# 90cm Mr Aqua w/LEDs (now a Riparium) (5/19/12)



## F22 (Sep 21, 2008)

tank looks AWESOME


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## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

:thumbsup:

I have the same tank, yours looks a bit like the mirror image of my layout...

Can't wait to see it fill in!


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## ddtran46 (Jul 8, 2008)

I can't wait till this tank fills in. It's going to looks sweeeeet!!


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## Dan the Man (Sep 8, 2009)

That driftwood is amazing...where did you get it?


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## jinx© (Oct 17, 2007)

Great start and also a great wood arrangement.roud:

Next time you trim your staurogyne, let me know and you can gladly toss it in my trash...lol


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

thanks guys!

The wood is manzanita wood that I bought from Tom Barr (PlantBrain) at our local club's meet last month. It's really some awesome stuff. It's the same wood that speedie408 has in his tank, he just has a lot more. 

And Jinx, I'll keep you in mind as I'm throwing away my plants haha


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

Stop throwing away plants! Give them to the newer members on BAAPS so at least they can try to grow it out.  

Tom's already flooded the market with Tropica 049, now wood. What a good man.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

haha, I've only thrown out the ludwigia repens x arcuata, that thing. oh man... I trim it from my big tank and now every single tank in my house has this plant. It grows in low light, high light, your light, my light.

But yes, I will pass this plant on next trim


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## pandapr (Nov 10, 2008)

Congrats on a nice looking tank!! And a cool girlfriend!!!
Sometimes I have nightmares that my wife is drowning me on my tank!! LOL


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

A couple of updates









Ludwigia Repens x Arcuata... I don't like this plant enough to spell it right. It grows too fast! But I love the way it looks. The R. Colorata I got from a member of our local club is also growing intensely quick. Grew to the top of the tank in a few days!









This plant is nifty, I got it from our local meet. (I should really pay attention or write down the names of these plants) It grew some purple underneath 








.
I like this plant too









Here's some of the Alternanthera reineckii ''roseafolia''









My cardinals. They're eating voraciously, they seem to like the frozen blood worms the best, with frozen BBS next. I'm too grossed out to feed them live worms.









One of the RCS. Even with 100 in there, the tank is so densely planted I barely see them.









I just bought 5 of these guys. Assassin snails to deal with my snail problem. I smush all that I see but theres just so much, I can't get to them all. These assassins actually look kinda cool too!









FTS. Sorry, a little bubbly from the water change. 









I built this thing to help with the water changes. Got the idea from PlantBrain. Its actually really convenient. I just screw it onto a hose, and hang it from the side of the tank. I put a sponge over the end so it doesn't suck up any fish and it's cut so I change about 45% of the water. Once water is siphoned out, I reconnect the hose and just fill it back up. I add a little bit of RO water, but its usually just top offs with RO for me.

and LASTLY....


AUGHHHHHH :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: 

ALGAE!!!!!!!!!!!









This covers just about every stem of staurogyne I have, a lot on the drift wood, a few leaves of blyxa. However, everything else is algae free...

I pulled my auto doser for now. I also turned off the middle bulb and running a shorter light period (reduced it from 9hrs (9 hr of single bulb, with the 2 outer bulbs for 7 hours) to 6 hrs of just the outer bulbs)

The RCS don't eat it, I don't think my 3 amanos are eating it (do they? do i need to get more?) My otos and pleco definitely didn't eat any of it.

My co2 is a little inconsistent as I'm still tweaking it but shouldn't this result in BBA not whatever this is? I don't have any BBA.

I'm also battling some GDA, but its mainly on the glass so its not that bad.

If someone could shed some light on this and what I can do.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

updated picture. The tank doesn't look this green in real life, it's just hard to get a good picture with the iphone.










Staghorn is in it's last dying stages, everything is growing very nicely. The increased co2 and that little powerhead for flow along the bottom of the tank definitely helped. 

I have a koralia evo 425gph coming soon to replace that little powerhead on the bottom right corner. It'll probably be going in the back so it could be somewhat hidden by the stems. Defeats the purpose of all this nice glassware to have a big ol' pump but what can I do, my 2 filters are not providing enough flow for the bottom of the tank.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Took some pictures today with my point and shoot camera instead of the usual iphone pics.









