Tropical Fish Forums UK
The Aquarium. => Tank Logs. => Topic started by: chrisjj on October 20, 2015, 10:21:58 pm
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so I recently acquired a 240ltr jewel for £30!!
....and the journey begins.....
Haven't cleaned it or anything, but have started planning.
Decided on redmoor wood (lots!!) and Baltic rock, but not decided on the "visible" substrate - light or dark - what do you think?!
The back will be painted black.
It will be a heavily planted tank, but not sure about co2 yet, so maybe no carpet (hence the visible substrate).
Opinions welcome....
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That is a bargain find, well done.
Do you have a filter yet?
I would go with sand if considering corydoras, not dark, not light but something in between.
This is what I use (from Maidenhead Aquatics):-
(http://www.asdl.eclipse.co.uk/fish/unipac_sand.jpg)
Stephen
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Did you actually just mug them for the tank and then feel bad so left them 30 quid? *grin*
Some great bits of redmoor there. Yeah, a mid coloured sand would be good.
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No filter yet - possibly 2x all pond solutions 1000lph to get good circulation if I go co2.
No cory - I'm concentrating on a scape, so no fish that will trash it!!
There will be many shrimp, and a large shoal of small fish - possibly circa 50 green rasbora.
Mid coloured sand might not suit the hardscape??
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I always go Black Limpopo (I bought a new bag from a guy on a FB group recently for £15 and he gave me around £100 worth of brand new ferts, bargain!!)
The wood looks great.
Did the police give chase once the seller found out you had robbed him? *grin*
Great bargain!
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I have the swell samoa sand in one tank and quite like that. Its dark but not too dark, makes the plants look quite green.
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Another fan of limpopo sand here. Really makes the colours of the plants and even wood pop. Love it, though did take me a while to find a stockist as most were sold out.
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Light sand. With a black background, dark sand might be too much?
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(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/21/7366db07f1b046cd0249f070d3b7d9ca.jpg)
Limpopo sand and black background on my Roma 200 :)
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Another vote for Limpopo. I started off with light coloured sands and backgrounds. Alll 3 tanks have black sand and backgrounds now. My shy fish come out a lot more with black sand and plants and fish colours look sharper for it. Limpopo is just great small and smooth like sand but the grains are bigger and heavier makimg it easier to plant and meaning it settles quicker.
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I be using a plant substrate for heavily planted areas (eco-complete).
The sand will be mainly for the exposed areas.
That limpopo sand looks like it has ligths grains in it, rather than all dark - can you confirm.
The black unipac sand I got (in my pic) appears all dark, but I haven't seen it wet yet.
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(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/21/3cef6203dededf1364ce858dcd463c9d.jpg)
Unipac Limpopo close-up.
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Excellent - thank you very much.
Dark, but looks a light dark, if you get what I mean!!
The black unipac sand I got just said black on the label, but assume it is the limpopo. Will see what its like in water.
I'll keep looking ...
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It will say limpopo on the label. I have Unipac black in 2 of my tanks it is darker than limpopo and quite a bit messier as its lighter
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(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/21/539b0885d25d1da34befcb6f870f8e10.jpg)
What he said^^ :)
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(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/21/ab07120616a5be7ca476445771c26fa5.jpg)
Another pic of limpopo sand and black background. Excuse the ornaments at the front. Bacteria purpose only ;)
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More Black & Black.
Your mosses in one of these photo's!!
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Excellent - looks like black is darker than Limpopo then.
Haha! I must be sending too much moss!!
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I'll join in...
Unipac Limpopo Black Sand and painted black background
I like that it's a mixture of lighter and darker. It looks really natural and I find it easy to plant in and my corys love it (in case you change your mind and get some corys later...)
Gets my vote anyway.
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So, looking like black unipac (not limpopo) and will have a white sand "path".
Plant substrate will be activ-flora black....
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(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/27/01fc3db76fe2bc03fe575412703e5e2f.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/27/1a303bd700d9cedf3b05bc7db969a354.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/27/29fcc70af368185c7f1ad1985f3de251.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/27/d507edce2ddf79287b9213fb22ad460b.jpg)
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Trying to work out tapatalk!!
