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Thread: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

  1. #21
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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

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    Quote Originally Posted by kalkwasser View Post
    nice tank!
    Thanks Kalkwasser.


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  2. #22
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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    As expected, under the high-intensity lighting, algae and fungus developed very fast during the first week. Fungus also covered all over the driftwoods. I was not so worried about fungus because it will naturally disappear when tank matures and also easy to clean by algae eaters like Otocinclus/Shrimps or Horned Nerite Snails in later stage.




    Blue Green Algae was also seen on every branch and covered the mini fissidens. It might due to the water circulation since the canopy is quite big and block the flow direction.


    Blue Green Algae
    Even with some matured bio-media was seeded together with new bio-media in the filter, the tank has not been cycled right away yet. Hence, I could not put any algae eater crew there. Some actions to be taken to minimize the bloom of algae at that time. To reduce the lighting intensity, Salvinia minima was put in the tank. It also helped to absorb excess nutrients there as well, so less chance for algae to compete with other plants. Even some trimmed stems plants were also put in the tank for the same purpose.


    Salvinia minima was put in the tank to somehow reduce light intensity

    Salvinia minima as floating plants

    Some trimmed stem plants were put in the tank. :P
    After about 2 weeks, tank was fully cycled! Yay! Water change for about 70% to lower down excessive nitrate (NO3) level before putting in algae crew.
    Ammonia and Nitrite level was 0ppm 2 weeks after set up
    Since the tank has lots of fungus and algae (i.e. blue-green algae, brown diatoms, thread algae..etc.), so different kind of algae eater was put in to clean up this mess. Two Otocinclus affinis and five Amano shrimps were there at first. They worked really well and algae reduced dramatically after a week. However, since this bonsai has lots of branches that twisted densely, 2 dozens of fire red shrimps were put in the tank so that the smallest area could be taken care of this algae eater crew. As expected, those small creatures really had done a really good works! Algae is out at bay! And the tree was really relieved!


    Those fire red shrimps really made the difference

    Algae eater medals to be given to them
    And to record their hard work, nothing is better than a video at week 3. Hope you enjoy it! Cheers and have a good night!

    https://youtu.be/opyG9RqN5hU

  3. #23
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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Quote Originally Posted by jackychun View Post


    Blue Green Algae was also seen on every branch and covered the mini fissidens. It might due to the water circulation since the canopy is quite big and block the flow direction.


    Blue Green Algae
    Even with some matured bio-media was seeded together with new bio-media in the filter, the tank has not been cycled right away yet. Hence, I could not put any algae eater crew there. Some actions to be taken to minimize the bloom of algae at that time. To reduce the lighting intensity, Salvinia minima was put in the tank. It also helped to absorb excess nutrients there as well, so less chance for algae to compete with other plants. Even some trimmed stems plants were also put in the tank for the same purpose.
    Those BGA looks bad and it's only the 4-5 week. Wanted to post this when you got the Twinstar but wasn't keen on being a wet blanket. Personally, I am not in favor of their lights as Twinstar as a company tends to misled buyers with their crisp and algae free tanks. They designed their lights to be used with their Twinstar Inhibitors, not without.

    Not sure if you came across this. Someone tested the lights on a 2 ft led light on 2 identical 30x30x30 cube. This is what happened.



    Left tank with the inhibitor turned off, right tank with inhibitor turned on.

  4. #24
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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Quote Originally Posted by torque6 View Post
    Those BGA looks bad and it's only the 4-5 week. Wanted to post this when you got the Twinstar but wasn't keen on being a wet blanket. Personally, I am not in favor of their lights as Twinstar as a company tends to misled buyers with their crisp and algae free tanks. They designed their lights to be used with their Twinstar Inhibitors, not without.

    Not sure if you came across this. Someone tested the lights on a 2 ft led light on 2 identical 30x30x30 cube. This is what happened.



    Left tank with the inhibitor turned off, right tank with inhibitor turned on.
    Wow. Can see the difference between the 2 setup there! I have seen some videos showing the effective of Twinstar Inhibitors with identical tanks. And I also prepared for this to come before getting the Twinstar light.

    For the light, I think it is not bad. Plants really develop very well with this tank (even the BGA also pearling LOL ) and colour of the leaves/shrimps looks great as well. I really like the colour rendering of this Twinstar light

    For now, those algae is under control and not be seen in the tank. Hence, IMO with this strong light, we need to find the balance points for it by increasing CO2 injection, reduce lighting period and adjust fertilizer dosing. Plus good algae eater crew, it will be OK.

    I will keep updating on the progress and also the results in the coming time.



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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Quote Originally Posted by jackychun View Post
    Wow. Can see the difference between the 2 setup there! I have seen some videos showing the effective of Twinstar Inhibitors with identical tanks. And I also prepared for this to come before getting the Twinstar light.