I took some of my staurogyne and glued it to the wood, it actually grows pretty well attached this way. I may cover the rest of the exposed wood with this but I'm not sure yet. This is just a little test to see how I like it and so far it's not too bad.









EBR I got from a local group member. 









It's hard to get a good shot of the cardinals, they keep moving so fast. No problem getting a good shot of the BAJILLIONS of snails I have though! My 5 assassin snails can't work quick enough, I think I may have to try another method. I'm thinking of trying the pool liner trick to see if it works.









Some new fish I picked up. "Diptailed Pencil Fish" Nannostomus eques. Saw these at my LFS the last few times I went and finally decided I had to have them. They're so cool, they just chill at the top in a group like that all day.









FTS. The bottom right is a little bare because I've been pulling from there to use for my staurogyne branch and to give to people.

Thanks for looking!


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## sapphoqueen (Feb 9, 2010)

looks good to me

he he he 

this is awesome!


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## thatgmc (Jul 4, 2010)

nice. This is turning out nice


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## VadimShevchuk (Sep 19, 2009)

tank is really nice. Must be nice to have a girlfriend who buys rimless tank for you.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Thank you all! Yeah, it was really nice when she got me the tank. Except she came up with the rule where every time I set up a new tank I have to buy her a purse!


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## zyn1 (Aug 26, 2010)

awesome....this looks great!


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## antbug (May 28, 2010)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> Thank you all! Yeah, it was really nice when she got me the tank. Except she came up with the rule where every time I set up a new tank I have to buy her a purse!


My wife and I have the same rule. I just got an ADA tank and she went shopping at Coach. haha

Tank is looking nice!


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## msnikkistar (Mar 23, 2010)

antbug said:


> My wife and I have the same rule. I just got an ADA tank and she went shopping at Coach. haha
> 
> Tank is looking nice!


Mine is the other way around, I get a new tank, he gets a new pc part/pc game/Denver broncos gear.


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## antbug (May 28, 2010)

msnikkistar said:


> Denver broncos gear.


That's just wrong... :icon_mrgr


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## msnikkistar (Mar 23, 2010)

He was born in Denver, (P.S I don't like the Raiders or the Niners either. lol)


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## jnaz (Apr 12, 2009)

The staurogyne really is filling in nicely. The colors of the cardinals go well with this tank.


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## PinoyBoy (Mar 14, 2008)

I'm eager to see how your plants glued to the driftwood due in the long run. I know you can do that with HC but staurogyne/stem plants?


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## herns (May 6, 2008)

Can you place plant ID on #11 post?

-------------
^BalutPinoy^


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Hey Herns, I wish I could but I don't know the names of most of my plants. Only know the names of the ones I actually bought. Most of my plants I got from my local club during our meet and I didn't pay attention when the names were said. Whenever the bag was passed my way, if I thought it looked cool I grabbed it.

If you're talking about the carpet plant, it's staurogyne tropica sp 049, the plant that's ALL the rage nowadays haha


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## davinci27 (Jul 27, 2010)

I love this tank


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## Holy Samosa (Nov 3, 2009)

You tank is great! I just ordered the same Mr. Aqua tank a few minutes before I stumbled on this post and ironically your tank is very similar to what I had been scheming for my own. That wood from Tom is amazing!

BTW, how do you like the Mr. Aqua tank? The greeninsh tinit that I hear folks complaining about really doesn't look bad in the pictures. How is the silicone work and edges on yours?


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

I want my wood back now

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

an update!

I removed all my stems except for one. Replaced it all with cyperus helferi

Here's an FTS








I trimmed away a lot of the leaves that had this algae on it and did a big water change, which is why it's a tad cloudy. 

My staurogyne is doing well but the bottom leaves aren't doing too hot. I think there's too much mulm down there. I think my next water change I'll fore go the garden hose and get down in there with a hose and bucket and suck up that mulm.

Lastly, here's one of the bettas I got from speedie408. This male is def. the dominant one in the group and this picture doesn't capture his blue-shiny-ness too well.









