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Just run the tubing to the intlet. Stick it in through the cage around the inlet. Just has to be around the entrance as the CO2 can get sucked into the inlet. Not right up against it.

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There is always a bigger fish...

Day 5

Tonight I don't have too much to write about.

I added my 12 Harlequin Rasbora Espei to the big tank and they are patrolling its entire length - back and forth and back and forth .

I took them out of my 20G which is going down quickly. BGA is returning and it had a whopping 40ppm Nitrate. Not enough plants in there for EI, I guess. But the twin bar Platy had babies as I still see one tiny bugger swimming in there.

I measured 20ppm Nitrate in the big tank, which makes me a little worried as tomorrow would be the next scheduled addition of Macros. I wonder if I should maybe make a water change before that (don't scream at me Bensaf ), so I hope one of the wise elders will help me out and give advice.

Here is a not so great picture of the Espei school partolling the tank.

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

My turn to do a list:

1. You trust your test kits too much.
2. 20ppm Nitrate is not that high.
3. You can give a touch less in macro dosing today, but still dose some (say 5ppm) in case your kit is wrong.
4.They ain't Espei's.
5. They are Hengeli Rasbora. Espei's have a much bigger black wedge, overall orange tint on the body. Hengeli have a much narrower black wedge bordered by an bright irridescent orange stripe and a silverish body.
6.You have the same fish as me
7. I need a drink.

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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.

They look like porkchop rasboras....not sure of the scientific name there, might be either of the aforementioned species. Anywho...still lookin good.

LF I think you are right when you talk about not having enough plants for EI as they assume a heavily planted tank. I also think you may need some more in the 125(as well as the completion of a cycle/stable environment) before everything measures out.

It also doesn't matter where you put the co2 tubing as long as the bubbles stay in the reactor for as long as possible.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Bensaf,

I remember your fishies from one of Your Entries in the Photo Booth forum and I remember the following discussion between Cup_Of_Livenoodles and you as to what Rasbora these are and me throwing in that I once saw them at the LFS (I actually didn’t see yours, I saw Espei as I know now) and correcting you that they are not called Hengali.

I still think that I have the Espei though. After reading the before mentioned post, I did some research as to what the visual difference between the Hengeli and the Espei is and I found this:

Hengeli is …“Very similar to Rasbora espei, the body is a bit more translucent, and Rasbora hengeli remains smaller (3.5 to 4 cm vs. 4.5 cm {I added this from another section in the same listing}). The body color in Rasbora espei is furthermore more red, and Rasbora espei has a small black line behind the head, which in dead specimens of Rasbora hengeli isn't visible.”

Here is A Link that contains the info.

I also found these two pictures that best show the difference between the Espei and the Hengeli:

Espei]http://www.rasbora.de/Zierfischgalerie/NOTespei.jpg[/link] and [link=Hengeli

Although mine look a little pale in the picture, they for sure are bright orange when fully happy (I released them into the tank about 15 min earlier). Given the picture mentioned above and your pictures in your post, I conclude that you truly have the Hengeli. Given my crappy picture but the clear view that I have at them in my tank, I have the Espei.

Ingo

Matt – The Espei is also known as the Lambchop Rasbora. I didn’t know there is also a Porkchop () or were you just very hungry when you wrote this post? With regards to EI, I guess I need more plants then.

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

This is one of my Rasbora Espei

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 29-Sep-2005 03:05[/font]

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Very nice Little_Fish.
I really like the rock set up

Robby

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

Well, I don't see anyone addressing this ]:| (You
ll have to excuse, haven't had my java yet this morning), so here I go again.

If the tank is going thru a mini-cycle because of plants, etc. wouldn't the nitrate level be increased by this, plus your adding no3.

I just took my readings last nite and I had:

Oops, sorry that's another thread.....




My Scapes

Sorry, me wrong. Now I see a close up it's definately an Espei

I had to fill the list with something

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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.

LF,

Not sure if you already mentioned this in the thread but are you running all your lights 11, 12 hours? Reason I ask is that you have 386 watts and I have 196, but our tanks are the same height and width, yours is 2 feet longer (goes on forever). I'm currently running running 96 watts 12 hours and 192 watts 9 hours.

My Scapes

Good question as I have not mentioned it before.

Currently, I turn half of my lights (the 6,700K) on at 9AM and off at 8PM, that means 11 hours. With it, the CO2 is turned on as well.

The other half (5,000K) are on from 10AM to 7PM, means 9 hours.

And, last but not least, my disco lights go on at 8PM for about an hour and a half. In case you don't know what I mean, these are the 6 blue LEDs in my light strip. It looks cool although the dark green sponge in my CO2 Power Reactor shines a light green neon . I was hoping the orange in the Espei would have the same reaction, but this didn't happen .

