Noobie aquascaper

[ortegafever]

Hi all! I begin my life-long learning journey in aquascaping since last year, 2011.
Hope to learn more from all the veterans here

Some pictures of my tank ,

6-months ago,


Current,

[qngwn]

Hi there,

Welcome to AQ!
Both of your tanks are pretty in their own ways, and i'm sure you're constantly looking for ways to improve your skills, just like everyone here.

Do contribute whenever possible so that you can share with everyone your knowledge in this life-long hobby of ours.

Cheers!

(btw, seeing that you're using a HOB filter, makes me think if i'm actually overkilling with a Eheim Ecco 2036. )

[ortegafever]

Thanks for the welcome qngwn and you're right, i will be upgrading my tank coming december. Though not the size of the tank (still 2FT length), i will be adding external filter, lily pipes and soil substrates. Made this decision after getting too much inspiration from all the other's pictures of their tank.

Btw your Eheim has a flow rate of 750L/hr. If your tank is 2FT like mine which holds about 60L, then you got a 12.5 times turnover rate. Though i think it will not be a problem except for your electric bill.

Some information about water circulation for your reference (i find it quite useful and detailed):
http://www.aquariumguys.com/aquarium...n-article.html

[HappyGuppies]

Thanks for sharing! Nice planted tank!
Oh, may I ask what happened to the 'green' on the driftwood?

[ortegafever]

The original occupant on the driftwood are java moss, after keeping them for sometime my tank got 'attacked' by a lot of mucky algae (which can seen in my first picture, those at the highest point of the drift wood). The algae made the mosses look very dirty and also a lot of fish poop were stuck on the mosses (i think HOB filter can't produce much current to 'clean' the moss), i guess eventually all the moss will die off hence i removed them. Moral of the story , need good water current to maintain clean looking mosses and don't overfeed your fishes as there will be a lot of 'huge' poops to take care of.

By the way, the light green growing on the java moss are riccia, the normal type not mini riccia. At first i thought they were weeds, as they came FOC with the mosses and i kept them as they 'pearl' fantastically. They grow super fast too and when they are in a whole bunch they don't look nice to me hence i remove them too. Only recently did i know they were riccia while doing some research on other plants.

[qngwn]

thats why i'm using an eheim ecco. only 8 watts (: perhaps a little more than your current HOB filter!

[ortegafever]

Not sure about the wattage of my HOB but 8 watts for a 12 times filter is definitely worth considering.

Is your tank 2FT? Will the current be overly strong?

[Black Bart]

Welcome aboard!
You have a fine looking aquarium. Good health to you!

[Dayumdanny]

Welcome to the forums mate!

[ortegafever]

Thanks for the welcome Black Bart and Dayumdanny!
Enjoy your day

[bennyc]

Hi are u still using diy co2? So how is it? Is it working for the plants?

[Sturgeon]

Nice tank..
BTW how are the 12,000k lights for your plant growth? do you see any pearling with these?

[Hip]

I like the first picture more, very nice setup. Like the drift with all riccia and Java.

May be try to ad a red lotus and you are good, dont need aqua soil

Algae is due to not enough flow in the tank.

[ortegafever]

Hi are u still using diy co2? So how is it? Is it working for the plants?

Before i decommissioned the tank about 2 weeks ago, i was still running the diy co2. My mixture could last about 2.5 weeks and the plants are doing great but so is the algae...
There were huge patches of green algae on the leaves of the sword-leave plant (right side of second photo). I am not sure is it due to the inconsistency of co2 output (diy) or i am running too much light with the 12000K light (8 hrs a day, 2 tube 24W). There are also moss-type algae growing on many of the leaves of my nana. Hence i am considering switching to co2 tank for my new 2FT tank, which is still in-progress

[ortegafever]

Nice tank..
BTW how are the 12,000k lights for your plant growth? do you see any pearling with these?

I feel that they really boost the growth of the cabomba and riccia incredibly well as you can see in the first photo. I could only observe visible pearling for the riccia. As for the other plants in the first photo, i could spot some very fine bubbles coming out of some of the plants leaves.
A friend once told me that you can only observe pearling when the oxygen content of the water is very high (close to saturation). Not sure is it true or not.

[ortegafever]

I like the first picture more, very nice setup. Like the drift with all riccia and Java.

May be try to ad a red lotus and you are good, dont need aqua soil

Algae is due to not enough flow in the tank.

Thanks. The riccia came free of charge with the moss dw. And in the beginning, i did not know they are riccia. I thought they were weeds as it was only suppose to be a java moss dw. I threw a huge chunk of them away..

Heard reddish plant are hard to keep but i may experiment with them in my new tank.

[bennyc]

Before i decommissioned the tank about 2 weeks ago, i was still running the diy co2. My mixture could last about 2.5 weeks and the plants are doing great but so is the algae...
There were huge patches of green algae on the leaves of the sword-leave plant (right side of second photo). I am not sure is it due to the inconsistency of co2 output (diy) or i am running too much light with the 12000K light (8 hrs a day, 2 tube 24W). There are also moss-type algae growing on many of the leaves of my nana. Hence i am considering switching to co2 tank for my new 2FT tank, which is still in-progress

I am starting my planted tank, like you i wanted to start with Diy co2 but reading many threads, has made me change my mind. It seems like less maintence compare to diy co2, which translate to more time to enjoy looking at the tank.

Thanks for sharing and good luck to your switch.

[felix_fx2]

I feel that they really boost the growth of the cabomba and riccia incredibly well as you can see in the first photo. I could only observe visible pearling for the riccia. As for the other plants in the first photo, i could spot some very fine bubbles coming out of some of the plants leaves.
A friend once told me that you can only observe pearling when the oxygen content of the water is very high (close to saturation). Not sure is it true or not.

The more exact sentence to use is air given out by the plants cannot be absorbed by the water surrounding it. And its Affected by the saturation rate of the water.

But pearling may not mean your tank is in good shape but does tell you the plants are growing in a good sense.

[ortegafever]

I am starting my planted tank, like you i wanted to start with Diy co2 but reading many threads, has made me change my mind. It seems like less maintence compare to diy co2, which translate to more time to enjoy looking at the tank.

Thanks for sharing and good luck to your switch.

If you are considering co2 tank, best to use it with electric solenoid. I research that it will prevent ph swing of the water and less wastage as when there is no light, the plant does not need co2.

Good luck in your planted tank adventure too

[ortegafever]

The more exact sentence to use is air given out by the plants cannot be absorbed by the water surrounding it. And its Affected by the saturation rate of the water.

But pearling may not mean your tank is in good shape but does tell you the plants are growing in a good sense.

I see, so its true!

Yea, i experienced it first-hand. The plant and algae both grow happily...