers), unless you find them right away, you probably won't find them at all

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Yeah, I'm sure your right. Between the shrimp, kuli, corys and otos I'm sure it's pretty much gone.....

Does seem like a bad month so far for Cichlids here at FP

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Between the shrimp, kuli, corys and otos I'm sure it's pretty much gone.....

I didn't know you had corys in there too!

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

Yeah,

I think he has one Cory in there, right tetratech? Isn't he the sole surviving cory when your former tank had a nuclear meltdown?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hence the Bensaf fish stocking style.

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

I think he has one Cory in there, right tetratech? Isn't he the sole surviving cory when your former tank had a nuclear meltdown

Yeah, he seem pretty happy. I know the cory addicts don't approve, but I don't have much of a foreground otherwise I would get more.

Speaking of single fish I think I might return my one bosemani to the LFS today.

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Sounds good tetratech,

I am sure he is a lonely fellow in your tank there. Although one never knows where he will end up next, there is a chance that he will be better off.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I am sure he is a lonely fellow in your tank there. Although one never knows where he will end up next, there is a chance that he will be better off.

You are right of course, but I know of one LFS that has an endcap 72g with all rainbows in it and supposely they don't sell them. It's just display so I'll try to get him in there.



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A couple of nice schooling shots:



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When cardinals school they are tough to beat IMO.



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A couple of current tank shots. First before a major trim.



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and how the tank looks right now after a major trim. I also lightened up the stargrass groupings, making them more like accents. I just feel the plant is too much maint.in a hi-light, co2 tank. The aromatica, rotala and of course wistera are much more manageable.



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I've also repositioned the wood on the right so it's resting right on the ricca covered rock. Something about ricca in contact with DW

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The larger ricca stones closer to the light pearl much more than the lower stones in the foreground. Since they are in the same tank, the conclusion is pretty solid that hi-light is important for the riccia to pearl, although the lower ricca looks fine and does pearl sometimes, especially after a trim when the main group isn't shading it as much.

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When cardinals school they are tough to beat IMO.

And therein lies the problem, "When" they school. I am sure you had to get the whole family to dance around the tank and to scare them stiff in order for them to school so tight

No seriously, nice shots tetratech. Not surprisingly do I concur that the Riccia does much better with more light.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

And therein lies the problem, "When" they school. I am sure you had to get the whole family to dance around the tank and to scare them stiff in order for them to school so tight

We danced, we sung and of course we "blessed the rains down in Africa"

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But seriously, how come that they schooled so nicely? Or do they do that on a frequent basis? I thought I remembered that you mentioned the lack of schooling in your cardinals.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

So speaking of cardinals. Yours look quite nice. We got in some very nice cardinals and neons from FL sometime last week. Needles to say the Neons are gone and the Cardinals are almost gone. I was very tempted to bring some home because they hardly ever look that good. They were always schooling rather tightly too.

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

But seriously, how come that they schooled so nicely? Or do they do that on a frequent basis? I thought I remembered that you mentioned the lack of schooling in your cardinals

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No they usually don't school that's why I took the pics. I've noticed though now that the other bosemani is gone the remaining one chases all the fish around so that might have somthing to do with it.

Wings, I don't know if you remember, but the survival rate of my cardinals went up dramatically since I installed the UV. Absolutely without a doubt it made a hugh difference.
Once cards make it through the first few weeks their actually pretty tough fish and the UV helps them through the acclimation process when their immune systems are compromised by all the stress, thus open them up to parasites that are usually in the water.


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A UV filter is one of the few gadgets that I am looking into. The problem I see would be to get the right flow on a filter to assure that the light would kill all free swimming algae, my main concern. If, at the same flow rate, it would kill parasites and what not as well, that would be even better.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

A UV filter is one of the few gadgets that I am looking into. The problem I see would be to get the right flow on a filter to assure that the light would kill all free swimming algae, my main concern. If, at the same flow rate, it would kill parasites and what not as well, that would be even better.

