# ------Fat Guy's Nature Aquarium with Black Spiderwood ——-



## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

May 2022











November 2021










October 2021












August 7, 2021










May 16th, 2021









^^^^


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NEW!! Fat Guy is back!l 20g UNS 60P

Last seen here when I was living in NYC five years ago. Reestablished in LA now. Different water out here that's for sure. Introducing my children to planted aquariums. I picked up a UNS 60p 20g from Bob’s Tropical fish in East LA. Amazing store. This is an amazing size Aquarium. It's 2 inches deeper than the ADA 60p which that store carries as well. And the glass (to me) is just as clear. I also stumbled upon some great stones on my travels around LA and started arranging an Iwagumi scape.










The main rock is huge and works well in this aquarium because of its depth.


















Just the beginning here. It's simple and the goal is low tech. Starting off with some Staurgoyne Repens and some Java Fern that I had from an old Fulval Edge. Two Amano shrimp, a nerite snail and one cpd from an old tank. Gonna stock it in a week. Any suggestions? I like Harlequin Rasboras but they seem like they may get a little big and throw off the scale of the rocks. Maybe 10-15 emerald eye tetras??


















I’m essentially using all of my old stuff from my Mini M and Edge Tank. Hence all the filters I have running. Using the established bacteria colonies to bypass cycling of the tank and some of the old water from the cycled tanks.










10% Water Changes every day for now.

Here are the stats:

Tank: 20g UNS 60p
Filter: Random- Eheim 2211, Aquaclear 20 HOB, Sponge Filter
CO2: 10lbs Pressurized
Substrate: Aquasoil
Flora: Staurgoyne Repens and Java Fern
Fauna: 1 CPD; 2 Amanos; 1 Nerite Snail
Lighting:
24” Beam Works LED w/dimmer (cheap yet amazing) for $38.

Will start dosing once the s. repens starts to establish itself.

Thanks for looking. Hello again to those who remember me on here and hello to those who have stumbled across this thread.

Catfish added outside of tank.










August 7, 2021


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Picked up a dimmer from Beamworks today that is compatible with my light. It works great for the price. I can control the intensity of both the white and blue LEDS and it also works as a timer. 










I've got the setup down to: 

12p-6p co2
1p-7p lighting 100% 6500K 10% blue
8p-12a blue moonlight










I don't mind the sponge filter in the corner for now. I'm just trying to get as much bacterial filtration going before I add either Harlequin Rasboras or Emerald Eye Tetras or Rummy Nose Tetras...not sure yet. Anybody out there have experience with these in their 20g planted setup?










Recently purchased dome Blyxa Japonica, bacopa colorata and aromatica mini from Maryland Guppy here on this forum.

Looking forward to adding on to the scape. The S. Repens is doing great.

Thanks for looking.

-el gordo


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

*Pride Rock with Vids!!*

Update for this week. I should probably just start my own blog, but I've been using Planted Tank to document my progress in the hobby and to share it with others. 










Added 17 Cardinal Tetras and moved the CPD to my friend's tank. These fish are so beautiful together.

I purchased plants from a member on this forum and when they arrived they were in terrible shape. They were slimy and translucent.I floated them in my tank hoping that they would rebound and in one day I had green spot algae and hair algae on the plants that were sent.The old me would have hoped for the best and waited to see if they rebounded.But after many years in the hobby I knew these plants were melting and creating world of problems so I took them out and threw them away.It'll probably be the last time I buy plants on this forum.I'm sure that when they were clipped they were in good condition, but they were shipped in a box with no insulation and I think that's what caused them to go into shock.They were shipped cross country to the Southwest here and probably sat on a hot truck in transit for too long.[censored] So I pretty much paid for an algae bloom. Live and learn. 

On the positive side I did have a chance to visit my favorite LFS here in LA and picked up some healthier plants. 
Added:Bacopa Colorata; Cryptocoryne Crispatula; Cryptocoryne wendtii Kompakt; Brazillian Pennywort.

My Java Fern and S. Repens are doing great!
Also went to Home Depot and got some 1/2" tubing for my lily pipes so I could get the Eheim 2211 to sit on the floor. The tubing works great and fitted it on my CalAqua Lily Pipes from six yeas ago. 
One of the best investments for this tank has been the dimmer from Beamworks. I'm running these LEDs at half the intensity and have the blue lights come on at night at 1/10th the intensity. It's nice to have control over the light intensity as the plants in this tank are very low maintenance.Want to get them growing slow and steady.The light is like a gas pedal, so I'm laying off of it to keep things in balance.










For anybody who is interested in this journal here are some vids.I pushed the rock on the left down a bit further into the substrate to balance out the layout more effectively.I can watch these fish for hours.






nighttime cardinal tetras!!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

*Fat Guy's Pride Rock Cardinal Paradise*

Guess this journal is exclusive to me. Dear me, I’m in the process of dialing in my CO2. Have a skimmer on the way. Now that the cardinals have acclimated I’ve removed the sponge filter. Having a small hair algae issue that occurred when I put melting plants in my tank. Removed them after a day but they wreaked havoc on my water. Adjusting the CO2 and have been increasing gaseous exchange. KH 4.1 pH 7.8 out of tap. ph 6.8 after CO2. Dosing Thrive twice a week. LED light is at 6/10 the power. Plants pearling like mad. All the crypts are pearling too. Going to Airgas tomorrow to swap a new CO2 tank. I’ve had my 5lbs CO2 tanks since 2010. It’s been a while. Yikes! Also switched all my tubing to CO2 tubing. Installed a bubble counter and 2 check valves just to be safe. Running the atomizer in line on the Eheim outflow. The fluval 30 HOB with the extra media and sponges crammed in along with my Eheim canister filter are packing a mean punch for filtration. Looking forward to the skimmer tomorrow for optimum gaseous exchange. I love this tank’s’ dimensions. These cardinal tetras are insane. Dear me, welcome back to the hobby. A lot has changed and evolved for the good since 2003. Mas later. -el g


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Dear Me,

Everything is going great. The only issue has been a slow battle with hair algae that appeared from my own negligence and stupidity. I've been dosing Thrive and spot treating the hair algae with hydrogen peroxide daily after a water change. Added another Amano Shrimp as well. Pushed up the CO2 and added a surface skimmer to the HOB Filter and it works great. Have great gaseous exchange happening in the water. Trimmed off some old leaves of the s. repens that had too much hair algae and removed a couple java ferns. Traded those ferns in at Total Fish & Pets in Alhambra for the Amano Shrimp. Awesome awesome local store near me. Raised the light an inch off the glass. Going to a plastic supply store in Burbank today to put together my own DIY of an acrylic bracket to raise the light another couple of inches from the surface. The Beamworks light is great but these lights sit too close to the surface and the spread of light is too intense on the rock in my tank. Just lifting it a few inches off of the surface has already made a world of difference. Tank is doing great though. Dear me, I'll post a pic of the lighting mod once I finish it. Very happy with the progress so far. Mas Later, el g.










tetras feeding to music


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## billb (May 29, 2009)

Hey Fat Guy! Add another viewer to your journal!. I love the scape. That stone is dramatic and perfectly sized for the tank. Will be following along as this develops and you do battle with the algae invaders!


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## Leeatl (Aug 8, 2015)

Fat Guy did you contact the member that sold you the plants ? Seems everyone on here is honest in their dealings , at least give them a chance to make it right .


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

billb said:


> Hey Fat Guy! Add another viewer to your journal!. I love the scape. That stone is dramatic and perfectly sized for the tank. Will be following along as this develops and you do battle with the algae invaders!