Holy Samosa, the tank is holding up great, The silicone seams are barely noticeable to me. I do notice a greenish tint but that may be from leaching from the aquasoil and not just the glass. I remember when I first set it up that it was crystal clear.

And Tom, no dice! haha


I might rescape this whole thing actually, after looking at the AGA contest winners, I feel so inadequate :icon_conf


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

I think it's time for more pics.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

More water changes, trim the Starougyne.
Add lots of shrimp, but the betta will chow them.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

I rescaped my tank recently. I added a few more branches of Tom's Manzanita, as well as some seiryu stone.

However, after the rescape, tragedy struck. Most of my cardinals died off, leaving just 1, I bought more but they died off too. I added a few rummies but there's no more massive school. 

My staurogyne also melted away too so now all I'm left with is a few scragily stems. 










I'm kind of at a loss for why my staurogyne melted away...hopefully someone can give me some insight. I do full EI with high co2, and all my other plants are doing just fine.


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## garuf (May 30, 2007)

I love the wood, I can see it as just the wood with some moss, hairgrass at the back and a Hc foreground a-la Jason Balibans "skull" titled scape. 

Looks great with the rocks, keep up the good work!


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Thanks garuf!

I'm actually planning on replacing the foreground with belem hairgrass, that is if I can get a good chunk for a fairly decent price.


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

very nice tank!


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

wow, that's a dramatic melt... I wonder if the substrate nutrients are spent.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

I tore the tank down completely 2 days ago. 

I just didn't like it anymore, the plants weren't taking off, I didn't like the scape anymore and the AS2 was turning to mush and coating all my leaves with dust.

So for the past few weeks I've been gathering plants and I finally got it going.

Took out all the AS2 and replaced it with AS1 and replanted everything. I'm finally really really happy with this tank and hopefully I won't redo it again anytime soon.

Onto the pics.

An Empty Tank all cleaned up of all the algae on the glass









Brand new Aquasoil Amazonia 1 It's so much easier to work with new dry AS than it is to try to redo the tank when everything's wet and muddy.









Tying and gluing fissidens and taiwan moss to the branches









New hard scape









Added a few seiryu stones to help hold the wood up and attached the trident java fern and bolbitus to the wood.









Planted blyxa japonica in the back left corner, and all the crypts went around the base of the wood and stone. Cyperus Helferi and Alternanthera reineckii are planted in the background. Planted Eleocharis parvula in the front left corner and Eleocharis sp. belem everywhere else. Also had some limnophilia sp vietnam that I just kinda stuck in to the side to see what happens as it grows in









Picked up some anubias barteri today and filled up the tank.









A couple of close ups

































What do y'all think?


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

like the new scape!


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Thanks! I'm gonna wait til it fills in then have Speedie come over to take some pro looking shots


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> Thanks! I'm gonna wait til it fills in then have Speedie come over to take some pro looking shots


It won't be quite "pro" but I'll do my best.  LMK when you're ready man.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Hooked up an LED fixture over the tank today.










More info here
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/127498-diy-led-90cm-36-inch-48-a.html


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

Looks a bit dark. l noticed that too when using leds on my tank instead of my old t5ho's. maybe you need more or lower the fixture? One thing for sure once you get the right amount of light and look you'll never go back.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

it is definitely not darker than my t5ho, I just turned down the iso when I took the picture. I'll try to get a better shot. If you go to the thread with my DIY build, there's a youtube link, shows the colors a little better.


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## Beijing08 (Oct 13, 2010)

magnificent tank...that's all I can say.
I really like your new scape, although that S. Repens carpet was as stunning as a carpet gets.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Thanks!

It's in sad shape right now, which is why I don't want to put up pics. My trident fern is not doing very well and I trimmed off all the leaves, leaving just the rhizome. Hopefully it'll grow back but if not it'll have to go.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

I removed most of the trident java fern. It just wasn't doing too well. I disconnected my auto dosers and have just been dosing manually, plants seem to be doing better.