I think that's another testament to how slow my flow rate is in my tank. The flow rate for killing parasites is slower than that for free floating algae and I'm obviously convinced of the effect the UV has had on cardinal survivability. I don't know how exact the recommended flows are for killing parsites, bacteria and/or algae. I'm sure it's not black and white, but rather how effective the kill rate is.

Let's face it. There are parasites probably in most fishes if not all. Why do you think fish get ich when they are stressed. I think it would be almost impossible to buy fish that you know don't have parasites (like untitled suggested with Blue Rams) I don't believe that's a realistic alternative, it's more realistic to keep the parasite suppressed so the fish lives a normal life.

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Yeah I know that your Cards did way better after adding the UV. I have thought about adding one but that is a lot of extra cash to spend on something that I probably don't need right now. Some day if I get into fish like Card or Neons I might get on.

I was just saying before that the fish that came in were hard to resist from buying. They hardly ever look so good.

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

A UV that is in charge of killing parasites would be rather useless to me in the big tank as all fish go for 3 to 4 weeks into the QT first anyway. And rigging that tank to include a UV seems more trouble than not.

My main objective would be algae - DESTROY

Ingo

EDIT: Closing in on 2000, aren't we?

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

A UV that is in charge of killing parasites would be rather useless to me in the big tank as all fish go for 3 to 4 weeks into the QT

O.K. so because your little fishes are in QT for 3/4 weeks they don't have parasites. I honestly think it's more the other way around. The UV almost makes the QT useless. With the UV I know it's continuosly killing anything that gets into the water with the QT, just because the parasite doesn't rear it's ugly head in a months time doesn't mean they aren't there, lurking, waiting for an opportunity. If the fish visiblity looks good when purchased, without any obvious signs of illness, I would take a UV over a QT anytime.

EDIT: And yes you could use my 2000 post to respond

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And yes you could use my 2000 post to respond

The I will do that

First off, Hey 2000

If the UV is that good then I agree. If it wouldn't be for all kinds of "issues" that could be carried in with a new fish that are outside of the parasite vs. UV battle.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Here is my view on things. I think most people have problems with their fish when they don't take care of them proporly. Most people don't do Water changes the corect way, often enough or their tank is not yet cycled. This lack of tank care leads to weak fish and opens the door to things like parasites or any other issue a fish may face. If you know the cycling process and are good about your water changes you shouldn't have many issues with most fish. Though there are some fish that are touchier than other. Things like your cards. When adding new fish to your tank a drip method will work wonders. Also it is good to buy fish from a good source. Make sure there hasn't been any losses in the LFS tank. Personaly I think a QT is a good idea because who knows what a fish might come with. Plus it is easeir to pull a fish from a QT than a thick plantet tank. On the down side once the fish gets used to the QT and you are sure its healthy you are going to move it again causing more stress. Where the UV may come in handy.

I really think this is a six to one and half a dozen to the other type of argument and it will really depend on the situation.

for 2000 post in your log Tetra!

I will be happy to hit 200 with mine! I guess a camera would help maters...

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

Well, thanks for the 2000 congrats! I'll just say 2000 posts to my thread and I'm still married.

Anyway, I'm not saying the QT is a waste. It could only help detect something, but I don't think because a fish spends a month in QT it could be declared healthy. Yes, of course there are things that the UV won't catch or destroy, but most problems with fish happen in the first few weeks, thus the logic behind the QT. The fundamental difference I have is that fish have parasites or are e to infection when they are stressed. So if you put a fish in your tank after QT and something stresses it and there is something in the tank the fish might still become sick, but if you have a UV constantly destroying things, than the fish will not be open to infection when it gets stressed. I noticed this first hand with the cardinals and of course my blue rams look fine. I don't think you could ever say you bought a fish without parasites just by looking at it.

BTW - I've never had a QT. Ever fish I bought for my 72g went straight in and I've never had an outbreak of anything since the UV went in.