Hey Thanks!! I love how the stone and the scape work together. Feel like I'm getting a hold of the algae. Haven't noticed any new hair algae as of now. Been spot treating and upping the co2 and it seems to be working. (knock on wood). Thanks again! :grin2:

Bump:


Leeatl said:


> Fat Guy did you contact the member that sold you the plants ? Seems everyone on here is honest in their dealings , at least give them a chance to make it right .


I sure did. In the end after a couple back and forths with the seller, I accepted the loss and moved on with no resolution. I just threw the plants away and ate the $25. I've been on this forum for a long long while. These things happen. My new LFS here sells the same plants for half the price. Lesson learned.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

*New Acrylic DIY LED Brackets*

Dear Me,

I went to Plastic Depot in Burbank yesterday and had some acrylic rectangles cut at 3/8". I then glued them together and made custom risers for my BeamWorks LED light to raise the light higher from the water's surface. I feel like these LEDs are great and even though I have a dimmer for the light I still find it to be too intense and not evenly distributed. So I raised it about 5" total off of the water which opens the tank up more and disperses the light better. Super happy with the outcome. It's not the sleekest DIY however, it wasn't that expensive to modify considering how cheap this light was. I spent about $30 on materials (almost the price of the light to do this) but am satisfied with the outcome. 

The cut materials:










Lining them up, gluing them and setting them. Acrylic glue is no joke.










Installed on the tank:



















If I could do the DIY again it would be to practice getting the air bubbles out of the acrylic pieces when they are sandwiched together. I was short on time but the pieces all trued up and support the light extremely well. I thought about putting shelving brackets in first and then having the light rest over the tank. But I think the outcome of this looks cleaner and I didn't have to put any holes in the wall. 










Thanks for looking. 

Mas Later, -el g


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## makeme (May 16, 2019)

Hey Fat Guy! Just stumbled upon this thread..love your tank/scape! I'm very intrigued by your DIY light brackets, too. I have tons of acrylic sheet lying around, and the acrylic cement, too, and have always wanted to make my own light risers. I haven't had a chance to figure out just how to custom make them for my lights and tanks...all of my tanks have the plastic rims at the top, which always complicates fitting anything to them! Any tips on making custom risers? Anyway, just wanted to tell you that your scape is really eye-catching!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

makeme said:


> Hey Fat Guy! Just stumbled upon this thread..love your tank/scape! I'm very intrigued by your DIY light brackets, too. I have tons of acrylic sheet lying around, and the acrylic cement, too, and have always wanted to make my own light risers. I haven't had a chance to figure out just how to custom make them for my lights and tanks...all of my tanks have the plastic rims at the top, which always complicates fitting anything to them! Any tips on making custom risers? Anyway, just wanted to tell you that your scape is really eye-catching!


Hey Thanks!!

As for the brackets I spent a lot of time staring at the tank and trying different scenarios with wood before I settled on the design I came up with. Not sure about what to do with the plastic rim. You could do something similar maybe with 3/4" acrylic rods. I thought about using rods but settled on this design. There is a little space between the glass and riser on the inside of the aquarium. If they were too flush with the side, water would leak over the top and onto the floor, traveling up the riser. So whatever you decide on building make sure there is enough of a gap between the riser and the glass on the inside of the aquarium to prevent this from happening. Thanks again!! -Fat Guy

Bump:

Bump: Dear Me,

I've been missing my Amano Shrimp for the past two days. I cleaned out the hang on back filter today and when I pulled the media out guess what I found? The shrimp. They had climbed over the skimmer that I added and then went down the pipe and into the filter. Kind of amazed how they made it through. Have no clue really how they survived. I was thinking that my water params were messed up when they went missing. It was serendipitous that I found them today. I cut out a small foam circle and it now sits in the intake of the skimmer preventing any future shrimp exploration. 

Took a vid of the side of the tank. This tank is 14" deep and 14" high so there is a lot of room to play with and for the fish to swim. The side view is just as interesting to me as the front view. Things are pearling like mad.

Mas Later, el g.


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

I'm jealous! Simple scape, makes the aquarium look huge. Is it smaller on the outside?


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## H82LOS3 (Mar 5, 2009)

Subscribed to this thread 

I have to say that rock as the center piece is beautiful, do you know what kind and where did you buy it from? This'll be my inspiration for my next tank


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

frogmanjared said:


> I'm jealous! Simple scape, makes the aquarium look huge. Is it smaller on the outside?


Hey Thanks!! I'm really liking this layout as well. It's a 20g tank that has equal depth and height so has a bigger footprint than the ada 60p. I think that really helps when arranging the rock and the plants and makes the setup feel bigger all together. 



H82LOS3 said:


> Subscribed to this thread
> 
> I have to say that rock as the center piece is beautiful, do you know what kind and where did you buy it from? This'll be my inspiration for my next tank


Hey thanks so much. I'm not sure what rock this is exactly. Looks a lot like ryuoh stone. I purchased it from a local nursery here in SoCal. The nursery has a special section where they sell super high end bonsai trees. I saw some of these rocks laying around and got really excited about adding them to my tank. There were some even bigger pieces that I debated about purchasing but went with this arraignment. There are actually little caves and tunnels in the main rock that the fish can swim through. It's also resting on its own so I didn't have to prop it up on any other pieces to create any extreme angles. Makes cleaning the rock a whole lot easier and if I bump it with my hand when I clean the glass it doesn't budge. 

Thanks again!

Dear Me,

I'm contemplating adding an acrylic top to the tank. I have a feline friend that likes to jump up and drink from the tank at night. There have been three cardinals that have been spooked by the cat and went airborne. 

Mas Later,

El G.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Dear Me,

Here's a quick snap of one of the cardinals. I've had a few jumpers in the beginning after my cat wanted to get a closer look but that has subsided. I've added a piece of foam to the intake of the skimmer to keep the shrimp from getting sucked in. 

I've had some curled leaf growth from my bacopa. Extremely hard water out here where I live. Lots of calcium but little magnesium. So I added magnesium sulphate (about 3/4 tsp) to the tank and will see if that has any effect. I've noticed some darker veining on the s. repens and some lighter color between the veins. Tested the nitrates with the basic API kit. Have over 20ppm (or whatever shade of red that it is). At first I thought maybe a nutrient deficiency. I think in the beginning that my plants had a nutrient deficiency before ferts when it was just water changes. I think what I am looking at with the curved leaves is from that but am not sure. The Bacopa is shooting out other branches nicely now. Trying to dial in a good balance between the light, co2 and ferts. I'll test the nitrate count again tonight to see if there was a change. So far so good. running the light at a little more than half the intensity and the plants are pearling. Things are looking better. The aqua clear 20 on the back is a nice combo with the eheim classic. It does a nice job moving the water and allowing gaseous exchange. 

Thanks for looking. 

Mas Later,

Fat Guy


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## H82LOS3 (Mar 5, 2009)

Fat Guy said:


> Hey Thanks!! I'm really liking this layout as well. It's a 20g tank that has equal depth and height so has a bigger footprint than the ada 60p. I think that really helps when arranging the rock and the plants and makes the setup feel bigger all together.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you for the info, I'll keep on the lookout for the stones


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## TECKSPEED (Jan 2, 2013)

Nice write up! How has your co2 dial in been going?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

H82LOS3 said:


> Thank you for the info, I'll keep on the lookout for the stones


You're welcome. It's really great when you find a place that sells the stones that you are looking for. You can purchase them online but you never really know what you are going to get.



TECKSPEED said:


> Nice write up! How has your co2 dial in been going?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


Hey Thanks! I've upped the CO2 a bunch and that has really made the plants happy. I haven't noticed any new growth of hair algae. I spot treated with hydrogen peroxide for 3-4 days and that seemed to have really helped. 

Dear Me,

I added 5 pygmy corys 2 amano shrimp and 4 more cardinals. The corys are a lot of fun to watch. I especially like when they dart to the surface to take a breath and then zoom back down. A really cool addition to the tank. 