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Everything is looking good! When is the next full tank shot?

Or should I question my results as my town's water has a GH of 2 (based on town data from 2004 dug out by Tryst)?

Old town data. I'd either call up your water supply or trust your own results.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Gang,

The day has finally come; I am starting the log of my 125G.

Preface
Before I go into any details, I wish to express my gratitude to the many members of FP that helped me to get to this point. I think there was not one area of tank related topics that I didn’t have a question about (well, except topics from the dark side) and I always found someone here to give me an answer or to guide me in the right direction. I don’t want to mention any particular members in fear of forgetting someone, but if you read my other posts you will quickly know who these wonderful people are.

About the log
I would like to structure this log on entries that I have seen from mattyboombatty, Dr. Bonke, trystianity, and the like. This means that I will provide updates of the status of my tank, with pictures if possible. I am very open to comments and suggestions and don’t mind having discussions within the log, as long as they are focused on this tank and don’t develop a life of their own. Nevertheless, there is one thing that I don’t want to see here:

“You should have done this instead”

What is done is done, even if it was false to do. I have no problems with suggestions on how to change things in the future, but a lecture on what I did wrong is not helpful. I hope this doesn’t sound too harsh.

The Goal
The focus of this tank is neither to win an aquascaping contest nor to win a fish contest. I would like to create an environment where I can play with lots of plants and enjoy the various fish that it will house as I believe this concept will give me the most pleasure for the buck.

The Tank
All pieces of this setup are currently stacked in the basement and will be set up within the next 4 days (which is when my plants will arrive). The tank itself is an AGA 125G (72x18x22) that will sit on a black pine stand on my basement’s concrete (and carpeted) floor. I have 386W of Power Compacts which will give me a little over 3WPG. It will be filtered by an Eheim Pro II (Model 2028), Heated by 2x300W Visi-Therms, and CO2 powered by injection with tank, regulator, and power reactor. In addition, I currently have about 200lbs of gravel, 135lbs of rocks, 3 boxes of Laterite, and one lousy piece of driftwood sitting in the basement. Plus all the other minor things that are needed, but we will come to this when it will be used for the tank.

Conclusion
I hope this will become an exciting thread that shows all the ups and downs one has to go through when setting up a tank and its evolution during the first couple of months in its existence. I promise I will be honest and state all my mistakes (maybe someone would like to learn from them) and I ask you to forgive me if I once in a while write good things in the style of a little boy (which I am on the inside). And, sorry for this long introduction.

Welcome to the world of LITTLE_FISH,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

By the way LF, I think I might do the same as per your suggestion with my log. I believe we are taking two totally different approaches to the planted tank so it should be very interesting.





My Scapes

Looking forward to it Ingo.

You're other tanks have shown that you have quite the eye for Aquascaping, interested in seeing how this one turns out.

You have the right approach - at the end of the day you'll be the one looking and living with the tank every day, do whatever pleases you esthetically.

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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.

...and one lousy piece of driftwood sitting in the basement

Well I hope you do find some nice driftwood. I'ts never too late to change some things around (I still am ). I'll definitely be looking in on how things progress - I can't wait for some pics!

This has inspired me to try and update my log, hopefully with a picture. *runs out to see if batteries are charged yet*

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Ok,

Thank you all for your encouraging words. Now here is the first “real” entry with picture.

Last night I have been able to set the tank on the stand.

- First, I had to use a few wooden shims (very thin) to correct some uneven spots of the concrete floor under the carpet. You can still see the ends sticking out at the sides (and the levels in the front).
- Next, I placed the background on the tank; it is the “Deep Ocean” foil that you secure with a few strips of tape. In reality it is much darker, but the flash makes it look a light blue.
- Then I used a 1” Styrene insulation sheet and placed it on the inside of the frame. In one of my earlier posts we were discussing if it should go on top or inside and I concluded that the best way for me to use it is on the inside, solemnly for insulation purposes. One main reason to do so was the concern that the top of my tank will get to high to comfortably reach into the tank.
- Finally, the tank was placed on the stand and that is where I am right now. The next steps (gravel washing) will be done tonight.

Ingo

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Gang,

This evening I spend 3 hours washing 160lbs of gravel and cleaning 165oz of Pure Laterite. My fingers are all wrinkly .

Once I place the first layer of gravel in the tank (about 1” high, or 60lbs) I mixed it up with the Laterite. Then I placed the remaining gravel on top in a way that the back is about 1 to 2 inches higher than the front.

Next, I used a nailbrush to clean my rocks and placed them in the tank, hoping that you can identify that I tried to apply the “golden rule” of placing the focus point 1.6 from the left (= 45 inches).

After that, I couldn’t resist and had to set up the light on top of the tank. I love it.

Please be so kind and provide me with your thoughts about this layout as I only will have time until Saturday morning to perform major changes (then the plants come).