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bought a fish without parasites just by looking at it.

Really who knows! Can you see them when they aren't hanging off the fish?

One other thing. Don't add LFS water to your tank will help matters also. I buy all most stuff now from my own store and I don't mix waters.

So point of the story is for fish like rams and cards a UV is the deal?

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

If I could afford a UV sterilizer, I'd plumb one in under my tank in a heartbeat. I wouldn't use it all the time, but if I were getting new fish, or the fish seemed stressed for some reason, I'd turn it on for a few weeks. Unfortunately, they'll never come down much in price without suffering in the effectiveness category, due to the crystal(not glass) used for the UV bulb sleeve. those things are just down right difficult to make, ship, and on top they break easily. They make all different sizes capable of handling different flow rates. I'm not sure if that was answered. A higher wattage bulb is also longer, meaning that parasites are exposed to the UV longer, so a higher flow rate can be used.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I'm not sure if that was answered. A higher wattage bulb is also longer, meaning that parasites are exposed to the UV longer, so a higher flow rate can be used.

That's a a really good point. The stronger uv will not require as slow a rate as the smaller ones.

I have the coralife 9W, about $70 online. That's another reason why I think my flow is pretty slow, because it is killing parasites (from what I could tell) The eheim is only 185gph to begin with, plus you have the height, the UV on the return, plus I can't remember the last time I cleaned it. (probably 3 months)

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O.K. I usually don't like my tank right after I trim, but for some reason the tank I thought was looking pretty good. So the following are 3 pics that start out as a full tank shot and then go further into the center.

Driftwood is a funny thing. I was never really thrilled with my DW(preferred LF's ADG Wood, but the pieces in these pics are the same pieces I've had for a long time just rearranged and they actually don't look to bad.

First a full tank shot with baby nano (update probably within a few days) to the left:






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A little closer:



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and even closer:



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I see floating wisteria

Looks great, but I think you should keep going, and make a flip book animation, where it looks like you are falling from outside the tank into the riccia rocks or something.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

preferred LF's ADG Wood

Now if I only knew how to make the ADG wood glow

tetratech,

Looking nice, and the word that struck me first when looking at the tank was "compact". I guess with that I mean that the plants seem full as a mass in the entire tank. There are no gaps or empty spaces, at least not in the areas where there shouldn't be any. The only thing that I think does not quite fit, and I mentioned this before, is that the large Riccia rock at the right of the main group in the back, is too large of an even structure. When the Ricca there is in full swing it will take the focus away from the main plant group.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Looks great, but I think you should keep going, and make a flip book animation, where it looks like you are falling from outside the tank into the riccia rocks or something.

uh, thanks

LF,
My young grasshopper. Yes the riccia rock on the right looks big I agree, but the tank was just trimmed so the stems are small.

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My young grasshopper

Glad you didn't call me "Old Man"

Yes, you just trimmed the tank. But I made the same statement when it was not trimmed. And I am sticking to it. What else can I do? Otherwise, all I would have to say is "Looks really nice" and that would be boring, wouldn't it?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

But I made the same statement when it was not trimmed. And I am sticking to it

Ever since you got that promotion.

Anywho, I guess we'll see next set of pics in a few days when things grow in a bit.

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Looks good tetra. I can see you eventually replacing the wisteria on the right with more big riccia rocks and then planting some stems behind them, like some of Amano's old tanks or not but I definetly like the use of big riccia stones

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Back in the saddle!

Thanks nowher Yeah the big ricca stones are really .
The thought did cross my mind to actually take out all my stems plants except the aromatica and add different levels of riccia stones throughout. Notice the blyxa group on the left looks much fuller. It's getting better light since the riccia doesnt' shade it as much as the stargrass/wisteria used to.