    For the light, I think it is not bad. Plants really develop very well with this tank (even the BGA also pearling LOL ) and colour of the leaves/shrimps looks great as well. I really like the colour rendering of this Twinstar light

    For now, those algae is under control and not be seen in the tank. Hence, IMO with this strong light, we need to find the balance points for it by increasing CO2 injection, reduce lighting period and adjust fertilizer dosing. Plus good algae eater crew, it will be OK.

    I will keep updating on the progress and also the results in the coming time.

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Twinstar LED color rendition is good, but like I said, it's very high PAR for both a 1 or 2 feet tank with depth of 20-30 cm. Covering the tank with Salvinia Minima as floating plants is also counter productive seeing that the purpose of buying the light was to use as a high light.....

    These will be my goto RGB led lights in future.


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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Nice work on your tank. How did you counter the BGA? Mine was not that bad but I cannot stand any sight of it in my tank as they can be quite irritating. I still find some small patches here and there especially on the soil after sucking it out as much as possible during water change.

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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Quote Originally Posted by torque6 View Post
    Twinstar LED color rendition is good, but like I said, it's very high PAR for both a 1 or 2 feet tank with depth of 20-30 cm. Covering the tank with Salvinia Minima as floating plants is also counter productive seeing that the purpose of buying the light was to use as a high light.....

    These will be my goto RGB led lights in future.

    The new Up Aqua Z Series looks very tempting! I would love to try it in my future tank, too!
    BTW, as mentioned earlier, trying this Twinstar light is partially for experiment purpose since I would like to see the effect of it on the plants. Only hands-on the product can bring us some real experience.
    Honestly, I have not done much research on the PAR of lighting. It is more on the observation the plants and fauna in the tank and tweaking it accordingly to match the needs.

    To control algae, floating plant is one of the very good weapon that has many benefits whereas, excessive nutrient and lighting (i.e. main cause for algae bloom) would be partially taken care of. It would be preferable to use biological algae control methods (i.e. fast growing plants/floating plants/algae eaters...etc.) rather then using chemical methods.
    In my view, I also consider using floating plants as part of the aquascape, to create a balance and a good eco-system for the planted tank.
    Other than its beauty, it create the zen feeling and fish/shrimps love hanging around it, especially shrimps.

    In order to have a final beautiful photo of the aquascape, I think most of us have been through interesting time of "trial and error" to find the best solutions for our tank.

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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Quote Originally Posted by hann View Post
    Nice work on your tank. How did you counter the BGA? Mine was not that bad but I cannot stand any sight of it in my tank as they can be quite irritating. I still find some small patches here and there especially on the soil after sucking it out as much as possible during water change.
    For BGA control, I follow the steps:-
    - Remove the algae manually, as much as you can.
    - Increasing CO2 injection rate slowly and keep it steady at some level (depends on the size of your tank), my small tank I keep it around 1bps and keep it there.
    - Reduce the lighting time (6hrs/day: 3hrs AM, 3hrsPM).
    - Reduce light intensity: if you have dimmer it is good to use. I don't have dimmer, so I put in floating plants.
    - Algae eater: I got Otocinclus, Amano shrimps and red cherry shrimps in the tank. They clear lots of them.
    - Finally, and I think quite important is the flow circulation. Good flow circulation will not let the waste stagnant on any spot and hence reduce the chance for algae to grown.

    Hope you can get rid of BGA in your tank, soon.

  9. #29
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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Quote Originally Posted by jackychun View Post
    For BGA control, I follow the steps:-
    - Remove the algae manually, as much as you can.
    - Increasing CO2 injection rate slowly and keep it steady at some level (depends on the size of your tank), my small tank I keep it around 1bps and keep it there.
    - Reduce the lighting time (6hrs/day: 3hrs AM, 3hrsPM).
    - Reduce light intensity: if you have dimmer it is good to use. I don't have dimmer, so I put in floating plants.
    - Algae eater: I got Otocinclus, Amano shrimps and red cherry shrimps in the tank. They clear lots of them.
    - Finally, and I think quite important is the flow circulation. Good flow circulation will not let the waste stagnant on any spot and hence reduce the chance for algae to grown.

    Hope you can get rid of BGA in your tank, soon.
    Other than reduce light intensity and light duration, many of above steps may not be able to fix BGA. High oxygenated (O2) levels and good flow rate were thought to be good remedies, but there are numerous reports that neither work. If you look at those IAPLC competition tanks with their WOW hardscapes, with rocks and drift wood arranged artistically and blocking circulation and flow right, then how come no BGA?

    The trick is of course to use RO water (with bacteria removal filter).

    If tank is infected, using antibiotics for 10 day treatment will solve the problem, but it will come back because if you use biotics, you will end up "creating" a resistance strand of the bacteria.

    In this hobby, I tend to favor having BBA, Stalghorn, diatoms, green hair algae etc, but definitely not BGA, because it's toxic.

