My Compulsion, My Allowance Black hole, My Indulgence & My Parent's Melancholy!

[izzat]

Hi Guys!

It has been sometime since I posted information regarding my setup in my signature, and finally, I have decided to post it up as today is my B'dae too
From now on, this will be the thread where I keep details regarding the tank and acts as a mini journal.

In my signature was:-
Coming soon! Under Construction!
My Compulsion, My Allowance Black hole, My Indulgence & My Parent's Melancholy!

Following are the specifications and gadgets that I had when I setup the tank.

Tank Information

• Jewel Rio 240 70G | 120(L) x 40(W) x 55(H)

Lighting

• 4 x 54W HO DIY T5

Substrates / Decors

• ADA Amazonia (54kg)
• Granite rocks

Parameters

• PH : 5.5
• KH : 4.0
• GH : 2.0
• Temperature : 25°C (77°F)

Misc. Equipment

• Surface Skimmer
• UV-Steriliser 9W
• DIY 3 stage filter
• Aquabee 3000
• Hailea 1/4HP chiller
• DIY External CO2 reactor
• 10L Pressurized CO2 cylinder
• JBJ Solenoid, Bubble counter and CO2 tubing

Filtration

• 5 micron filter wool
• 1 micron filter wool
• 300g Biohome
• 300g Biohome Plus
• 200g Bacteria House
• 1kg Mr Aqua Ceremic Ring (S)

Additives

• Genesis Anti-chlorine

Fertilisers

Powder

• KH2PO4
• KNO3
• MgSO47H2O
• Seachem Equilibrium

Liquid

• Seachem Flourish


LIVESTOCK

Flora

• Pogostemon helferi (Downoi)
• Hemianthus callitrichoides “Cuba” (HC)

Fauna

• Sturisoma panamanse
• Caridina japonica
• Otocinclus sp.

[izzat]

In the previous post, that was the gadgets and accessories that I had when I started the tank. Not long after the setup of my tank, I wanted to try some other brand of Liquid fertilisers and I searched in the internet to find brands such as TMG, LushGro and Seachem among the more choices by Aquascapers.

Although they were reasonably priced, I wanted to try something which not many Aquascapers used, so I decided to bite the bullet and get myself the following line of fertilisers:-

• ADA Green Brighty Step 1
• ADA Green Brighty Step 2
• ADA Green Brighty Step 3
• ADA Green Brighty Special Lights

Yes, it is pricey but then again, I feel that the design is simple yet this range of fertilisers attracted my heart to it (not to mention, my money!). There are probably only a handful of Aquascapers in Singapore to use ADA line of fertilisers but the response from overseas is much better.
While doing my research on ADA Liquid fertilisers, I did manage to get the impression that this Liquid fertilisers are worth the cash spend on them (of course if your setup is more than 100 Gallon, I wouldn't suggest using them unless your pocket is deep) with good results from Aquascapers in Europe, not to mention Jeff from ADG.

While I was using Seachem Flourish as supplement for Trace Elements, I did not really get good growth from the Hemianthus callitrichoides “Cuba” that I was growing (might be the caused of Emersed HC). When I started to use ADA Liquid fertilisers (when my tank is around 1mth +), the growth of HC increased quite fast with around 4-5 leaves/day.

[izzat]

Here are some of the pictures I collected while setting up the tank as well as during the tank's 2½ months of life

Initial rock arrangement with Blue Oyama paper


The above picture was the first rock arrangement that I had in mind.
Thanks to critique from Jerome and Terence, they had me thinking of better rock arrangement.

With those few pieces of rocks, I decided to try an experiment to break them up and get smaller sizes of rocks, and I did manage to get around 20+ small-medium sized rocks. Sorry but as promised in my post of that thread, I have still not written an article about it.

Here are the ADA Amazonia that I use as the substrate for my tank.

2 Boxes of ADA Amazonia



Content in the box


Thanks to the LFS that sold to me these ADA Amazonia
It was not an easy task to carry those boxes of substrate but I did manage to transport them from the shop to my house.

[izzat]

I decided to change my Blue Oyama paper to White as it looks better in my opinion.

White Oyama background



Following are the few shots that I managed to capture during the setup process.

First bag of ADA Amazonia



Third bag of ADA Amazonia



Fifth bag of ADA Amazonia

[izzat]

As soon as I finished adding the required amount of substrate in, I tried to play around with my "new" set of rocks and soon decided to try a mountain-type of scape.

Front shot of my new Rockscape



At another angle



What I didn't like about this scape was the sloped front substrate, which to me spoiled the look of the scape from the front. I then ask Jerome, Terence and Roland to critique my Rockscape again. They said it was quite good and some minor adjustment had to be make to make it look better. Soon, I did make some adjustments and then I realised that I didn't really like this Mountain look.

Then I rescape my tank again and had a completely different look from what is shown above. I decided to follow my instinct (which is bad) with the rocks arrangement and decided to stay with it. It looks better to me, at least the substrate was quite levelled and now look like a valley in the middle.

[izzat]

Since I decided to follow my instinct, I went to Teo and get my flora: Pogostemon helferi & Hemianthus callitrichoides “Cuba”
They were both in emersed form and I got quite a large quantity for the HC.

Pogostemon helferi & Hemianthus callitrichoides “Cuba”



After I get the flora ready for planting, I filled up the tank to about 40% the total volume of water.

Hose in with plastic bag



40% of water in the tank



This was what I bought from 7-11 too quickly help in chilling my tank

Ice from 7-11

[izzat]

Following are the shots of my tanks after a few days.

2nd Day



3rd Day



6th Day



8th Day



10th Day

[izzat]

That is what I have for now, and I will try to find the most recent picture I capture before the tank was taken apart.

In my next few post in the coming days/weeks, I will explain to why I had plants floating in the tank after day 6 and why I had a powerhead installed after 8 days.
I will also give a brief experience running the tank for around 2.5 months, such as algae outbreak as well as equipments problem.
As the tank is taken apart, I will not stop this hobby but converting from High Maintaince setup to a Low Maintaince setup.

Any critiques are welcome!

[fazlee]

Awaiting your completion shots. Best wishes
BTW, any rough figures you spent so far?

[izzat]

Thanks Fazlee, I will try to get the lastest picture I am able to find before I tore this tank down.

Price wise: 2K ++ (Not in 1 shot, but over a period of a few months)

[PeterGwee]

Redoing the tank completely might not prevent the issue from coming back again. Why waste the money and effort? Learn from the mistake and rethink the method.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[izzat]

Thanks Peter, I am choosing the easy road for my new setup, Non-CO2 Enriched tank
It makes this hobby easier without much variables to consider

[budak]

Wah!! I like the dancing effect of the plants swirling around in the water!! Unik!!!