Thank you so much,

Ingo

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

And a shot from the left...

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

...and the right

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

ohhhh...very nice, i love those rocks, i personaly would leave it how it is, but im not very good at aquascaping so i dont know.
i cant wait to see it with plants

its me sk8freak20...i need to get premie so i can change my name back

LF,

I really like the rocks, but I think that one piece of driftwood competes with the rocks and distracts from the main focal area, but the rocks are beautiful.



My Scapes

They are nice rocks.

On the layout of the rocks, I'm not too keen on the two "fingers" pointing at one another. Bit like a partly raised suspension bridge, or a mirror reflection.

How about one pointing more upwards or out towards the front. Or maybe not have them kinda a parallel, one group pushed a bit more to the back or one pushed more to the front. The rocks are pretty much arranged in a straight line running across the middle. Breaking that line and having some more forward or some further back will heighten the perception of depth. Something you will find important when it comes to planting a relatively narrow tank.

One "trick" that's often used is too place the biggest rock in a central position relative to the others. Then the other rocks around this one are arranged in such a way that they all "point" to the central rock. This gives a more natural aged "been there forever" look.

This is an ideal opportunity to play with the location. Try different things with the placement step back study for a while, re-arrange etc. You won't be able to do much when the tank is set up and planted so try to get the best arrangement now.

Try different things. Have fun

Last edited by bensaf at 23-Sep-2005 03:02

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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.

Today, I added all the hardware to the tank and, based on input from the members above, I change the aquascape around a little.

Setting up the Eheim 2028 and my CO2 system was easier than anticipated. On the other hand, this doesn’t come as a surprise as I bugged various members of FP about these thing for quite a while and all info could be utilized here.

I even included the info that Tom Barr posted yesterday with regards of filter intake, spraybar, and reactor positioning (although he talks about a venturi thing that I don’t have).

Last but not least, I got all messed up over some last minute fertilizer info that I could not comprehend. You can see [link=The Details]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Planted%20Aquaria/64553.html?200509232200" style="COLOR: #ff6633[/link] in this thread.

Ingo

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

And a detail view of the rocks ...

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

... and some parts of the in-the-tank hardware.

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

LF,

Looking good, I think the tank now has a more defined central focus.

Just so I understand that is your return spray bar to the left of the reactor. It's in a vertical position to help spread the c02 thru the water column as per Mr Barr's suggestion. Interesting, my first reaction to that would have been it will create to much water movement, but I guess it's deep so the gas isn't escaping to the surface but being infused.

I'm sure you quite busy today with the tank. Look forward to new pics.



My Scapes

Gang,

Just a quick update. Yesterday (Saturday) my plants came in, but not until 4PM. A few plants on my list have not been available, so I got a refund. Unfortunately, only 1 out of 4 Hair Grasses and 1 out of 4 Amano Pearl Grasses arrived. The biggest downer was the fact that ALL the Wisteria has been replaced with Water Sprite. During the setup I found some unknown plants that I added to the tank as well.

Well, I started planting right away and it took me 8 hours until the last plant entered the tank. At midnight I fired up the heaters and filter, added 3 tsp of Baking Soda, and went to sleep.

I AM SOOOOO TIRED

I don’t have a pictured ready to show you yet, but be pre-warned -> I don’t think it looks all that great. But it isn’t ugly either.

In an hour I will hook up the CO2, but not until I made measurements of ph and KH.

I will keep you posted, the next time I hope to add a picture.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Here is a pic after I added the foreground plants and mosses.

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Next, the 3/4 filled tank from the left...

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

... and the right.

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Firstly, congratulations!

Aobut the plants not all being available, it can happen sometimes but I know that when I got the wrong plant once the online shop where I buy my plants sent me the right plants the next week with no extra charge and without asking me to return the plants. In any case, as Bensaf once told you, this is a starting point and very rarely do we finish where we've started. We sometimes find out that plants we were not so excited about are gorgeous after growing in our tanks for a while so we get more of those, or other plants we thought would be perfect are less than so and we replace them, or whatever. The point is that this is a good beginning.

Anyway, it looks great and it's going to look even better once the plants begin to grow in earnest.

One request though -- can we also have a front view of the tank?

WOW. Its looks good,especially considering you only just did it. (* thinks back to the pea soup disaster of setting up her own tanks)

GFG







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Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

Ok Untitled No.444

Here is the frontal shot:

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Looking real good

Much prefer the new rock arrangement. You leaving the gap between them empty ?

It'll fill out pretty quickly. More plants though.

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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.

Yes, looks real nice. I especially like the moss on the rocks as it gives it an aged look already.

I think that the next step for you is to get a few Amano shrimps. They're really nice and funny and will also be a great cleaning crew. Oh and the rams! They're going to love it.

