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what light set you are using? for 4 feet ,should be 54 watt each
Hi there
Showcasing my 4 footer, I hope you like it, I'm still new to the hobby, still learning. I started this hobby less than a year ago and I'm totally addicted to it! , Now I have 4 tanks! 1x4ft, 1x2ft, 2x nano tanks. I'd better stop setting up new tanks for now.. I'm running out of place! Lol. Like I said, I'm addicted to this new hobby.
Tank Details:
Lighting: 6 x T5 NO 24watt flourescent tubes with reflectors (4 feet), 6 hours a day ( I'm waiting for my new Up Aqua Pro z 120cm x 2 to arrive soon)
CO2: via diffuser @ 2-3 bps
Substrate: ADA Amazonia, inert white sand in the front
Filter: Sunsun canister fliter 1200litre p.h.
Fertilisation: None at the moment
Water Change: 20% weekly, with adding Seachem Prime
Plants:
Dwarf Hairgrass (don't know which species though)
Pogostemon helferi
Hydrocotyle Tripatita
Rotala Indica
Hemianthus micranthemoides
Glossostigma elatinoides
Cryptocoryne Wendtii
Riccia
staurogyne repens
Moss balls.
Fauna:
Ottocinclus x 2
Neon tetra (about 30)Harlequin Rasbora x 12
Yamato shrimps x 5
Ramshorn snail x 5
Started this tank about 1 month ago, I initially wanted to do a iwagumi style, but later changed my mind as I had a mixture of other plants from other tanks so I decided a cross hybrid between a dutch style tank and an iwagumi instead!
3 weeks ago: After initial planting and filling the tank with water for the 1st time.
Now:
Trimmed the HM and rotala twice already, some riccia came lose and is floating on the water surface after I propagated them into additional 4 more sets, wrapped them around stones in front of the tank .. these riccia really grow fast.
I'm thinking white background for the tank, but have not got around to it yet, been too busy lately. Still unable to find a good aquarium wallpaper that is pure white with no decorations yet.
The good news is, so far no major algae issues yet.. fingers crossed! During the initial 2 weeks, while the tank was cycling, I had brown algae growing all over the HM, rotala and hair grass, especially around the base of the hair grass, it was an eyesore, too bad I didn't took any photos that time.
Decided to patiently wait for the tank to finish cycling before dumping in yamato shrimps and Ottos, the ottos grew fat after going after the brown algae. They cleaned up all the algae within 1 week! Incredible... Now the tank is squeaky clean and completely clear of brown algae.
On my weekly water change, I just scrap off some green algae from the glass with a razor blade. I did notice long hair algae grew on the glosso earlier, I increased water change frequency to 2 times a week, the hair algae just went away by itself or probably eaten by either the yamatos or ottos..?
now I'm just anxiously waiting for the new LED lights to arrive. Hopefully I will get tight and low growing hair grass and glosso with the new LEDs. So far my glosso grows ugly tall. I'm just amazed that 6 tubes of 24watts T5NO with reflectors are still not enough light for the glosso. I always thought glosso carpet was easy to achieve...
That's all for now.
I'll update again soon. Some comments for improvements would be appreciated!
Thanks for watching!
Last edited by Vernonplim; 3rd Jul 2014 at 21:14.
I think he said T5NO, normal output
Yup. You are right. It's a DIY.
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Hi again!
time for weekly maintenance. Over the past week, I’ve notice spot algae growing on the glass.
Algae!
IMG_0497_zpse59729f4.jpg
Time to bring out the razor blade. I have let the riccia accumulate and grow on the water surface as well, I’m planning to cover the sandy front completely with riccia as it gives a bright green colour to the tank which really enhances the look overall.
Also, the shrimps, SAE & Ottos has been messing with the substrate. The substrate has fallen to the front from all the movement on the surface. Its now covering half the sandy portion in the front. I did thought of replacing the white sand with more soil substrate as it keeps falling to the front anyway, then again maybe not as I have no idea how to put in the additional new substrate without clouding up the water. I should have initially used more rocks to support the back substrate from moving to the front. Lesson learned.
Here’s a picture before my weekly maintenance, closeup.