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It's getting better light since the riccia doesnt' shade it as much as the stargrass/wisteria used to

- I think it gets its light from the Nano -

Big Riccia rocks

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I think it gets its light from the Nano

Never thought about that

Big Riccia rocks

You know you want some

Amano with eggs:



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My Scapes

Something about an Amano shrimp on riccia. I think an image like this is what got me into planted aquaria. I've fulfilled a dream. "A shrimp on a piece of floating weed held down by a woman's hairnet".

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So do I still need to send you some salt for that shrimp of yours?

As always Tetra...Very nice!

Any thoughts of adding more wood? Maybe just one or two more chunks?

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
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Very nice Amano shrimpsters, tetratech

Cool to see the eggs in the first shot. Just the other day I was looking into some thread here at FP (don't remember the forum) where Cali linked to some shrimp site. Either directly on that site, or by perusing the web thereafter, I read that Amano shrimp babies have a larvea stage that requires almost pure saltwater for them to survive.

Oh - now my old age is setting in - did I get this confused with your Ninja shrimp? Or maybe it was both? Man, I really can't remember now

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

No, you got that right. The amano fry supposely need some salt to survive. Supposely the adults live in freshwater streams, but the fry when born float back to saltwater and eventually end up back in the stream. It could be worse, you could be a salmon.

My Scapes

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Now this is really funny. Well done tetratech, I guess you couldn't stand the non-dynamic title anymore

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks for the acknowledgement LF!
and on with the show............

You know your a plantgeek, when things like this are more exciting than the fish swimming around. Here is shot of how my wisteria runs through the riccia covered rocks in part of my foreground. These have not been clipped by me and are crawling through from the larger wisteria group seen in the midground.




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A closer shot:



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I see you are still cracking the whip! It is nice to see your wisteria still moving around. Mine isn't doing that much any more.

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

Full tank shot from this morning. I added an extra DW in the middle but I think it's too thick a piece (yes Wings, I thought about it myself and then you mentioned as well.

Some fish changes as well, nothing new added but I decreased my species count by two. I turned in my 5 pencil fish to a good LFS and my 4 black neons. The pencils and black neons I had from the getgo and only lost one black neon from an ich outbreak prior to my UV. The pencils and neons really disappeared into the tank and because they were about the same size as the cards just added clutter to the look of the tank. I'm probably going to move the bosemani since I only have one and I know a good LFS that has a 72g endcap display tank of all rainbows. Because I still have twenty-something cardinals I'll probably add another 10 or so right off the bat. Actually I did add three more amano shrimp to the tank giving me a total of 10 (I think)


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I'm not too sure I think it's too large/thick a peice of driftwood. I think it fits right in like it's been there the whole time. I actually had to go back in the log to make sure I knew which peice it was that you added.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Tetra,

Nice work on the DW. It looks very natural but a thinner chunk might be better. Leave it be for a while and see if it grows on you.

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

So what's the general consenous about me putting my agassizi in my 72g with the bolivian and the blue rams?

I really don't like the way they look in the 12g and I really want the shrimp crawling around Monkey Skull Island.

My Scapes

I think it'll work, tetra. My guess is the agazzssszsszszszs's will find a territory and hang out there, maybe get a little pushy there but nothing terrible.

I know this tank has probably been long torn down, but Amano managed a 40G tank with 4 rams, a pair of a. borelli, pair of cacs and a pair of aggazsamajiggers. Im sure it'll work fine.

And good call on the fish stock. It's nicer to have one big group than a few small ones, but these sort of things happen when you get into the hobby and develop your tastes and style along the way. What we started out with (tiger barbs in my case ) sometimes ends up being far away from what we eventually like and gravitate towards when it comes to fish.

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Back in the saddle!

Thanks nowhere, I'm probably gonna do it. I think I'm alittle gun shy, because long ago as you said when your sorta feeling out fish I threw a pair of kribs in my old 46g and I had some rams at the time and I'm pretty sure I lost a few from the stress that the kribs gave them, but I don't think the agassiz are nearly as agresssive as kribs. I might have issues if and when they decide to breed.