I'm letting the bacopa grow out more and establish it's roots before I trim it and replant some of it. The only issue I'm having with it is from the curling of a couple leaves at the top. Some of the leaves are getting quite large on those stems that have the curled leaves. Did a 50% water change yesterday after noticing that some amanos found their way into the filter through the side of the skimmer. I have since modified the skimmer with a piece of fine foam from the filter guard for the fluval 20 HOB. So far so good. Added 8 ml of Thrive to the tank over two days to get the Nitrates up and everything looks legit. I've added 3/4 of a tsp of magnesium sulfate after every large weekly water change. Really enjoying the tank and the fish so far. Hoping that I don't have to add an acrylic top to the tank now that the cardinals seem to be more acclimated to their planted environment. 

Mas Later-

Fat Guy


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Dear Me,

Things are going well. Almost all of the hair algae has disappeared. Only noticing a little algae on the bottom front right glass. It's similar to the brown algae that coats the inside of your filter or lily pipes. Comes off no problem. The modification I made to the skimmer has so far successfully kept the shrimp out of the filter. The pygmy corys are awesome and a really cool addition to the tank. The Cardinals are doing great as well and there has not been any jumpers of late. They are more accustomed to my presence now and do not scatter when I or my cat or children approach. Cleaned my impeller for my aquaclear/fluval20 HOB and was getting a lot of filter noise. Added a little petroleum jelly to the impeller and it has turned the noise into a light murmur. Wanted to upgrade the HOB but the next step up take up to much space on the side and will force the light to move more towards the front of the tank. I am not fond of that look. The more central the light the better. But having the HOB and the Eheim 2211 running together gives a nice 1-2 punch for filtration and gaseous exchange.










Raising it up has been a real blessing in disguise. I don't have to move it to work in the tank and the algae on the rock has been reduced to only two green spots. Raising it up has done wonders. I'm very close to being dialed in with the water.

Right now I'm doing:

Day 1:
50% water change, and 4ml of Thrive, 3/4tsp of Magnesium Sulphate.

Day 2,3,4 topoff

Day 5: 
2ml Thrive

Day 7:
50% Water change and repeat.

This has seemed to work well fertilizer regime seems to be working well.










I still have a little curling of the bacopa leaves at the top of the tank. But they are now growing out of the tank. I'm going to let the bacopa over grow this week and maybe next and then do a trim. I want it to establish a strong root system before I trim.

Happy with how things are going. Getting closer to the equilibrium horizon. 


Thanks for those who are following this thread or who have stumbled upon it. 

Mas Later,

El Gordo

ps added an old ACURA 50W heater that I have had in storage since 2005. It's keeping the tank at 76 degrees and working flawlessly. Surprised by the quality of the heater.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Dear Me,

Tank is roughly a month old and I seem to have a good co2, fert and lighting balance.

Did a 50% WC today and added 9ml of Thrive and 3/4 tsp of magnesium sulphate. After checking my nitrates throughout last week I added roughly 5 pumps total of Thrive to maintain a good balance of ferts. I decided today to just do one EI dose for the entire week before the 50% water change. 

Things are looking good. Had to do a major trim of the bacopa. And then replanted some stems back into the substrate about 2" in height. I hope this will give me some more time between trims and will help the tank fill in the way I want it to.










The crypts are doing great as well. I did lose one cory (I think) possibly from not being patient enough when adding them to the tank. But I can't find him so maybe he hiding out somewhere. The cardinals are insane feeders and super active. I have the temp around 74-75 degrees which seems to be a nice medium for the fish. I turn the heater off the night before I do a water change so that the tap water and tank water are close to being the same temp on the day of the change. 










Amanos hanging out on the rock.










Hair algae is virtually non-existent. I am also not having any problems with the bacopa leaves curling like before. Maybe the magnesium addition had a positive effect. I did notice a little green dust algae on the glass but I think that is because the tank is too close to the window. The window never gets full sun, but nonetheless I think that is why I am seeing it. 

Gave the bacopa to my neighbor down the road.










Thanks to those who are following this thread.

Mas Later,

Fat Guy


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Dear Me,

Removed some of the longer crypts in the back and replaced with C. Wendtii. Also raised the slope in the back. Experienced a slight ammonia spike when I disturbed the substrate and lost one cory, but all is back to normal. Grabbed Karen Randall's book Sunken Gardens for fun. Really enjoyed reading it. I met Karen 16 years ago in Boston at the New England Aquarium Society. I purchased some of her Pearl Weed at the plant auction after meeting her. Cool to see that she has a book out. 

Really like the way the tank is starting to look. Only running the light at 50% intensity and everything is gravy for far. Added some mermaid weed and another plant after pulling the bacopa colorata. The plant threw off the scale to much for my liking and grew like a weed. 

Thanks for looking.

Mas Later,

El G


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## Discusluv (Dec 24, 2017)

Fat Guy said:


> Dear Me,
> 
> Removed some of the longer crypts in the back and replaced with C. Wendtii. Also raised the slope in the back. Experienced a slight ammonia spike when I disturbed the substrate and lost one cory, but all is back to normal. Grabbed Karen Randall's book Sunken Gardens for fun. Really enjoyed reading it. I met Karen 16 years ago in Boston at the New England Aquarium Society. I purchased some of her Pearl Weed at the plant auction after meeting her. Cool to see that she has a book out.
> 
> ...


Really nicely done tank. Very relaxing looking. Looks especially nice set poised in front of the interesting abstract art.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Discusluv said:


> Really nicely done tank. Very relaxing looking. Looks especially nice set poised in front of the interesting abstract art.


Hey thanks a lot! It's been a constant work in progress. I like the art on the wall in that room with the tank too. My children are the abstract artists to credit for that work  Thanks Again!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Dear Me!

Forgot to mention that the two plants that I added were myriophyllum tuberculatum (aka red water milfoil) and the other stem plant is either totals indica 'bonsai' or bacopa Caroliniana...I'm leaning towards the latter. Bob's Tropical Fish had it planted but unlabeled and they weren't sure which one it was. I liked the way it grew next to the milfoil so I picked it up. A real pain to plant as one the slightest disturbance with the tweezers sends two or three stems floating up. Anyway. Liking how it is looking now, especially with the slope in the corner. Excited to see how the new crypts fill in. The cardinals are awesome to watch in this setup. Also it's too bad about the pygmy cory deaths. Totally my fault from causing an small ammonia spike when I added some oliver knott soil over the UNS soil and kicked up a cloud of debris. I vacuumed it up as quickly as possible but I think it really did a number on the corys. The cardinals and shrimp have shown zero signs of stress however. It's just a bummer and I probably won't keep these little fish again. I also noticed what appeared to be some diatoms after the soil addition. I think that is attributed to the ammonia spike. It's a real balancing act. Enjoying the process thus far that's for sure. Thanks for looking! El G.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Dear Me,

Just a quick shot of the tank after a cleaning. Enjoying how things are starting to pan out now. Thanks for looking.

Mas Later,

el G


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Everything has really started to take off. I've changed up some things. Made an addition with a DIY foggy white background. Added two otocinclus and lowered the light intensity to 50% on the LED. The crypts and s. repens are thriving. The stems in the background are filling in nicely. I was told from the LFS that it was mermaid weed (the stem near the middle) but it's actually rotala walachi. Pic below. When I get a chance I'm gonna snap a better looking image. The pic doesn't do it justice at all.

Thanks for looking. Mas Later. 

El G


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Increased light intensity back to 90% as I was reading some interesting stuff about the Beamworks Light PAR etc. Plants are bubbling like crazy. Gonna get a phosphate test kit mañana to test levels. I think with the bioload I've got the Nitrates covered, but may be running low on phosphates throughout the week as I'm getting a nice dusting of green dust algae on the glass every third day after the water change. We shall see.