Slowly getting stuff together!
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Looks like a good collection of stuff to me!
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my next tropical setup will be black sand too my son has it in his and it looks much better than my light sand atm .
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It's coming together ... *applause*
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The root looks very interesting.
Good collection. :)
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Started set up.
Thoughts appreciated....(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/05/357a96dbca46be1418af1fabad59f7a1.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/05/8b63c81b86609873e5dc98a9d3fe048c.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/05/bd61e83f2f5d64599639341c3db258c0.jpg)
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Haha! Can't upload any more at the moment!!
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(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/05/ba832c9d27bde3ed7a82c31593190de7.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/05/e1dd46c8789a9b409ffbc39c08399f52.jpg)(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/05/bcc69e7d3d738956322dd5dfa8b5c9c4.jpg)
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(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/05/1280510c73ab89898799db216caee748.jpg)
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Looking good. thumbsup
Live plants to go in?
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I like that Chris .. well done so far *applause*
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You're another one of those annoying people who are rather good at aquascaping. I'd forgotten how good you are..... :P
*grin*
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*applause* SUPERB *applause*
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Thank you Ian... I think! Haha.
Not qhite sure about the layout yet, playing around with the wood and a few small rocks - I'm happy with the basic concept though.
Live plants will include a considerable amount of xmas moss (currently cultivating in another tank), as a carpet to hide the black / white sand divide, anubais nana, green crypts and vallis nana at the rear. Still working on others.
Won't happen for a while though, need to get xmas hecticness out of the way!
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Update:
Nothing! absolutely nothing! :mad:
This will be going in a different room after I can get rid of the piano to make space, and god knows when that will be :/
Aaaarrrgh >:D
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Wow Chrisjj!
This is incredible! I'm so jealous! Where did you get those divider things from for the sand divide? It looks insanely good! I would keep the sharp contrast between the two sands personally, but hey! That's what I prefer!
All in all, though, this is a really nice tank so far!
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Thank you Jimmy.
The divider is plastic lawn edging, which has been cut and siliconed in place. I've used it before in other tanks and it works really well.
https://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/index.php?topic=21512.msg257354#msg257354 (https://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/index.php?topic=21512.msg257354#msg257354)
If left, over time the sands will mix and look a bit crap - I'm hoping that by covering the join with moss, the contrast will be maintained.
Potential fot the tank to be in place between Xmas& New Year *grin* fingers crossed!......
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Can't the piano fall out of a window....? (Apologies for the sacrilege in this post to all music lovers like myself......but it does make for amusing slapstick.....) ;) *grin*
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Love the way you used the separators.
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Progress - piano gone, tank moved into place, setting up can progress 😀
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(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160131/6908554ac04ace81779587445033c523.jpg)
In position, filters set up. Slowly progressing!!
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That looks pretty impressive! *grin*
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I need to work out how to unfollow these logs...
Makes me jealous every time I come on here! *nice* *laugh*
Can't wait to get my 90L I have planned.... Well done on this one!
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I've been allowed to have one uninterrupted day over the Easter weekend to set up the tank!!
Wood soaking, about 30 little slate plates (so far) with tied moss cultivating, plant list being worked on, fish list being worked on........ *grin*
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I've been allowed to have one uninterrupted day over the Easter weekend to set up the tank!!
Super exciting!
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Lucky you! *grin*
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Friday is tank day! *grin*
Plant list so far - valis nana for the rear - right across.
Loads of anubias petite amongst the wood.
loads of xmas moss around the rocks.
That's as far as I've got - any other ideas? - they need to be low demand for this tank - no CO2 etc...
Main shoal I'm thinking silver tipped tetra - circa 40
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a bit of bacopa compacta and java fern trident in there too.
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Stunning tank!!
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Could you try bucephanlandra, I don't think it needs high-tech?
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Could you try bucephanlandra, I don't think it needs high-tech?
pretty much same care as anubias, little slower growing though!
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Looks interesting - might try a couple...
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Plants bought - ditched the bacopa.
Not long now! *grin*.......
