Craftsman's Journal - 2.5ft (Photo Intensive)

[craftsman]

Bought a 1ft tank from Qian Hu for my kids to play play on 8th Dec, and was clueless about rearing fishes. Joined AQ 7 days later on 15th Dec, and realised that theres so much more to this hobby.

Ever since I joined AQ, I have been poisoned deep. Reading about many people's tank set up and journals (especially Jervis) made me itchy fingers. From being reluctant to keep fish for my kids, in the end, I become the one crazy about this.

16th Dec I went to LFS and bought my first plants, and attempted to decorate my 1ft tank. Didn't do too well.


Then re-do decoration and become like this...


But....... not enough.... I began itching for a bigger tank, as I realised this 1ft tank is too small, and the lighting, etc, are all not ideal. So... I began looking around, asking bro Wee Yang and looking around LFS to see how much is a 3ft tank.

In the end, decided to go for 2nd hand as I didn't want to spend too much on a new hobby. Hinted to my CO, and got a face I can remember for many months.

28th Dec, found a great deal from a bro in marketplace, and bought a 2.5ft tank from him for just under 2 blue notes.
Brought the tank home, and CO refuse to talk to me for 1 whole day. I was really miserable, and thoughts of re-selling the tank actually came to my mind!!! But.. luckily, CO reduce Defcon 4 to Defcon 1. All back to normal the next day, and I began planning in earnest!



Tank Specs:
Length: 78cm (30.71')
Breadth: 42cm (16.54')
Height: 50cm (19.69')
Total volume: 163.8litres or 42.11 Gallons

Calculated that I need around 126 watts of light to get approximately 3 watts per gallon. So, quite clear to me that the existing FL on the tank tak jalan.

On 29th Dec, went to NA to buy a 2.5ft PL light set. Comes with 2x 55w Osram Delux L 55w/865 (6500k) PL tubes. Should be enough for the moment. If not, can just add later.

At the same time, also bought 20 kg of GEX soil.


Have been planning to try out the challenging HC for a nice lawn ever since I saw Mr. Takashi Amano scape this.


So... coming back from my dream.... yesterday 30 Dec, I went to Pasir Ris to get my plants. Met an Indian worker at the farm who was very helpful and who was able to rattle off plant scientific names easily! Begged him for HC, and at first he say dun have, but after I look see look see around, he uncovered a styrofoam box full of HC grown emersed! He asked permission form his boss to sell, and I bought 70% of all they had! . Nokia phone for scale.


This is how much it is all laid out...


Also bought some other plants like Blyxa Japonica, some hairgrass, and an interesting tall like fern (like javen fern) which I don't know the name of. Maybe brothers here can advise.

So... yesterday night, after I got back home, I started the project with my kids. Poured the GEX soil in. I bought the green soil as its much finer, and very suitable for HC to grow.


Heres the substrate all done....


Also prepared my driftwood...


Then, I began filling her up....

[craftsman]

Separated my plants into individual clumps..


and tried planting the HC while the soil is moist, but realised not very easy cos the soil keep sticking to the tweezers...


So, decided to fill up the tank somemore, submerge the substrate than plant. Much easier... I'm such a Noob! In the picture below, I have alrady completed about 40% of the HC planting... took me about 2 hours already! Wah lau... this is taking really long!


The water is also filling up too slowly, so I changed to a bigger hose.


Can't believe the HC pearling already so fast after submerging!


This is the front tank shot. Water still slightly cloudy.... will have to wait a couple of days for it to settle. Also threw in 5 commando Lambchop Rasbora and 2 Otos to help cycle the tank. (Ignore the HC on coconut husk on the front drift wood. There temporarily only.. )



Hopefully over the next few weeks, my HC will survive and begin creeping and carpeting the substrate.

[WiNd08]

wow, i believe this will grow into a nice piece of art !

would prefer the driftwood to have less blunt end though (personal preference)

[craftsman]

Thks bro!

[Jervis]

Brought the tank home, and CO refuse to talk to me for 1 whole day. I was really miserable, and thoughts of re-selling the tank actually came to my mind!!! But.. luckily, CO reduce Defcon 4 to Defcon 1. All back to normal the next day, and I began planning in earnest!

This is so classic You are very lucky it lasted 1 day only

Great tank in the making

[craftsman]

This is so classic You are very lucky it lasted 1 day only

Great tank in the making

heh heh heh....

Is that why all your tanks are in your office?

Thanks for your encouragement Jervis!

[ghim]

LOL. Mine realised I have 2 x CO2 tanks weeks after I bought them. Too late for her to do any complains.

I am trying to grow HC in my 1ft cube. Had been a month, 50% melted. Now is fighting hair algae.

Good luck on your scape!