Yeah I'm definitey happier with less species at this point. I will probably move the rainbow later this week.
Even though I'll still have 9 species in the tank only two really patrol the middle of the water column. The rest are either bottom feeders or rams that pretty much stay on the bottom.

Cardinals (23)
Rummynose (4)
Blue rams (2)
Bolivian rams (1)
Apistos (2 - if added)
Otos (7 or 8)
Cory (1 - might add a few more)
Kuhli loaches (2)
Amano shrimp (9 or 10)





My Scapes

The only theoretical conflict I could see would be the apistos and the cories - there are more than a few cases of apistos doing some eye-pecking at cories when they breed. Could be an issue, might not be. But there's a good deal of precedent for it, so just one thing to consider.

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Back in the saddle!

The only theoretical conflict I could see would be the apistos and the cories -

That doesn't sound good since I only have one cory and he would need his sight to get around since he doesn't have a school to rely on.

Well it is done. I ordered the 48" coralife reflector. So I'm moving up to 1.8/3.6wpg lighting schedule.

What am I getting myself into

My Scapes

Well it is done. I ordered the 48" coralife reflector.

yay. Can't wait to see the colors POP in your stems. I'm actually thinking of going with another 96w pc strip on mine. It might just be initial growth, but things are a little leggy down on the substrate and a lot of the glosso growth was straight up. I'll give it some time, though.

And nowhere, don't make fun of the tiger barbs....they are still one of my fav fish ever.

I think the apistos will be fine in there too. Not an ideal situation, but I think it should work fine. There's lots of cover and plenty of room.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

So I'm moving up to 1.8/3.6wpg lighting schedule.

What am I getting myself into

Yeah whatever. I am running 3.25/6.5wpg. I think the 6.5 is now up to around 2 hours. About 10 minutes after that light comes on the plants pearl like crazy! Overall lights is only at 9-10 hours. No signs of bad stuff poping up in the tank though the Otos have been extra crazy eating....

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
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Yeah whatever. I am running 3.25/6.5wpg

You the Man!

My Scapes

The 48" light is pretty good, that's what I have for my new big tank now. I like Coralife fixtures, definetely good quality. Made me realize one of my rookie mistakes - I must have gone through 3 light hoods on the 46 before settling on a good one. The moral of the story, of course, is to just buy the best one you can right from the beginning, because you're wasting money in the long run.
I have the 4X65 one, and I'm interested to see how it makes a difference on your tank


Matty, I'm actually still a fan of tiger bards, I think they're absolutely beautiful... just not in their personalities. One big male killed off some smaller ones. I couldn't add anything to their tank, when i first added BN they pecked at it whenever it came out of its cave. Like little pirhanas. They used to peck at my hand when in the tank. I would love to do a 30 or so gallon species tank with them, but that's for the future. They just dont fit in with the "peaceful" planted tank theme.

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Back in the saddle!

Sorry tetratech to take up more of the thread, but I have to put this up for nowher(you can also see the ugly beginnings of my planted tank attemptsbut my anubias IS flowering):

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bware!

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

The 48" light is pretty good

So were gonna have the same light you on your 65g and my on my 72g . So your pushing 4wpg, not as much as wings 6.5wpg, but we all can't be total animals.

BTW - everything work out O.K. with Glass Cages. I heard some iffy things about them.

Matty,
It's O.K. you could show your killer fish on my thread. Nothing scares me I have a tank full of starving cardinal tetras. They are cousins to the piranha.

EDIT: Forgot to mention when I ordered the 48" light I also orderd 10,000k and Actintic 96watt bulbs for my 36" fixutre that will go on my reef tank. So that will give my 192w on the 46g. Yep I'm almost there Matty...............