Here's an updated shot


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

I got some new toys today









I'm using the ecco to run my surface skimmer and heater. My pro3e will be set up to just filter. It's a beast of a filter and I want it to only be used for that purpose. Having the 2nd filter, I was able to shorten the length of the hoses on my pro3e so now the flow is super strong out of it. I was able to remove one of the koralias.

Here's a crappy FTS...so grainy. I need a better camera.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

That is looking great!


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

A few updated pics.

LED lighting shows some excellent growth, but I think I may have been thinking about them all wrong. The light spread is way way too wide without optics, I get a lot of strike onto the glass resulting in a lot of GDA. Adding optics however turns up the PAR way too high using non-dimmable drivers. My new plan, is the get some of the meanwell dimmable drivers, drop the amps from 1000ma to only about 4-500ma, and put on 80 degree optics. This way, I have enough spread to cover the plants but none on the tank glass.

Anyways, here it is after a slight trim and a water change









My favorite fish in the tank, Male Apistogramma macmasteri


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Looking great!


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Thanks! I've been neglecting this tank a lot because I've been working on my reef but once I get my new LED stuff this tank should be a lot easier to run w/out the algae issues


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

Which Pro 3e do you have?


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

I think it's the 2076


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

I redid my LEDs again.

From my experience with building LEDs, I think for large tanks, optics and dimmable drivers are a must. The angle on the LEDs spread is way way too much and so much light hits the glass. The last few weeks, the tank glass has just been an opaque green from GDA. 

Adding optics to the LEDs increases the PAR, so running them with the constant current drivers makes them run way too strong for a planted tank. I was already getting like 70umol of PAR at the substrate without the optics, optics can triple the PAR, so needless to say, way too strong.

I bought some new drivers, and put optics on all my LEDs.









It took me a few days to re do the light so my tank went through a brief black out, well, not really brief, almost a week.

All algae is gone but so are most of my stem plants and blyxa. I removed them all and I'll just get some more. Looking for suggestions for a foreground that's robust enough to handle cories.









And last shot is the tank w/ the light. The light is about 2 feet above the tank. my LED rows are pretty tight and the optics are only 60 degrees so I had to lift it up to get the correct spread.









Thanks for looking!


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## karatekid14 (Jan 16, 2011)

Love the tank and the Macmasteri, people always over look them because they are not as flashy at First.


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## jcgd (Feb 18, 2004)

Can we get an update? I like the look that was starting to develop in the last few pics. What is the tall plant, kinda centered at the top with the leaves curling back down? Some kind of crypt?


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

That's a very nice tank and I hope you installed something over the end of your water change rig or you might be losing some shrimp.

I need to start learning about the LED lights and good tip from the been there, done that DIYers, you should write a DIY build for your lighting to help the rest of us figure it out. Did you learn from any good sites or do you have any good links???


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Thanks guys!

I'll try to take some pictures soon, i got some new plants and everything is growing back.

The big plant in the center is hygro. "red", the leaves are really big and it's a fast grower. Under high light it turns a nice bronze/redish color and it creeps across the tank, i have it tied in some spots to the wood so it creeps along it. Only bad thing is because the leaves are so large they tend to get some algae on them, i got some spot algae on them right now.

I actually have a few threads on my LED builds if you look in the lighting section! I learned everything about it from this great site called theplantedtank! No other forum has as many members doing DIY LED stuff. It's very easy to run and soon I'll be adding a controller to my fixture so that I can do sunrise/sunset settings.

As for the WC thing, I don't even have shrimp anymore, the apistos ate them all haha


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


>


I really like this unique layout. It is using the architectur of the plants really well. I never heard of that _Hygro_. 'Red' before.


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## shrimpNewbie (May 6, 2011)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> I built this thing to help with the water changes. Got the idea from PlantBrain. Its actually really convenient. I just screw it onto a hose, and hang it from the side of the tank. I put a sponge over the end so it doesn't suck up any fish and it's cut so I change about 45% of the water. Once water is siphoned out, I reconnect the hose and just fill it back up. I add a little bit of RO water, but its usually just top offs with RO for me.


could you by any chance explain how this works and how to put one together? seems useful



btw I love the tank and your macmaster =]


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

It's made using PVC fittings and a hose connector. Very easy to build, maybe $5 in parts. You hook it up to a garden hose and hang it over the tank. Then you turn on the water until all the air goes out of the hose. Then turn off the water and disconnect the hose from the water source and it starts to drain.