[Viper007]

Bro, great work and effort!!!

[craftsman]

LOL. Mine realised I have 2 x CO2 tanks weeks after I bought them. Too late for her to do any complains.

I am trying to grow HC in my 1ft cube. Had been a month, 50% melted. Now is fighting hair algae.

Good luck on your scape!

Wah ha ha ha.... how you camouflage until so well? Must teach me so I can go get another tank!!!!

Damn frightened of the HC melting. Preparing my heart to seee it melt, but also trying to hope that I got the right nutrients, light and luck that the HC will convert quickly. (Got some HC on the coconut husks as emergency ammo.)

[craftsman]

Bro, great work and effort!!!

Thanks bro...

[craftsman]

Strange thing happened today. In the morning, my daughters spotted a small fry in the tank. I caught it and put it together with my other guppy fries. Later in the evening, my daughters found another fry in the tank, which I again caught to put in my guppy fry tank.

I was just wondering how this could be possible. One possibility I could think of is that there might have been eggs in the plants, and they just hatched. Another possibility is that the LFS aunty accidentally put in 2 fries in the bag when I bought my Tetras and Otos... But highly unlikely.

Any bros here ever experience the same thing?

I'm quite keen to find out what type of fish they are when they grow a little bigger.

[Shadow]

New year present huh

[craftsman]

New year present huh

I suppose you can say that! Huat Huat ah!!!

Happy New Year to you and everyone at AQ!

[Loopy]

The secret to CO's (Wives/Fiance's/Girlfriends) is get them involved in it too. That is what I did (not that I have a problem whatsoever). Though between flying RC helicopters, fishing, planted tanks and a plethora of other weird and wonderful hobbies I have it's hard to keep track. So you guys should try that, get another hobby to throw them off the one you are actually focused on!

Anyway, Good Luck with that HC dude. Keep us updated on the grow. HC is kind to some and is a plain stick in the mud for others. Mine at work are growing well. But my light is too high so they get "pressed down" and the leaves are smaller. Though when I used either a less powerful lighting setup or left the lights on for shorter periods when I was on vacation (5 hours) they grew up and the leaves blossomed. I like the "pressed down" effect so left it high light.

[JadeIceGreen]

Looking good!

So, any plans for a bigger tank after this? Haha. I started with small tanks too, but now looking to move on to a bigger one, dun know how my parents will take it. Maybe I should learn from you and just get one first. heh.

[craftsman]

The secret to CO's (Wives/Fiance's/Girlfriends) is get them involved in it too. That is what I did (not that I have a problem whatsoever). Though between flying RC helicopters, fishing, planted tanks and a plethora of other weird and wonderful hobbies I have it's hard to keep track. So you guys should try that, get another hobby to throw them off the one you are actually focused on!

Sigh.. bro.... my CO not very into hobbies. But I love her v much! Anyway, we're talking about getting a bigger place in the coming months (as the property market looks good to get into now... We need more space for the kids and prices are coming down) So....!!! A good chance to get a place with Balcony and my own Study.. (where I can put as many tanks as I want!!!!) I'll make sure they run a water pipe through the study too!!!! Then can do automatic water change! If so, will treat this as a project also! and post photos!!! Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, Good Luck with that HC dude. Keep us updated on the grow. HC is kind to some and is a plain stick in the mud for others. Mine at work are growing well. But my light is too high so they get "pressed down" and the leaves are smaller. Though when I used either a less powerful lighting setup or left the lights on for shorter periods when I was on vacation (5 hours) they grew up and the leaves blossomed. I like the "pressed down" effect so left it high light.

Yah boy... I need all the luck I can get! Lets see how. Will post an update photo in a month. *cross finger*

[craftsman]

Looking good!

So, any plans for a bigger tank after this? Haha. I started with small tanks too, but now looking to move on to a bigger one, dun know how my parents will take it. Maybe I should learn from you and just get one first. heh.

Dude.. mothers are VERY different from wives/gf/fiance.. Wish you luck man... hope you push the right buttons!!!!

[scorpy]

Dude.. mothers are VERY different from wives/gf/fiance.. Wish you luck man... hope you push the right buttons!!!!

Totally agree! Anyway, very nice tank! And the tank bought with the cabinet for less than $100? That's a real bargain!

[craftsman]

Totally agree! Anyway, very nice tank! And the tank bought with the cabinet for less than $100? That's a real bargain!

Yeah.. Was lucky to get it so cheap. But just a couple of days ago, someone was giving away a 3ft tank for free. My timing just not there. But then again... Should be happy leow!

[jasonchua1982]

Hey Bro,

A very nice setup and journal, thanks for sharing, can see the poison is getting to you as your tanks are increasing, haha

Planning to keep any fishes yet?

Look fwd to more updates from you !