My Scapes

Actually, I'm probably not going to use the 4WPG. For what I'm going for it won't be needed, but again, I just wanted it just in case someday I do decide I want to make my life harder than it is a have a full 4WPG tank

Everything went smooth with glasscages. I think a fair comparison with them is B&H camera in NYC. If you go in there and you know what you want, everything is fine. But if you go in all iffy about what youre looking for, they'll probably get a little short with you. I knew what I wanted so everything was fine. Plus the quality of the product is very good, and the price was unbeatable. No complaints.

That said, I can see where people would call them iffy. Some of their glass aquariums look sloppy in the seals on the website. I also wouldn't get a very very big tank from them, especially a rimless even though they say they'll make them. But like I said, I'm very happy with the product I got from them.

As for Matty's pic, those plants seem to be crying out, "Nitrates!... give us nitrates!!! and potassium!"

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Back in the saddle!

And what the crap is that on the bottem of the tank Matty? Did your girl friend pick that out for you?

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

Boah,

Gone for a little while and when I come back I see that the light(sabre) wars have broken out .

Anyway, I find the idea of getting a longer light unit a good one, but I think I stated that a few times already

And I must have missed most of the camera talk, so no comment there.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi,
I would take that plant out of that plastic plant and
replant it in the substrate. Let the plant grow and
spread its roots and it will get even more nutrients.
Frank


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

Frank, I guess I should have stated that the pic was taken 3 years ago now. The anubias was eventually taken out of the pot and grew to about 2 feet before I had to get rid of it this summer.

I only have 2 tanks now, none of which have blue gravel. I think for the most part the plants were crying out for light and CO2...there was plenty in the way of nitrates...maybe not potassium, but it was just a wreck of a tank. I just thought the pic was fitting for nowhers comments.

Did your girl friend pick that out for you?

*Shakes fish at wings*

Glad to hear the SW tank is coming along, I was starting to get nervous!

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I decided to move my apistos into my 72g. They just didn't loook right in the 12g. I guess I'm more into the scape and the fish are secondary. Also the java covered mountain is perfect for a bunch of shrimps to be walking on and keeping it clean.



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My Scapes

Good move, IMO. I thought the male looked a bit too big for the 12 as well. The shrimps will probably make that tank zero effort, cleaning up the java moss.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Yeah,

Sounds like a good move to me as well. Just keep an eye on the potential territory fights that may happen soon, once they are settled it should be peaceful again, until breeding season kicks in

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Sounds like a good move to me as well. Just keep an eye on the potential territory fights that may happen soon, once they are settled it should be peaceful again, until breeding season kicks in

Well if my saltwater tank is not successful, the 46g bow could one day be a breeder tank. I'm waiting for my lights to come in (should arrive Thursday) and I should be ready to start setting up the salt water tank.

My Scapes

Hey...I don't want to hear any of that negative thinking tetratech.

BTW what are you using for water...RO?

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I guess it's become a tradition so here's my one year recap:

Initial setup of tank with just the hardscape. My wife took one look and say "Apolcalyptic" I was off to a great start.



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Day 1 with plants added didn't look that much better. Nice bubble ladder on a 72g.



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Day 14 brought nice plant growth but with it Greenwater and a willow tree.

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By day 30 I beat back the GW and the tank saw some nice lush growth.




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At 3 months the lush growth was gone, due probably to an underdose of macros.



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But the depleted plant groupings gave me a chance to order some new plant species.




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Jumping ahead to 6 months, the "Stellaromatica" clearly become the dominate plant in my setup:



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At 9 months IMO the tank kinda peaked and took on it's lushest look yet.


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At 10 months I started to cut back some of the wisteria to make room for more of a beachfront with more riccia, rock and blyxa.




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At 11 months I took the riccia into the midground of the tank.




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During the year I certainly had my down points, which included: greewwater, fert deficienies, some interesting comments that included: "..your center rock looks like Hendrix with a frow", "crushed crab legs", "still life", but overall I received far more positive comments so I think it was an up year. Special thanks to LF, Nowher, Wings, Matty, Tankwatcher for posting in the thread and of course to Bensaf who pretty much schooled me and forced me to stick with EI even when it was as alien as ET. Anyway here is the tank at 1 year. After adding these big ricca pieces to the midground the tank still needs some fine-tuning. So the pursuit of perfection goes on....