    Do wash your hands after siphoning them out.
    Last edited by torque6; 9th Oct 2017 at 11:44.

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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Quote Originally Posted by torque6 View Post
    Other than reduce light intensity and light duration, non of the above can fix BGA. High oxygenated (O2) levels and good flow rate were thought to be good remedies, but there are numerous reports that neither work.

    The only way to effectively clear BGA is to use RO water (with bacteria removal filter) or using antibiotics for 10 day treatment.
    It might works for my tank since it is sparkling clean without BGA now. Picture speaks itself as thousand words.




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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Just to be sure though, if you are cleaning your pipes soon, a short sniff will determine if you still have BGA in your tank.

    You do know what BGA smells like right?

    By the way, the Co2 placement is too high. A lower positioned co2 placement helps it to dissolve better.

    Good effort on the tank so far.
    Last edited by torque6; 9th Oct 2017 at 12:09.

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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Looks like I may be getting the Twinstar E series after all. One of the Twinstar Distributor/Sponsors in UK already highlighted that the Twinstar Dimmers were available last week. This is good news. The Color Rendition Index is definitely better than UP Aqua Z series. Having the dimmers will allow the light set to be use for all setup. Fantastic. Looks like they really listen to some of the feedback raised.



  13. #33
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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Quote Originally Posted by torque6 View Post
    Just to be sure though, if you are cleaning your pipes soon, a short sniff will determine if you still have BGA in your tank.

    You do know what BGA smells like right?

    By the way, the Co2 placement is too high. A lower positioned co2 placement helps it to dissolve better.

    Good effort on the tank so far.
    Haha. I don’t smell algae so not sure if it there or not. But I might observe to see if it is there.

    For the CO2 I feel it is OK since the tank is not that big. Direct flow from the outlet can straight away bring the bubbles around the tank before it reaching the surface.

    And it is good that Twinstars got dimmer for their product. I don’t know if the dimmer for Chihiros can be used for that. May be I will try to see how.


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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Managed to get the PAR rating for the Twinstar E series.

    60cm is 86-146 PAR at the substrate in an 60P ADA tank. 90cm is 119-138 PAR at the substrate in a 90P ADA tank.

    Putting it here in this thread for future reference. Thanks.

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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Quote Originally Posted by jackychun View Post
    For BGA control, I follow the steps:-
    - Remove the algae manually, as much as you can.
    - Increasing CO2 injection rate slowly and keep it steady at some level (depends on the size of your tank), my small tank I keep it around 1bps and keep it there.
    - Reduce the lighting time (6hrs/day: 3hrs AM, 3hrsPM).
    - Reduce light intensity: if you have dimmer it is good to use. I don't have dimmer, so I put in floating plants.
    - Algae eater: I got Otocinclus, Amano shrimps and red cherry shrimps in the tank. They clear lots of them.
    - Finally, and I think quite important is the flow circulation. Good flow circulation will not let the waste stagnant on any spot and hence reduce the chance for algae to grown.

    Hope you can get rid of BGA in your tank, soon.
    Is the light period split into 2 intervals meant as a way to control BGA? In other words, does it mean straight 6 hour have higher chance of BGA?

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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Quote Originally Posted by Goalkeeper View Post
    Is the light period split into 2 intervals meant as a way to control BGA? In other words, does it mean straight 6 hour have higher chance of BGA?
    Hi Goalkeeper. My main purpose of staggered lighting hours is to observe my tank in the evening after work. That is why it is split. Nevertheless, there is some say it is also help to control algae, I think it is more applicable for low tech tank with CO2 level limit. For high tech tank with continuous CO2 injection, it is does not really matter I guess.


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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Thanks jackychun!!

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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Hi Jackychun, may I check was your BGA on the bonsai only? What is your current Co2 injection? I also have a patch of bga on my HC.


    thanks lot

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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Quote Originally Posted by TTerry View Post
    Hi Jackychun, may I check was your BGA on the bonsai only? What is your current Co2 injection? I also have a patch of bga on my HC.


    thanks lot
    Hi TTerry,

    The BGA last time was on the bonsai and also fissiden moss. I use the tooth brush to brush it away. It is kind of jelly and easy to be brush though.

    For CO2 injection rate, it is 1bps for my small tank. For your tank, I would think it should be more.


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    Re: "The Raintree Canopy"-20.59L

    Ok thanks. Yesterday I decided to trim off the affected patch of HC cause the bga was deep in the HC too, so to be safe.... now my co2 about 2-2.5 per second. Shall monitor from here. Thanks

    Quote Originally Posted by jackychun View Post
    Hi TTerry,

    The BGA last time was on the bonsai and also fissiden moss. I use the tooth brush to brush it away. It is kind of jelly and easy to be brush though.

    For CO2 injection rate, it is 1bps for my small tank. For your tank, I would think it should be more.


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