Thanks for looking. 

Mas Later,

-El G.


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## jart (Jan 17, 2003)

Great looking scape, Fat Guy. Nice to see you back on the forum. Not many of us here from 2003.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

jart said:


> Great looking scape, Fat Guy. Nice to see you back on the forum. Not many of us here from 2003.


Hey thanks so much!! The 2003 crew represent!! Amazing that it has already been that long.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

*New Video 2020!! Fluval 3.0 or Chihiros RGB???*

Built a DIY stand out of an old dresser. When I get a chance I'll post some pics on how I did it. Below is a vid of the tank. I've got some brown algae/diatoms from adding substrate a little while back. I don't mind it so much. It does mess with some of the rotala's beauty, but the fish and shrimp love it.

Going to upgrade the light.

Any thoughts on the Fluval 3.0 or the Chihiros RGB for this? Anybody want to chime in? 

I like the 3.0 controls and think it will add some nice customizable color to the tank but wonder if having it at the surface will be too close. I do have the acrylic risers I made that I can always put it on. The RGB from Chihiros looks cool too. I just don't know about the longevity of that light. 

Any thoughts????

Here's the vid:






Bump:

Bump:

Bump: aer


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## Quint (Mar 24, 2019)

I really like the 3.0 and it should work great with the risers. No idea about the other light as no experience with it. The control of the 3.0 is great imho


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Quint said:


> I really like the 3.0 and it should work great with the risers. No idea about the other light as no experience with it. The control of the 3.0 is great imho


Thanks Quint. The more i look into it I’m leaning towards the 3.0. I really like the control I’ve been reading about and think it’s gonna be a nice step up from the beamworks. Glad I made those risers!!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Debating now whether I should get the Fluval 3.0 for $127 or the Twinstar 600ea with dinner for $179. As mentioned before I could put the fluval on the risers but I think the twin star wins the beauty countest. Is it really work $50 more without an app?

Here’s the tank on my diy stand.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

If any of you have been following my journal, you know that I have been debating about an upgrade from my current beamworks 6500k light. That light has done a nice job helping me get back into the hobby. However I really wanted to find a light with a nice color spectrum that was programmable as well. I have been debating between the twinstar e vs the chihiros RGB vs the Fluval 3.0.

My main concern with the fluval was that it did not have any risers and was supposed to only sit on top of the tank. I am not a huge fan of this setup also and would expect to get a lot of water splashes from the carbon dioxide and oxygen bubbles degassing from the surface onto the light casing. But I bit the bullet and went for a DIY upgrade and built my ow acrylic risers. I also got a good price on the light from Ken’s fish online and bought the light for $127. 

















I received the light today and boy oh boy is it really awesome. And it looks amazing in my opinion on top of the acrylic risers that I built. The controllable color spectrum and intensity for the LEDs on this with the app is really special. You kind of expect the rest of the LED market to go in this direction. The light is super responsive with the app. I only had one issue with it and that was when I tried to update the app and I lost Internet My connection and the light turned off and I couldn’t get it to turn back on. However after a couple Google searches did I realize that you can upgrade the firmware on the light by erasing it and reinstalling it by swiping left on the light icon in the app without waiting for the light to respond. And it worked immediately.

















To be honest I really can’t get over the difference that’s this light makes on my 60 uns. It puts a big smile on my face and I don’t feel like I broke the bank at all. Maybe Fluval will take a note and farther down the line will offer acrylic risers for their lights instead of only offering a hanging mount system. But raising this light above the water line has made all the difference and I have zero dark spots on my tank and an even distribution of light. Anybody on the fence I say go for it. The three-year warranty makes me smile. I’m also finally seeing my fish and plants in a whole new light (pun intended).

-Fat Guy

Loving the ramp up and ramp down feature.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Did a major trim. Battling late in tank diatoms that showed up after I added additional substrate (and didnt rinse it even though the bag said it wasn’t necessary. Lesson learned. Plus it would be good for these established plants to grow in thicker now. 

Thanks for looking!

Mas later,

El g.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Dear Me,

Adding an update to my tank here. I don’t think that the risers are a must, but I definitely prefer the look of the light on the tank with them as opposed to without. Not only do they help with the spread of light but they also make tank maintenance a lot easier. I only remove the light if I want to clean the risers themselves and just work around the light when I am doing water changes etc. For me I prefer them. These LEDs are more powerful than I think a lot of people in this hobby fully understand.

On a side note in regards to my planted tank journey- I run my light, when it ramps up at its peak, at only 30% for a few hours and then it ramps down. The easy control that this light offers has hands down made a positive impact on my plant growth in this tank and an extreme reduction in algae. I was experiencing a brown algae issue with this tank after adding additional substrate to the back right corner months ago. I went down the rabbit hole of trying to find a way to balance the tank and to rid myself of the algae that I was experiencing on a mature setup. There’s so much misinformation out there...especially when there are people in the hobby that are encouraging others to increase the light in order to combat the brown algae. Or those that say that diatoms are not an algae and do not photosynthesize....which is wrong. I found the best information here:









Anyway, I realized that my lighting setup was the real reason for the algae issues. I had just way too much light on my tank, even though the photo period was for 6 hours. My plants were growing and so was the brown algae. With the addition of ferts and pressurized co2, my plants were also growing like they were on steroids. Even my kompakt crypts were huge. But having too much light was giving me sustained diatom issues after the additional substrate.

However, the Fluval light gave me the control over the tank that I really needed and since reducing my photoperiod and lighting intensity have I been able to reduce the brown algae in my tank by almost 95% with hopes of ridding it completely within the next couple of weeks. This is definitely a tangent, but controlling the light as well as being able to raise it from the water line with these DIY risers has made a world of difference for me. I also like how the ones I made compliment the setup aesthetically, which is important to me because I have my tank displayed in a main room in my house so the look of the light over the tank is important to me. My plants are growing extremely well, and while the growth has not been explosive, it has been steady, consistent, manageable and more natural looking IMHO and everything feels balanced where as before I was chasing the horizon line trying to figure it all out.

-Fat Guy


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## Streetwise (May 24, 2019)

Nice update. I like your tank.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Streetwise said:


> Nice update. I like your tank.


Hey thank you!


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## Jasoncor (May 19, 2018)

Very nice tank man!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Jasoncor said:


> Very nice tank man!


Hey thanks a lot!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Dear Me,

Wanted to post an update of my current Fluval 3.0 settings. After waging war on a late brown algae bloom in my tank after adding additional substrate to a mature tank, I decided to take a closer look at the light intensity and duration of lighting on my tank. After making the necessary adjustments and doing maintenance with water changes to rid the diatoms from the setup, I am happy to state that my algae problems have become the least of my concerns....in fact...I don’t have any real gripes with the setup anymore. I was over driving my plants with too much light before, and now, after some major lighting adjustments, I am back on track. My maintenance schedule is once a week water changes and trimming...Monthly filter maintenance...quarterly inline diffuser maintenance...and that’s it.

I’m dosing EI successfully and have the CO2 dialed in and am just enjoying the tank. I did have some orange shrimp deaths...sad to say...as my cardinals were the culprits...but the tank is happy and so am I with its progress. I’ve added Rotala Bonsai in place of the walichi and am just waiting for it to settle in and root. I do have some MTS which I love that will occasionally uproot a new sprig from the substrate, but I enjoy them in the aquarium. 

For those that are following my thread, thanks for watching...Here’s a pic of my current 3.0 settings that I’ve been running for the past two months....this tank is 14” high and my light sits roughly 3” over the top of the aquarium on the LED Acrylic Risers that I built.