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My Scapes

Very nice review tetra but I wish you would have really shown the GW! It was really bad in there if I remember right. For the newer people the green water being gone didn't have much to do with the willow trees but the UV.

Did you add more cards? I count 16!

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

Well tetratech,

Thank you so much for your annual update, it shows how the tank evolved over time in just a few pictures. If there would have been a competition (which was not the case) on who of us has achieved more (in the scaping department, at least) during that one year then you would have been easily the winner (everyone who would say otherwise just doesn't want to hurt me, ).

After a relative short ride-in time you started to successfully change small things in the tank to make it look better and better, very nice.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

BTW...

See my log!

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

Well, LF I see you started a very interesting trend. Nice to see your journey, tetratech.

Cheers
TW

Thanks all for the comments. Looking forward to seeing yours one day Tankwatcher.

BTW - Did anyone notice the cardinals in the middle of the tank on the last shot. I've noticed better schooling behavior since I reduced the species of tetras. Probably just coincedence.


My Scapes

Probably just coincedence

I don't think so. You may remember that I once wrote about the schooling of my Espei (not tetras - I know). When the group was really large there was no schooling at all anymore as fish were everywhere. Once reduced in numbers, the schooling started again.

I see the same possibility with your tank. There was just no need to school.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I don't think so. You may remember that I once wrote about the schooling of my Espei (not tetras - I know). When the group was really large there was no schooling at all anymore as fish were everywhere. Once reduced in numbers, the schooling started again.

Thanks, but in this case the reduction is with other species of tetras not the cardinals.



My Scapes

Same deal tetratech,

Schools form because the fish stay in formation if there is too much open space in which a potential predator may hide. If fish are in the open everywhere then there is no space left for a predator anymore, or he would have eaten one of the fish already.

Ergo: Fish, not even from the same species but similar in size and as such similar "food" for predators, will see no need to hold formation if there is no chance that they will be in danger.

At least this is my reasoning,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Did you add more cards? I count 16!

I saw the Cards. They look nice. What is your count!

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

I saw the Cards. They look nice. What is your count!

I've had 22/23 for a long time now. I'm actually thinking about adding 10 more, but not before I get rid of the rainbow. It's a beautiful fish, but it really doesn't fit in the tank and makes a difficult to feed all the cichlids, let alone the waste he produces. Once gone I think all of my fish will be south american.

My Scapes

Nice Summary there tetratech. I really have to say I like the current version the best. The extra DW peice really stands out along with more of the riccia rocks. I know the stems in back probably aren't full due to the addition of the DW so once those fill back in it will be even nicer.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Thanks for the comments Matty. Needs some tweaking but I like the current pics too.

Well I guess it's fitting that I'll be starting off the second year of the tank with a new lights that should be arriving today. I'm going from 192 to 260watt total. Hopefully it wasn't a mistake and the tank can handle it.
I guess if it's too much light it would be a good excuse to use the new 4 foot fixture on a 5 foot tank.

With the new lights, I did think about making a fresh start and tearing the tank down and build something completely different. Maybe that's a good plan keep the tank for a year for better or for worse and then try something new every year. Unfortunately I don't think I would have the time to do that right now and besides I do have the darkside tank to setup shortly.

Another concern is the light will make the plants grow faster and I'll have to trim even more. The "10 second tidy" coined by Bensaf will become a "20 second tidy" and believe me 10 seconds a day adds up One thing I like right now is the growth rate of the riccia. It grows fine by not so fast that I'm constantly trimming it. The foreground riccia pearls at times, but the midgrond stuff is another story. With the new lights I'll probably have to trim all of it more, not to mention the pearling gives the riccia more boyancy and pulls it away from the attached rock.