Left side of the tank
IMG_0492_zpsab320977.jpg
Middle
IMG_0491_zps90908a25.jpg
Algae! Just notice some hair algae has appeared. Some more my co2 has ran out, and it takes 1 week for my supplier to do a refill. I expect more algae in the meantime... sigh..
right side of tank
Due to low lighting, the plants overall has grown tall, even the downoi has grown tall. My DIY T5NO 24watt fluorescent tubes x 6 is definitely too low for this type of plants.
Last edited by Vernonplim; 5th Jul 2014 at 13:51.
Hi limz_777
Did a search on the web on the lighting you recommended. Looks really high-end and expensive. Unfortunately my LFS in my hometown dont carry them. Might have to source for an alternative or a special order. Does anyone know if Up Aqua Pro Z series is sufficient to grow these plants as highlight?
Couple of days ago I began to notice my yamato shrimps picking on dead ramshorn shells. I added these snails about a week ago, and apparently a couple of them didnt make it through the week. They are still a few others that looks ok, shell colour looks brown and strong. Does anyone know why these few died?
Before they died, I noticed their shells turning white as if they were fragile. Lo and behold, I saw dead carcasses less than a week later. Is there a problem with my water? My Co2 indicator always show greenish yellow, (between light green & yellow, not entirely yellow). I have not tested my nitrate lately in this tank. the last time I checked, ammonia was close to 0.25, and nitrate were between 10-15. Fyi, my tap water have traces of ammonia around 0.25 constantly.
I have read in other threads that snails will climb out of the water when they dont agree with the water chemistry, this didnt happen here. They just died, with symptoms as earlier described.
Also, I just lost 2 harlequin rasboras after the last water change (30%). One of them seemed disorientated about 1 hour after the water change and died on the same day. Is it my water changes that are causing these deaths? Why is this happening to this tank and not my other 12" tanks, where I did 50% weekly water change and the fauna seemed fine?
Any ideas? Thanks.
After cleaning up a organized things a bit ...
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Bought 2 Up Aqua Z LEDs, the light has a bluish tint and not as bright as I expected, but it's better than my previous DIY fluorescent tubes. I hope it will grow glosso horizontal.
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Missed out on your earlier posts about light suitability...
I assume your tank height is around 45cm or 60cm? If that's the case, the Z-Series lights would tend to be considered underpowered for your setup as their 0.5W individual LEDs are more suitable for tanks up to 36cm in height.
Ideally for taller and larger tanks like yours, LED lights that use 3W individual LEDs or higher would be more suitable as they will be able to provide better intensity and depth penetration to get sufficient light to the plants at the lower levels of the tank.
Anyways, like what limz_777 mentioned, less light intensity also means algae grow slower too, so that's a side benefit... it could be run as a high-tech but low-maintenance tank.
Hi thanks for your comments. Just out of curiosity, I just came across this thread on pro-U series. Man... I'm putting too much money into this hobby especially on the lighting.. Lol.Originally Posted by Urban Aquaria
Missed out on your earlier posts about light suitability...
I assume your tank height is around 45cm or 60cm? If that's the case, the Z-Series lights would tend to be considered underpowered for your setup as their 0.5W individual LEDs are more suitable for tanks up to 36cm in height.
Ideally for taller and larger tanks like yours, LED lights that use 3W individual LEDs or higher would be more suitable as they will be able to provide better intensity and depth penetration to get sufficient light to the plants at the lower levels of the tank.
Anyways, like what limz_777 mentioned, less light intensity also means algae grow slower too, so that's a side benefit... it could be run as a high-tech but low-maintenance tank.
http://www.aquariumlife.com.au/showt...Version-Review
What r your opinions on the pro-U series?
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I haven't got a chance to personally test out a unit yet, but from the specifications and comparisons posted by others, the new U-Series lights do look like a worthy upgrade from the Z-Series lights, the 2W individual RGB LEDs should offer more intensity and better plant growth for taller tanks, and the wider casing should help increase the overall light coverage too.
I'm also waiting for my current lights to wear out before changing them, but my current 1st generation Z-Series lights are still working well up until now (even after more than 2+ years of usage) and my tanks are running very stable and algae-free with them... though the gadget freak in me is really trying to resist the temptation to buy those shiny new U-Series lights.
I guess they would rather clear out the current stocks of LED lights first?
Hopefully the new lights get imported and distributed soon, then have local warranty/support and more reason to get one set to try.
Update:
Decided to get rid of the riccia. Because of the low lighting, it's coming lose easily and messing up the tank.
update:
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