Mask Later,

El g


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## Hujeta (Jan 26, 2020)

Good to hear you won the battle against the evil algaes. Is the Fluval app user friendly? I'm thinking of getting their nano lights which shares the app.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Hujeta said:


> Good to hear you win the battle against the evil algaes. Is the Fluval app user friendly? I'm thinking of getting their nano lights which shares the app.


I find the Fluval app to be extremely user friendly. Sure there's always room for improvement but I'm extremely content with it.


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## Hujeta (Jan 26, 2020)

Fat Guy said:


> I find the Fluval app to be extremely user friendly. Sure there's always room for improvement but I'm extremely content with it.


That's reassuring to hear, sometimes apps develop for a smaller audience can be a bit...iffy.


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## Quint (Mar 24, 2019)

Once you get the hang of it the app is pretty easy. I need to make some nice risers like you have, currently using two pieces of scrap 2x4. It raises my light about 2" which gives it much better spread on my 40B. 

OTOs love diatoms by the way ......


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Quint said:


> Once you get the hang of it the app is pretty easy. I need to make some nice risers like you have, currently using two pieces of scrap 2x4. It raises my light about 2" which gives it much better spread on my 40B.
> 
> OTOs love diatoms by the way ......


Totally. Raising the light really makes a huge difference. How do you have the 2x4s setup on your tank? 

I’ve have three Otos and they are a nice addition, and while they do like diatoms, the difference they were making in my setup was rather minuscule. On a side note, my favorite algae eater is the MTS even though many are opposed to them. I have Amanos as well and they are fine but nothing to write home about. They do get berried every so often and their green eggs and clear body is quite a wild sight...

In fact, all of my fish enjoyed eating the diatoms, my cardinals and Pygmy corys were well fed. However the algae eaters weren’t the solution to the problem. There’s a lot of info out there about hobbyists adding an algae crew like otos and amanos and the diatoms magically disappearing. I think that may have more to do with the presence of diatoms in new setups where eventually the nitrifying bacteria establishes and the tank balances out and the diatoms disappear. However, that’s not the case in a mature tank like mine when they appear and remain for months. Something in my setup was definitely off. 

It was adjusting the photoperiod and light intensity that really did the trick. The role that lights have on algae is tremendous and for whatever reason I see a lot of hobbyists chasing after ferts and co2 to try to tackle it...but if you have adequate ferts and adequate co2 and you are still having algae blooms then the problem isn’t the nutrients or carbon dioxide...it’s most often too much light. Once the light is adjusted and things start to balance I think you can then increase the photoperiod and intensity in small increments but I’m starting to ask myself the question of why would I want to do that? At 75% this light not only is too bright for my plants but it’s too bright for the room it is in and oddly enough puts the room out of balance IMHO. The algae bloom I had in the tank after adding the additional substrate was a blessing in disguise. I added some of Oliver Knotts soil which claims not to increase the ammonia in the water column like the UNS or ada soil does. I am deducing that the problem for me was that I didn’t rinse the substrate before I added it and soon the diatoms reapppeared. And they were here for good. And while I do like the look of the diatoms on the rocks as you see them in nature, I did not like the look of them on the glass or leaves or other parts of the aquarium. And while I would like to create a natural looking environment the diatoms were just too much. And after months with them I understood that waiting them out and adding additional clean up crews were not going to make them disappear. It really made me focus in on what I had been blind to in this setup....and what I had been blind to was what was blinding me...too much light. Now this information isn’t anything new to the hobby...it’s just a part of it I had been ignoring for a really long time and my ah-ha moment was realizing my own stupidity ;P

The biggest lesson I’ve learned in my 30 or so years in this hobby is to be patient. In this situation, adjusting the light eventually solved the problem, but it didn’t happen over night. The younger me would’ve been scrambling to find a more rapid solution...and looked at ferts and co2 and bioload and substrate and filter media and you name it...but I would’ve been weary of tweaking the light output for reasons I can’t explain other than the fear that my plants wouldn’t grow or carpet etc...At 30% output over this tank, my plants are growing better than before...Yahtzee!

I have really learned a lot with this tank. And now it is a welcome change to sit back, relax, and watch it all grow.

Thanks for reading!

Fat Guy


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## NEKvt (Jun 17, 2007)

Fat Guy said:


> Dear Me,



I'd be keen to hear how you got to this schedule and settings. Working with a 3.0 over a little cube now trying to nail the lights down.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Hey thanks for the comment. Check out the previous posts in this thread if you haven’t read them. I go over some of how I came to this reduced setting. A lot of it is trial and a lot of error but I get about 3hours of pearling when ramped up at its peak and then the rapid ramp down begins. These settings allow me to stay ahead of the algae and have proven to work well for me with significant algae reduction and increased plant growth.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Really loving how things are turning out. Diatom free and excellent growth. Removed the larger MTSs as they kept uprooting new sprigs of the rotala that I transplanted. EI dosing is working well. Added a little more light intensity and tweaked the lighting duration a bit now that the algae has been kept at bay. 

Here’s a pic of the light settings and tank at midday.

Thanks for looking!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

S'been a quick quarantine minute. Here's an update. Right now the Rotalas are clumped in the back right corner and cut low to regrow. I've added some Heteranthera Zosterifolia behind the rock with hopes that it will grow a little over the back of it and bush out some. The S. Repens and Crypts love this tank. All is well. Wanted to post an update of where it's at. Increased the light intensity peak a little and get more reds when it ramps down. EI doses, weekly water changes, co2 and light control and the problematic algae are few and far between. Just some green spot algae on the rock face which I like. Thanks for looking. 

Mas Later, El G.


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## vraev (Apr 13, 2012)

Tank looks great, but it is really hard to see. Can you post bigger pics?


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

vraev said:


> Tank looks great, but it is really hard to see. Can you post bigger pics?


Hey Thanks! And let me try to get a bigger pic of what i posted.


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

Tank looks beautiful! I recently was a bit of a noobie and started the first few weeks with my light tuned wayyyy too high and now since a few weeks of algae maintanence and WC's etc I have it on the retreat I think - but perhaps the biggest thing was I reduced the photo period and turned down the brightness of the RGBW all wayy lower to about 30-35% for a quite short peak anyway. Really seems to be helping, and youre right even lots of brightness on powerful lights often times isnt nice to look at or have in a room, it can look quite uneven!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

andrewss said:


> Tank looks beautiful! I recently was a bit of a noobie and started the first few weeks with my light tuned wayyyy too high and now since a few weeks of algae maintanence and WC's etc I have it on the retreat I think - but perhaps the biggest thing was I reduced the photo period and turned down the brightness of the RGBW all wayy lower to about 30-35% for a quite short peak anyway. Really seems to be helping, and youre right even lots of brightness on powerful lights often times isnt nice to look at or have in a room, it can look quite uneven!


Hey Thanks!!

That's great that you turned your light way down. I think it's a huge misstep in this part of the hobby when hobbyists overlook their lighting. Good for you for reducing its intensity to treat your algae problems. That's a step in the right direction. My lights are on for roughly 12 hours but the period that they are at a high intensity is only for a very short amount of time. I've been able to slowly increase my lighting intensity over the past two months by about 10-15% and the plants are responding nicely and the algae is kept at bay. And it's totally enjoyable. I feel like for most of the hobby I've been chasing my tail and only until recently am I feeling truly relaxed with my setups which has given me more time to understand other aspects of the aquarium...Thanks again!



vraev said:


> Tank looks great, but it is really hard to see. Can you post bigger pics?


Here's a better pic. Let me know if the tank is easier to see. Appreciate the feedback nonetheless.


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## vraev (Apr 13, 2012)

Looks good.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

vraev said:


> Looks good.