Ok, based on Bensaf’s advice, I added over 20 stems of Rotala Indica (Rotundifolia) to the left back corner of the tank (I moved the vals closer together to generate the required space). Here is a quick log of processes performed so far today:

Midnight: 3 tsp of Baking Soda

8 AM: Start up of CO2
ph = 7.6 (max scale) KH = 3-4dH
KNO3 1.25 tsp
KH2PO4 0.25 tsp
K2SO4 0.5 tsp

10 AM: Between 1 and 2 bubbles per second

11 AM: ph = 7.2 KH = 3-4dH
Adjusted to 2 bubble per second
Added Rotala

2:50 PM : Couldn’t get nay Seachem Equilibrium locally, will order from Big Al’s

3 PM: ph= 7.0
Haven’t yet had a steady flow of bubbles, always seems to slow down after a while.
Adjusted to 2 bubble per second
Perling on the Vals and Water Sprite

The interesting part is that I expected having to add over 6 tsp of Baking Soda to achieve a KH of 4dH, but in the morning I already had that level based on the 3 spoons added at midnight. I am not sure if this is a good sign or a bad sign. I will keep on monitoring.

Edit: I just tested my GH and it is at least 4dH. This is the same result that I got a while ago in the 29G. Maybe I won't have to rush with the Equilibrium after all. Or should I question my results as my town's water has a GH of 2 (based on town data from 2004 dug out by Tryst)?
Ingo

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 25-Sep-2005 14:30

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Needle valves can be dodgy, they have a tendency to close up a bit and slow down the rate all by themselves.

Try to open it up and give a good quick blast of gas , then close it. Open up again to your normal bubble rate at see if it stays stable.
If not set it at say 3 bps and see if slows down , with luck it will slow down to your desired rate of 2 bps.
They are fiddly yokes and I hate them, takes a bit of playing before you get to know it. Once it's set where you want it try not to touch again.

The rocks or substrate could be increasing increasing KH and GH slightly in the tank. I'd get and add the Equilibrium anyway, it's a good product and lots of goodies in it, included a bit of a FE kick. Better to have extra Calcium and Mg then risk running out.

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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.

An update since my last post:

On the 25th in the evening I added the Plantex CSM+B (0.25 tsp) and measured my ph 2 more times, both resulting in values of maybe 6.9.

Yesterday (should I start counting the days from the setup date forward – in this case I guess it would be day 3) in the evening I measured again and it is still 6.9 with 2 bubbles per second. I notched up the bubble count to maybe 3. Also I added a second load of the macro fertilizers - KNO3 1.25 tsp, KH2PO4 0.25 tsp, K2SO4 0.5 tsp.

Otherwise, I had to replant 2 stems that came loose and I can see quite a bit of growth on the Water Sprite. Most plants have also erected themselves, one green Crytp Wendtii has some melting. A few parts on the Xmas moss seem to get thin and brown, I am afraid that they didn’t survive the transport too well. I also ordered the Equilibrium.

Then I couldn’t take care of this tank anymore as my 20G had to be cleaned, it has a major green slime algae outbreak. Do you think I could start to add fish to the 125? It would be the 12 Harlequin Rasbora Espei in the first stage.

Lastly, here is a picture of my current favorite plant, Rotala Macrandra, that I took late in day 2.

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:


Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 27-Sep-2005 04:59[/font]

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Littlefish.

When I started up a 12 gallon tank about 2 years ago, I popped 4 harquelin rasboras in and they were perfectly fine.

Also with your plant load the cycling should be much more kind.

BTW - What is the gph on the Eheim 2028 and is the intake tube black. Reason I ask is my Eheim Ecco has a green intake and is the only green thing hanging in my tank other than the plants, I could probably change mine if it fits.



Last edited by tetratech at 27-Sep-2005 11:35

My Scapes

tetratech –

If you go back to the middle of page one in this thread you will see the color of the tube (see-through gray, I would call it). I ordered a Filter set that came with the “new” Eheim intake and output kits (aka Kit 1 and 2).
I am still hesitant to add fish to the tank already, but depending on how the situation in my 20G evolves I might need to “rescue” the Espei from there anyway (and 4 Otos).

EDIT: You asked me in your post "How do you like the topgun regulator". Well, after 2 days of fiddling with the valves I seem to be able to get a steady flow out of it (3bps at the moment). Somehow, the instructions that came with it do not apply to the way I have it set up right now. It says that the low pressure meter should read some value, but mine is all the way down.

Matt –

The next full tank shot will happen soon, most likely tonight or tomorrow in the morning (if I don’t have a disaster in the meantime ). Calling up the town for water info is a good idea, but I a total chicken when it comes to do things like that. I guess I will have to beg the wife to call for me.

Ingo

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 27-Sep-2005 13:03

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club