Since that pic was taken I added a T to the end that goes in the tank so when I refill the tank the water doesn't shoot straight down and instead comes out sideways.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

quick and dirty shot, didn't have time to set up the tripod. 










I did a major trim on the hygro, waiting on it to grow back now.
I planted an e. trianda foreground on the sides and microsword in the front (this area gets a lot less light than the sides).


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Very good looking island design


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

There was something I missed the first time around, the ADA ASII only lasted from July to February of the following year, is this typical and what do you expect from the ASI?

I had heard it was a rather short lived product but I thought a couple years or better!


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

yeah, I wasn't happy with the ASII, it was oh so bad. At first I thought it was because I kept replanting stuff and messing around with the tank that was causing it to turn to dust, but on another tank of mine that uses ASII, I haven't touched it as far as replanting goes since I set it up and it turns to mush by itself.

From what I've seen this isn't an issue with ASI. 

I think that was the main reason ASII was discontinued.


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

150EH said:


> There was something I missed the first time around, the ADA ASII only lasted from July to February of the following year, is this typical and what do you expect from the ASI?
> 
> I had heard it was a rather short lived product but I thought a couple years or better!


From my tests done on my own tanks, ASII is crap. It turns into a pile of mush in less than 6 months. With a strong flow and extensive substrate vaccuming, you can clear it up but this is why ADA discontinued this line. 

As far as ASI and how long the nutrient content last, my soil only lasted 7-8 months before my plants literally stopped growing. These tanks were both emersed tanks using ASI planted with crypts, UG, mini microswords, and belem hairgrass. I did not use any other ferts other than what was already in the AS. I changed the soil with new ASI and the plants started to grow again. So yeah, my conclusion is this "magic dirt" don't last very long at all, especially if you're not dosing your tank.

**got ninja'd** haha


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

yeah AS has a pretty high CEC so if you dose your tanks (which I do - EI) it'll last a long time.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

This setup is looking great too!


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## BobB (Mar 12, 2007)

What co2 system do you use? The tank, fish and scaping is out of this world! oops the lighting.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Rescaped the tank yesterday. Doing a perspective style iwagumi. I had neglected this tank and it really turned to crap so I had to redo it. Been wanting to for a while anyhow.









BobB, to answer your question, I'm running a concoa dual stage regulator w/ ideal valve and burkett solenoid on a 5 lb tank. It's diffused using an archaea super diffuser


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

I'm going to make an effort this time to remember what plants I put in here this time around.
I never remember and I end up with a jungle of stuff. 

So far, plant list is...
Crypt nurii
Crypt nurii pahang mutated
downoi
Eleocharis "belem"
Limnophilia aromatica
Hygrophilia pinnatifida
Hygrophila sp. ‘Guinea’
Fissidens fontanus


will be adding:
Starougyne sp. 049g
Ludwigia sp. Red


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Here's an update:

Added these plants
Ludwigia Sp. Red
Starougyne sp. 049g
Ludwigia arcuata
Rotala sp.
Eleocharis acicularis
E. tennelus red

Finally got fish in there as well, here's the list:
6x Altum Angelfish hybrids 
10x Sabwa Resplendens (asian rummynose)
9x otocinclus
1 dwarf puffer (for snail control)
1 betta (temporary home)

My LFS ran out of male asian rummies so I'll have to wait to add more, looking for a school of about 20, also want to get a nice school of dwarf cories too.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

had to sell my macmasteri today, doesn't fit with the scape


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

Looks good Tu. Where are the rest of your angels hiding? They camera shy or something?


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

haha they can hear the camera!


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## [email protected] (Jul 17, 2008)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> Hi guys, started this tank few weeks ago. My girlfriend bought the tank for me for our 1 year anniversary .


I don't want to page through six pages to find out if anyone else commented on the above. Your girlfriend is a keeper.