Here's a pic through the side last nite showing massive riccia pearling and the rotala joined in too. This is true pearling and not based on a water change.

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My Scapes

As you know I am running 260W on my 40G now for a few weeks. I have found that my growth hasn't really taken off that much but the plants pearl much more often. I don't think they are trying to get to the light as fast being they are getting good light.

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

Nice pearling there tetratech..I'd love to see a nice supermacro of that...It would make me want to get a 125G full of pearling riccia so I can lay down in it.

IMO the real limiting factor for actual upwards growth in most well lit aquaria is not light. It's the other stuff like CO2 and N and P. I kinda agree with wings. I haven't noticed faster upward growth with more light(as compared to my 38g with 2ish wpg), actually less. Most things tend to grow bushier instead. I have noticed more growth from the chain swords and the baby's tears have really startled me with their rate of growth.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

the real limiting factor for actual upwards growth in most well lit aquaria is not light. It's the other stuff like CO2 and N and P. I kinda agree with wings. I haven't noticed faster upward growth with more light(as compared to my 38g with 2ish wpg), actually less. Most things tend to grow bushier instead. I have noticed more growth from the chain swords and the baby's tears have really startled me with their rate of growth.

Well I hope that applys to the riccia as well. Bushier sounds good!

My Scapes

I'll watch what happens with your light very lots of interest. I couldn't decide for longest time what light to get for my still empty 4ft. Firstly I paid & ordered the 48" light, then I rang the guy put it on hold while I thought about putting the 3ft light on the 4ft tank. He kept telling me the legs wouldn't work, but the light manufacturer said he'd make a 4ft light, but only put the light fittings of a 3 footer in there. As usual, I procrastinated for the longest time - but when I saw you've ordered the 4footer, I did the same.

So, I'll really be interested to see how it goes. I think bushier growth, rather than upwards growth, sounds good too. Upward growth just means more frequent trimming.

Can't wait to see all that bushy new growth in your tank.

Cheers
TW

Well I installed the new light today. Some pros and cons right off the bat:

Pros:
-Consistent light across the entire tank. I could really see my riccia in the corners now.
-It's easier to clean the glass top, since the light isn't sitting on the top but is up on the 1.5 inch legs.
-Visually it looks alittle nicer that the light is the length of the tank.

Cons:
-Becuase the light is raised 1.5 inches it lights up the glass top as well, showing off the dirt, etc. I guess I'll be clean this more often.
-It's very tempting to go without the glass top, which I'm sure one could do, but you see all the braces on the AGA tank.
-And the biggest con is that it makes me want a braceless tank even more

My Scapes

Can we see a picture of the tank with the new light, pretty please.

Cheers
TW

I am with Robyn,

Can we see a shot of the whole tank with the new light in place?

Also, what is your plan for lighting hours?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

It may not look like I follow this thread, but I do. This and LITTLE_FISH thread are so much fun to read, but I hardly post.

I'd like to see a full shot with the new lights, also.

-Visually it looks alittle nicer that the light is the length of the tank.

Really? Prove it!

-It's very tempting to go without the glass top, which I'm sure one could do, but you see all the braces on the AGA tank

Yeah don't do it. I did it for quite a while on my tank. I didn't mess up the fixture but if I kept going with it I might have. When I pulled my bulbs to throw into the Current I found one of the screws that holds in the reflecters a bit rusty. Trust me it does look much nicer but we don't want fish tank caused house fires. Your wife will never let you have a fish tank again! And that my friend would be

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

Heloooooo...... 's for echo.

*taps foot impatiently for explanation of prolonged absense*

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Methinks tetra has moved on to "greener" pastures...

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Back in the saddle!

Without even saying goodbye

but you can't fool me....he still visits.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I am telling you:

Either he is busy with his new dark side project and wants to keep it a secret until it is set up,
Or he is about to win some major scaping award and wants to await the results,
Or he is bored of us

Ingo

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