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....(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160327/8c8a7f62ac4cbf122f29ab03ca5a648a.jpg)
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(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160327/d0c64a61b41e2729a235cbe34f1e99c3.jpg)
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(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160327/ef8eb6c29d351d7b5d10f174c0a09a75.jpg)(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160327/35ab3a713613e19d4455bd0e2a691911.jpg)(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160327/b78b58963dfd9271aaa2296f0fd6248a.jpg)
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This looks very promising. ;) *grin*
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(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160328/9e6469d220b12fafeb87f8a0e7880d67.jpg)
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Looks amazing
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Whoa! Will you stop it please! ;) *grin*
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Beautiful! Do we know about your stock list yet?
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That's a very stylish tank!! Looks wonderful thumbsup
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Currently 21 silver tipped tetra, 1x oto, 4x amano shrimp and about 20 RCS.
Tanks doing fine with no algae and no issues, but have a query....
It is low tech - low light, no CO2 and no ferts. There is plant substrate in. All plants are low demand and still establishing themselves, but should I be adding liquid ferts too, or will that upset what is a stable tank at the moment.
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I'm no expert, but I'm sure I recall asking the same question (before I ended up with co2) and the answers I got where yes, the plants will still benefit massively from liquid ferts as well as the planting substrate. If you use ei frets like this... http://www.aquariumplantfood.co.uk/fertilisers/dry-chemicals/starter-kits/ei-starter-kit.html I believe they recommend using 1/3 dose with no co2 at all or 1/2 dose with "liquid carbon" which is another thing I'd consider...
I'm sure more experienced will add to this, but I'm fairly confident this is acurate :)
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I use EI Ferts and liquid carbon. Jax3000 is correct, I reduce the amount of EI ferts that I add to the tank by 50%.
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I don't use ferts or substrate with my low-tech tanks........
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I don't use ferts or substrate with my low-tech tanks........
Yes, my point! was supposed to be proper low tech but cant help tinkering. haha!
Liquid CO2 would be expensive over time but I do EI dose in my high tech tank, so could do that. Just don't want to upset the balance and get an algae issue, but would like to help the plants a bit.
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never bothered on my low tech tanks. Never bothered with the planted oscar tank. Plants will benefit from liquid co2 more on its own.
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Ah, so liquid CO2 would be more worthwhile and just rely on the plant substrate for ferts?
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Neutro Co2 is reasonably priced and I believe they're all much of a muchness...
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Ah, so liquid CO2 would be more worthwhile and just rely on the plant substrate for ferts?
Yup.
Even when i was using pressurized co2 i didn't dose any ferts :)
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How's the tank looking now? I've been quietly following this with great interest (I'm setting up my first tank in a few months and have been gathering bits for it for the past few) and would love to see how yours is progressing.
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Not much happening with these slow growing plants!
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Still, looks awesome. Those paths really look like they go off into the distance. Very clever. I like it.
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Patience. It's going to be a beautiful scape (it is already!).
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Those paths really look like they go off into the distance. Very clever. I like it.
Yup! Don't normally like substrate mixing dark and light but it looks so good here.
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Goddam fish keep eating my shrimp! :/....
... maybe I should actually feed the fish occasionally!! *blink*
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They do tend to do that.......
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Oooh, significant change since that last pic! Must post an update soon! .....
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Hello Chris! *grin*
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Hi Ian *grin* Been away far too long!!
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you been on holiday to the moon lol
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Looking forward to this update :)
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(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161202/11da16836a91f85f316edb7894ff533b.jpg)
Moss not really taking off so might remove all and add moe Anubias, but the Vallis is taking off. Might actually need a trim soon :)
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S T U N N I N G thumbsup
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It does look very good vallis is grown really well ;)
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Really, really nice, Chris. *grin*
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You can't beat anubias for looking good easily. There are quite a few different looking ones so can get a nice variety in the look.
It's looking really great though :)
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Looks great. As I've discovered recently although anubias are slow growing they get to a point where they just explode. Mine have been in my tank just over a year and got barely any growth for almost the year but in last few months its gone to the point where I'm now looking at how to cut it back
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Oooo this looks so good, I love that wood. I need some wood.
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