Great looking setup, by the way.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

changed up the wood on the left hand side.
Need to trim the L. aromatica too. This scape is presenting an interesting challenge, since there's not much in front of the stems, I can't let the bottom of the stems get ratty and leggy.


























mystery rotala


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## bryfox86 (Apr 6, 2011)

I don't know if you answered this already but what kind of CO2 diffuser are you running? if that's the best knock off I have seen... send me a PM with the kind please! Tank looks great though


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## jkan0228 (Feb 6, 2011)

Looks pretty awesome. Looks like rotala hippuris. Then again they pretty much look all the same.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

bryfox86 said:


> I don't know if you answered this already but what kind of CO2 diffuser are you running? if that's the best knock off I have seen... send me a PM with the kind please! Tank looks great though


I'm using the archaea super diffuser (it's aqua forest's brand). Works pretty well, similar to the atomic diffusers and what not.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

jkan0228 said:


> Looks pretty awesome. Looks like rotala hippuris. Then again they pretty much look all the same.


Thanks! 

A bunch of folks in my local club have this rotala sp. but have no idea what it is, lots of conjecture. It's sold at aqua forest as rotala sp. so that's what I'm calling it haha


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## bryfox86 (Apr 6, 2011)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> I'm using the archaea super diffuser (it's aqua forest's brand). Works pretty well, similar to the atomic diffusers and what not.


Ok what diffuser were you using in your first layout... the one that looks like ADA... Thanks!


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## DrewWoodside (Apr 1, 2008)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> Here's an update:
> 
> Added these plants
> Ludwigia Sp. Red
> ...


Wait, won't the dwarf puffer give your altums trouble with it's behavior? Isn't it a bit nippy? Also why didn't the macmasteri fit the scape? Just curious!


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Well, the puffer is gone, I think it died... haha I haven't seen it in a while. 

As for the macmasteri, it's a really big deep bodied fish, doesn't go with the expansive look. Plus, it's a hider, and as you can see there's not much hiding space for it. When I had the all manzinita scape, there were plenty of dark areas for it to hang out under.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

bryfox86 said:


> Ok what diffuser were you using in your first layout... the one that looks like ADA... Thanks!



Ah, Sorry bryfox I didn't see this. It's a rhinox 4000 diffuser I bought from aqmagic. It's... alrite, not that great. I had to clean it every week and I got annoyed.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Quick Iphone pic. I bought a t5no lamp from Fry's and I added to the back of the tank at the bottom. I really like it, creates a nice pinkish haze and is really cool when all the lights are off. I also added a bunch of starou from Tom and removed the l. aromatica.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Update
The two hills in the back corners were giving me the biggest headache. I planted a bunch of belem hg back there, but my dang cories and whiptail plecos kept digging it up, nothing ever stayed planted. I decided I was going to try out riccia so, I bought some riccia and some ADA riccia stone (it's just slate, expensive expensive slate). Tied the riccia and laid it back there, LETS SEE THEM UPROOT IT NOW!!! This is the first time having riccia in a tank on purpose, hope it doesn't get too bad. When it comes trimming time, I'll just pick up the stone and trim it out of the water.

Anyways, on to the pics!
FTS









Crypt Nurii









Mystery Rotala from AFA









Mystery Ludwigia from AFA, seems like they specialize in mysteries

















Ludwigia sp. red









Cory Habrosus









Altum Hybrid


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## jkan0228 (Feb 6, 2011)

That Ludwigia looks like Lacustris.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

hmm, interesting.

thing is, at AFA, it looks completely different. The leaves are about half the size they are in my tank, and a very dark red.


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## salmon (Apr 14, 2011)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> changed up the wood on the left hand side.
> Need to trim the L. aromatica too. This scape is presenting an interesting challenge, since there's not much in front of the stems, I can't let the bottom of the stems get ratty and leggy.
> 
> 
> ...


Gorgeous tank...very cool scape and plant selections!

The plant in the last pic your trying to ID looks very similar to one I'm also trying to ID in my journal. Bought mine as Alternanthera reineckii "narrow leaf", but I just saw a thread that look it's like Ludwiga planatal? Interersted if you find out.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

thanks! 