Hey Thanks!!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Removed the white background and will add a foggy one to the scape. Snapped the below pic for fun. The star grass is a neat addition behind the rock. Increased my lighting intensity to get some more compact growth. Have been adding additional iron throughout the past couple of weeks as well. Enjoying the scape. Everything is growing well and can't complain.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Filter Update:

Was thinking about upgrading toanother Eheim classic maybe the 2215 or 2217 but changed my mind last minuted. While I’ve liked the Eheims I’ve owned in the past, there has been very little improvement on the classic filter....to be honest I think my biggest issue with the classics are it’s fragile design...the little clips...the frail plastic cylinder...it’s really easy to crack....and the double taps are ok but when you cram it under a cabinet they can be a real pain in the butt. They are quiet though that’s for sure. 

I went with the Fluval 307 on my setup and am really glad I did. I used barbed reducers so that I can still use my 13mm lily pipes and inline diffuser which saved me a nice chunk of dough. I added the media from my whisper HOB and my Eheim 2211. 

The 307 is an awesome filter which i have been running with reduced flow on my 20g....I love the 5 year warranty...the easy maintenance...the durability....the customer service...all of it...and that the company has offices in the US where as Eheim has pulled out of America. 

Really excited about the upgrade on my UNS 60p. Pulled the skimmer out of the tank as well and am running the 307 exclusively. It’s making a huge difference.


Best, Fat Guy

Here's a grainy video for ya.


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

yeah, I agree with the fragility of the eheims and it sucks that they're not as supported but they're so much quieter than other filters i've used. I used to have the 405 on my 40 and had issues with the o-ring and having very tiny leaks once in while. the 307 should be a good size for your tank with the throttle on, should keep everything crystal clear 

what made you change the white background for the foggy one? which one did you end up going with? 
ps, your youtube link isn't working


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

​


monkeyruler90 said:


> yeah, I agree with the fragility of the eheims and it sucks that they're not as supported but they're so much quieter than other filters i've used. I used to have the 405 on my 40 and had issues with the o-ring and having very tiny leaks once in while. the 307 should be a good size for your tank with the throttle on, should keep everything crystal clear
> 
> what made you change the white background for the foggy one? which one did you end up going with?
> ps, your youtube link isn't working


Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I’ve read about Fluval’s leaking from the o-ring on some of their models. I haven’t come across any info about leaks yet on the 7 series ones. My last eheim leaked from the input port on the filter from a small hairline crack over the threads that you screw the inflow part on to. No amount of gorilla glue or plumber’s tape would fix it. When water finds a crack if will find its way out eventually.

The reason for the background change was just to switch it up. In the last pic there’s actually no background. I have since put a foggy one on. I’ll see what I can do about the vid. The new background is in the clip. Strange, but I can see it on my end but when I click on the site through my phone it doesn’t work. Here goes again-






And here’s the link to copy and paste.






All the best!!
-g


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Breaking lily pipes is a right of passage in this hobby...especially if they are CalAqua pipes...

But the good news is I upgraded to a lily outflow instead of the jet i had before. Really an awesome design as I can now run the 307 at full power as this style of lily pipe doesn’t turn my aquarium into a spin cycle. And the vortex it creates on the surface does an awesome job of breaking surface tension and aerating the water. Really happy with the flow and the fish find the water movement definitely more agreeable.

Also..added 4 more dwarf Pygmy Cories. Love those fish...


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

ughh, yeah I remember breaking my fist glass inflow pipe I thought I could superglue it but it just turned out looking worse and leaked 

But the new outflow looks awesome. I used to have a glass skimmer that did a good job of keeping the surface clean but then I realized that if I aimed the glass lily outflow then it would create that vortex and work better than the skimmer. 

The dwarf cories are awesome! they always swim with the other fish. How much were they each for you?


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

monkeyruler90 said:


> ughh, yeah I remember breaking my fist glass inflow pipe I thought I could superglue it but it just turned out looking worse and leaked
> 
> But the new outflow looks awesome. I used to have a glass skimmer that did a good job of keeping the surface clean but then I realized that if I aimed the glass lily outflow then it would create that vortex and work better than the skimmer.
> 
> The dwarf cories are awesome! they always swim with the other fish. How much were they each for you?


I've definitely been down the super glue route before. I tried to gorilla glue an old eheim and it worked for a few days and then started to leak. 

I got the corys for about $2 each. I love that fish except it's always a gamble the first week in the tank. I've had some that are extremely hardy and others not so much. I think it has a lot to do with the age of the fish. The younger ones have a harder time getting acclimated to the tank. I've had a few that have died in the past randomly and others that seem to live forever. I like them the best in schools of 7 or more. Plus they are super laid back and super peaceful to watch.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Dear Me,

Well I decided to pull everything out of the tank as I've had the setup for roughly a year now and rescaped the entire thing. 

I found a great rock at a garden center here and changed the layout up a bit. I really love the new scape. I kept a couple crypts in the tank and did my best not to damage the s. repens carpet that I planted. There are deep roots with the repens so I trimmed everything super low with hopes to get the repens to recarpet again. I've done something similar to this before in the past and it came back within a few weeks. Smaller leaves and more compact. I added a new plant. I grabbed some HELANTHIUM TENELLUS BROAD LEAF and planted it between the big rock and behind it. I got inspired by a George Farmer Iwagumi where he used that plant. I raised the slope in the back as well and lowered it in the front. I had a bag left over of some Oliver Knott soil that I used. The LFS owner that I like to go to told me that this soil will not give you an Ammonia spike like the ADA soils and UNS soils. I'm still testing my ammonia levels daily because I'm a little bit skeptical of that info. 

The rock and the brainstorm:
















I've reduced the flow on my 307 to around half and moved the lily pipes to the back right corner which has been a real benefit aesthetically to the setup. The pipes almost disappear with my DIY foggy background and I love how the flow is more directed behind the rock and curves around the front. The fish seem happier. I had to reduce the intensity of it thought, not because of the current but because a few baby corys were not strong enough to swim out of its tractor beam and I lost too that got stuck in the intake. Sucks but it's a learning lesson and a painful one. 

I'm lowering my light intensity to less than 40% at it's peak and this seems to keep the algae at bay. When I crank up the light I find that too much maintenance needs to be done and the balancing act gets more difficult. I'm dosing NPK and Trace and FE and Magnesium. I found that my repens a while back was showing signs of magnesium deficiency. I contacted my local water department here in California and discovered that the water here is extremely hard especially and has high calcium levels but lower magnesium levels. So I've added more Magnesium two to three times a week. 

Really digging the new layout and can't wait for it to grow in. It makes a really powerful yet peaceful statement in the room that the tank is in. 

Thanks to all for looking.

-El Gordo

and now for the pics-

Old scape trim-
























Replanting and rescaping









Quick tip to fill the tank and not disturb the substrate. I poked holes in a gallon zip lock bag and let it rest in a colander. Make sure you aren't like me and get a colander that is properly supported on both sides of the tank glass when doing this. I got lazy and took my hand off it and it fell in and had to redo the slope in the back. I also stuck plastic hotel cards into the slope to maintain the slope.










The fill up:


























Moonshot


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

like the new scape! it'll look awesome once it's filled in

Very interesting about the water. I'm down here in San Diego and we just got our water report too. I saw that it was very hard water but wonder if that's all just Ca and low Mg.
I might try some Mg as well and see how the plants perk up after I tune in my K and N


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## fpn (Mar 28, 2018)

monkeyruler90 said:


> like the new scape! it'll look awesome once it's filled in
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Haha, I am in SF, and water here is pretty soft 0.5-1 dKH and 0-4 dGH. Fun fact is that hardness here depends on the aquifer they source the water from over the seasons, so I pretty much check the tap GH and KH every water change. Also use a 10ml test tube to double the resolution. Another thing is that the pH is pushed up for corrosion protection.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

monkeyruler90 said:


> like the new scape! it'll look awesome once it's filled in
> 
> Very interesting about the water. I'm down here in San Diego and we just got our water report too. I saw that it was very hard water but wonder if that's all just Ca and low Mg.
> I might try some Mg as well and see how the plants perk up after I tune in my K and N


Hey Thanks!!

Yeah the water here is filled with stuff like in San Diego. I don't think it hurts to add Mg and your plants will most likely benefit from it. Just pick up some epsom salts (got mine at the dollar store) but make sure it is not treated with any fragrance etc. Super cheap. Works for outdoor gardening too.  



fpn said:


> Haha, I am in SF, and water here is pretty soft 0.5-1 dKH and 0-4 dGH. Fun fact is that hardness here depends on the aquifer they source the water from over the seasons, so I pretty much check the tap GH and KH every water change. Also use a 10ml test tube to double the resolution. Another thing is that the pH is pushed up for corrosion protection.


Alright California Represent!! Great idea about using a 10ml test tube. The pH here is pretty hi as well. Complete opposite from when I used to live in NYC.

Snapped a pic of the new scape. I'm really enjoying this one and it makes a really cool impact in my house. I'm playing around with the background lighting and like the looks of the blue light behind it. The rock is very cold with out the background color change but adding the blue softens the appearance and is a nice color contrast with the green and warmer tones of the plants. The H. Tenellus is doing great and one of the clusters has already shot out a runner. The pygmy cories I received all perished.  I find that those fish are really hit or miss. The other ones that I have in my tank are doing great. A little while back I had an issue with new ones dying about a week after putting them in. I've read on many forums about people experiencing this problem. I might grab five more from a different LFS. These ones were much paler in color and compared to the older ones which I take for them being juvenile fish. Anyway, I love those fish and don't want to give up on them.

So far so good. All the best to all who follow this thread and those that don't.

Fat Guy


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

were the new cories in their own quarantine tank or did you add them to the main tank?

I find that if I keep them separate in a bare bottom 10g for 2 weeks I can try and minimize losses since I can spot feed them and if anything medicate them separately but whenever I just added them straight to the main tank they always had survival rates of less than 50%


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

Too bad about the little cories


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## Bserve (Nov 4, 2012)

Just came across your thread here, glad to see you're still around. The previous scape looked great and it looks like this one will be too


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

monkeyruler90 said:


> were the new cories in their own quarantine tank or did you add them to the main tank?
> 
> I find that if I keep them separate in a bare bottom 10g for 2 weeks I can try and minimize losses since I can spot feed them and if anything medicate them separately but whenever I just added them straight to the main tank they always had survival rates of less than 50%


That's a great suggestion. I thought about that and just may end up doing that next time. 



andrewss said:


> Too bad about the little cories


They can be hit and miss. But the ones that survive are a real joy to watch. 



Bserve said:


> Just came across your thread here, glad to see you're still around. The previous scape looked great and it looks like this one will be too


Hey Thanks Man. It's good to be back. Have I been on this site since 2003??? Yahtzee. Looking forward to seeing this fill in. Really enjoying the layout as well 

Thanks to everyone for the comments!

Here's a quick vid:


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

The video doesnt work for me


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

andrewss said:


> The video doesnt work for me <a href="http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/images/smilie/icon_sad.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Sad" ></a>



Hmm.. 

Not sure why. It works for me and I can see it. Maybe I’m doing something wrong when I post it. I’m pasting the link as a hyperlink. Here’s the link to the video on its own. 

https://youtu.be/0vI40hyi02w

Let me know if you are able to see it by copying and pasting it. And I’ll work on trying to figure out a better way of sharing it here. Best!! 🙂 el g


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

yeah, If you go directly to the site then it'll load

the cardinals look good in the sunset background! It'd be awesome to have other fish like the cories to give it some action in the bottom/ top


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

monkeyruler90 said:


> yeah, If you go directly to the site then it'll load
> 
> the cardinals look good in the sunset background! It'd be awesome to have other fish like the cories to give it some action in the bottom/ top


Thanks! And awesome suggestion about the corys but they are all chilling out behind the rock. I haven't trained them yet but it definitely would look great having them all swimming around the bottom 

This hobby is an interesting one. On one hand we enjoy our tanks at home, but when we share them, especially now, there are a lot of production elements that go into getting the tank camera ready. I was reading up about tank photography and the classic Amano hairdryer effect creating ripples on top of the water to create a really beautiful look/staged picture. Which is cool. But also very opposite of what a fluid underwater environment really is. I was listening to a George Farmer interview about planning the tank and asking yourself what is the purpose of the tank...what is the tank you want to have? Is it a tank setup for a photo as a show tank is, or one to be enjoyed from all angles...etc. I guess that's what is fun about the hobby is that you can go off the deep end  to capture a specific shot...like having the fish swimming all in the same direction...as if they actually do that in nature. Anyway. Not quite sure what I'm getting at but the addition of backlighting is a huge improvement in creating an overall sense of depth that I think a lot of hobbyists strive for and struggle to achieve either in a vid, a photo...but most definitely in real life. 

mas later,

el gordo


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Everything is filling in nicely. Moved the Corydoras to their own tank (More on that later). But here’s a quick shot with my iPhone. The h. tenellus is awesome. I just have to steer the runners in around the rock and not let them get into the s. Repens. About to update my nano thread as I took the ada mini m out of the garage and set it up in my kids room for a driftwood moss Bucephalandra Anubias shrimp Cory tank.


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## Aryanasdad (Jul 27, 2020)

I love this tank! Thank you for sharing!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Aryanasdad said:


> I love this tank! Thank you for sharing!


Hey thanks!! I love it too!!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

I recently picked up the book Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Louise Walstad. I’ve hear a lot about this book but stumbled upon it when I was doing a search in Scribd and was able to download it for free with my scribd membership. It’s awesome. I mean like really awesome. There’s so much useful information in it and it really makes me feel like a noob even after over 30 years in the hobby. The biggest noob mistake I have made is not taking a closer look at the water quality report in my area. I’ve discovered that my tap water has a real Cu problem and other heavy metals that can show up. I’ve realized that the issues I have been having when adding invertebrates to some of my tanks here in SoCal has been Cu. The levels of copper fluctuate between .33 - .66 in my water. That is no bueno for my invertebrates. 

I just setup my ADA Mini M for my children and have made it a cherry shrimp and Pygmy Cory tank. I had four shrimp deaths that baffled me before I looked at the water quality report and boy oh boy did I feel silly after reading the levels. I have a Berkey Filter that I have used to prefilter my tap water and am storing it in 2.5 gallon containers for partial water changes for the mini M. I’m actually going to do fewer water changes on the mini m and try simply topping off with the filtered water from the Berkey. And so far so good. The shrimp and Cory’s have completely turned around and are existing in a 5 gallon homeostasis. That tank (which I need to update on another journal) has a ton of mosses, anubias, bucephalandra and helanthium tenellum.

For the 20gallon I’m not going to change much with the water. Things seem to be working well in there. The cardinals are at ease and super hardy as well as the ottos. The plants are thriving and the algae is where I want it to be with my desired photoperiod. I picked up a current serene background light which I really love. The difference it makes on your aquascape is enormous. If you have the extra cash to spend, I highly recommend picking up a background light. It doesn’t have to be current USA though. Although their customer service has been superb. I’d love it if that company put Bluetooth tech into their background lights. I never thought that using an IR remote would seem dated, but with the tech that’s out there, why not spend the money developing an app for the phone for the background light. I purchased a cheaper one for my ADA mini M and it’s ok quality and serves its purpose. I really love the lighting effect though. I feel like it is kickstarting some growth with the H. Tenellum behind the large rock. 

Also, I really love the Fluval 307 and the deal I got on it from Petco. I run it full steam ahead with the lily pipes and it does a superb job and is so easy to clean and add biomedia to. I added a glass hang on drop checker after my diy acrylic one developed a crack and was taking incorrect readings. However, I’ve made a bunch of other acrylic drop checkers that work well. I just overestimated their durability. 