A lot of folks in sfbaaps are growing this plant (nice to have AFA in our backyard) and there still hasn't been a consensus on what it is yet. Some think its a pogostemmon but who knows. It's def. not L. pantanal though, I've grown that.


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## tizzite (Mar 28, 2010)

I liked this tank in all of its stages. I didn't know blyxa looked so nice when grown out like that. I'm also tinkering with LEDs. I have optics with dimmable drivers and I love them


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Thanks! Yeah I miss my blyxa sometimes, I loved it when it grew like that, unfortunately I remember after I trimmed it, it never really came back that lush and fluffy


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## smiller (Dec 4, 2011)

Very nice. Did you go with straight Aquasoil? Have you been pleased with that choice?


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Yup, all aquasoil. This iteration, there's half aquasoil amazonia 1 and half new type amazonia. It's been working out great, love the stuff. 

I'm trying out the azoo plant substrate on my 60F, we'll see how that goes


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Playing around with the camera... I should take the time to learn how to take some legit shots


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Updated shot









and a shot of my updated LEDs


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Boy oh boy how this tank has changed throughout it's life time!

I recently moved out of my parents house but had to leave this tank behind. It's too big for my new apartment. My parents told me they'd be willing to keep the tank up and running, but the only thing they wanted to do was feed the fish, so no water changes, no dosing, no trimming, no co2 changes! What's a high tech fanatic to do?!

I decided to turn the tank into a riparium, I had one before and it was the most worry free, maintenance free tank I've ever had.

I tore out the belem and all the stems, and just left the crypts and some of the e. tenellus that was growing in the foreground. I added the original wood back (from the very first scape) and set it up riparium style. 

The tank has been great, the riparium plants love the LEDs and there's nothing for my parents to do but enjoy the tank! And I just do a waterchange whenever I come home (every few weeks).

New Plant list
Underwater:
E. tenellus sp. red, crypt. nurii, crypt. nurii mutated, trident java fern, mini bolbitus, anubias nana petite, taiwan moss, hydrocotyle sp. 

Above water:
taiwan moss, acorus sp. golden, Colocasia fallax, Ruellia "dwarf blue, aluminum plant? Cyperus papyrus (i think) and a few other random stems

Fish: cardinal tetras, ember tetras, cory habrosus, apistogramma agassizi, Leliella (Rineloricaria) sp. "Red Lizard" (L10a), otos

Ok, that's a lot of writing... here are a few pics. Sorry for the quality, I took these with my iPad, I'll bring my dslr home next time and get some better shots



































( I think this one is the aluminum plant but I'm not sure)

thanks for looking!


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## FlyingGiraffes (Jan 30, 2011)

Good work! Waiting for the dslr shots.


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## robotsongs (Apr 16, 2012)

Wait, so what kind of "glue" did you use to attach the Stauro to the driftwood in the first setup? I can't think of any adhesive that would cure in wet/damp conditions.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

I used super glue. Cures almost instantly underwater.


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## robotsongs (Apr 16, 2012)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> I used super glue. Cures almost instantly underwater.


Holy crap! I'll have to try that when I get my order of fiss and mini pelia. 

Did you use the gel or just straight up super glue, and did you drain the tank first or just put it right under water?

How fascinating.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Hey do you know what the plant right underneath the aluminum plant with the V-shaped pattern on the leaf is?



IWANNAGOFAST said:


>


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

hydrophyte said:


> Hey do you know what the plant right underneath the aluminum plant with the V-shaped pattern on the leaf is?


Asians use this herb widely in food preparation: _*Persicaria odorata*_
I remember this plant growing up as a kid vividly because my grandparents use to grow it in a marsh setup where they flood the soil and it grows best like this.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

speedie408 said:


> Asians use this herb widely in food preparation: _*Persicaria odorata*_
> I remember this plant growing up as a kid vividly because my grandparents use to grow it in a marsh setup where they flood the soil and it grows best like this.


Oh yeah we have a wild plant around here that's either a _Polygonum_ or _Persicaria _that has a similarly-patterned leaf.


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