Anyway this has been a long update. Thanks for those that are following. If you haven’t picked up the Waltsad book I encourage you to do so. And if you read all the way through this post go take a gander at your local water quality report if you are using tap water for your tanks. You may be surprised and feel as foolish as I did when I read the heavy metal list. 

Keep on keeping on and stay safe.

El G


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Everything is growing strong. Had a random Otocinclus death 💀 but the tank is cooking along. Just trimming stray runners and a few cyst leaves here and there. Very pleasing to look at where it sits in my house. Debating pick up more cardinals...I have 7 right now. Or let them play out and use a different fish farther down the road. Definitely digging it!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Added some new metal tubes to the back. The gaseous exchange is so much better now. Goodbye surface film. The bad news is that they are ugggglllyy but will be so much easier to clean. Easier to adjust than the glass lily pipes and a hell of a lot more durable. 

I’m trying to get the water hardness down. Out of the tap we have 10 GH and 14 kh. A week of no water changes and the tank is 20 GH and 25 kh. The “sieryu” stone is to blame. I did a 60% ro water change which took forever to treat/filter the water before. I think I’m just gonna Ro water my mini m tank and do 50% water changes on the 20 g twice a week. 

Reduced lighting to 20% at its peak after experiencing some repens leaf drop and tenellus melt and things seem to be turning around. I think a lot of times we think we need more light on our tanks when actually a tank this size and this height doesn’t need a ton of light over it. I think many of us forget that a lot of these plants if not all of them that are sold are shade plants in the wild. I think also as hobbyist sometimes we find ourselves chasing after fertilizers and thinking we are not adding enough. But if you’re EI dosing then you definitely have adequate fertilization in your tank. So there’s no real reason to need to tweak that. but I think my fish and my substrate will prefer a lower GH and KH. With the surface KMR I can now target more CO2 to the bottom zone in my tank. We shall see what happens. In other news after switching to Ro water for my mini M three of my female shrimps are berried. Going to stop by Bob’s tropical Fish tomorrow to take a look at a new shipment of tissue cultures they will get in. Thanks to all who follow and Unfollow this thread. best! El g


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

More pics new background lighting.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Dear me, here is an updated pic. Tweaking lighting duration and added some flourish root tabs which have really done wonders believe it or not for all the root feeders in this tank.


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

looks beautiful! 

Every time I see your tank it makes me want to frost my background and get SS inlet/outlet. It's nice not to see the junk inside! 

By the way, I went back in the journal but I couldn't find where you got the frosted background, you mentioned it was DIY?


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

monkeyruler90 said:


> looks beautiful!
> 
> Every time I see your tank it makes me want to frost my background and get SS inlet/outlet. It's nice not to see the junk inside!
> 
> By the way, I went back in the journal but I couldn't find where you got the frosted background, you mentioned it was DIY?


Hey Thanks!!

Super glad I added the frosted background for this and combined it with the background lighting. It makes a world of difference. I'm also glad I picked up the SS lily pipes. When I first put them in I wasn't used to the way they looked, but now I really enjoy them. They are so easy to clean and the one I purchased has a great feature where it spins on top of the water. Super efficient removing surface scum and creating a nice gaseous exchange in the water. The flow is easily adjustable with my fluval 307. would definitely purchase SS again for another tank.

I'm not sure what brand of window film I purchased but I got it off of amazon. Search window film non-adhesive.

Here's a link to a similar product:

Then just cut to size and apply with water. backlighting the film creates a lovely sense of depth. I was on the fence about purchasing a backlight but I have no regrets and would add them to all my tanks down the road. 

Thanks again!!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Where does the time go? Added 4 more Otocinclus. Time to refill the CO2.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Moved the outflow forward and grew a rock. The extra magnesium I’ve been dosing has really done the trick.


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## gjcarew (Dec 26, 2018)

Oh man I'd love to see a third rock in there as well!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

gjcarew said:


> Oh man I'd love to see a third rock in there as well!


Ha! Bottom right. The crypt is shading it. And the repens has grown a bunch.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

What are you using for the background lighting?


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## butchblack (Oct 25, 2019)

Nice scape. Which beamworks light did you go with? I like their DA FSPEC, have it on my 40 breeder, and am planning to upgrade my 75g with a pair of them.


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

Looks nice! get us a close up


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

oldpunk78 said:


> What are you using for the background lighting?


 '



Hey! I’m using the Current Background Light. I’m using a diy window privacy film instead of the film that current provided. Highly, highly recommend getting a background light for any tank. It does wonders for the setup and adds a greater sense of depth to the setup.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

butchblack said:


> Nice scape. Which beamworks light did you go with? I like their DA FSPEC, have it on my 40 breeder, and am planning to upgrade my 75g with a pair of them.


Hi! Thanks! I actually sold the Beamworks light a while back and purchased a Fluval 3.0. I built my own acrylic risers for the light and haven’t looked back. I really like the control that the Fluval 3.0 gives and the app for the light is awesome. It’s been an amazing upgrade. I liked the Beamworks but the Fluval 3.0 is more versatile. However, I’m sure running two Beamworks would be the more affordable option especially if using two over a 75g. They put out a lot of light that’s for sure.

I’m running my Fluval at around 35% max on this tank. My main complaint is that they don’t have a riser option for the light and you have to build your own or hang it from the ceiling. 



monkeyruler90 said:


> Looks nice! get us a close up


Thanks! I’m uploading these pics through my phone. Maybe I’ll get my nicer camera and tripod and snap some more professional looking and higher res shots.

Right now, I’m contemplating an additional rock on the bottom right to pop out. The rock that is there has gotten swallowed by the repens and Crypts, however, I don’t mind it so much. Next scape I attempt, if I use these stones, I will make sure to compensate more for the plant growth when setting up the hardscape...especially in the foreground. What I love about this scape is that I’m only using three plants. My mini m that I have there are about 10 different plant types in there (multiple Anubias and bucephanlandra and fern and moss varieties etc).

I’ve upped my Mg dosing significantly in this tank. The calcium levels are high with the rocks in there and the Magnesium to Calcium ratio (which I don’t scientifically understand in entirety yet) is off. The plants were getting overloaded with Calcium and showing signs of Magnesium deficiency. I upped the dosage and the repens and helianthum bounced back after about three weeks. Also after switching to 90% RO water when doing 50% water changes on this tank, the diatoms that I have been fighting with for over a year have subsided. I think it has a lot to do with the high amounts of silicates in the tap water here in SOCAL. Switching to RO water has been a serious improvement. I had to do it for my shrimp tank because the copper in the water here will destroy all shrimp life. I picked up an inexpensive unit from Amazon. The only downside is it takes about two hours to fill a 10g garbage can. I use the waste water for the outdoor plants. All is well on that end, it’s just a slower process. But hey, there’s been a lot of home time during this pandemic so I can’t complain.

A cool thing I did with his tank is the additional co2 manifold I added underneath. I drilled a small hole in the floor and crawled under the house and ran 50ft of co2 tubing from my 5lb cylinder to another room in the house where the 5.5gallon mini m is. I added another Fabco needle valve with quick release connectors for the tubing in the other room. It’s awesome as now I can run pressurized co2 in two aquariums that are more than 50ft apart using the same co2 cylinder. 

When I get around to it I will also post some more detailed pics of the behind the scene shots of this aquarium and the setup under the stand. I build this stand from an old dresser about a year ago. 

Anyway thanks for the comments everyone. 

Stay Safe!!

Fat Guy


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Trimmed a little down right and pulled the rock bottom right a little farther out of the substrate. Gonna add three amanos in there for the hell of it 🙂 🦐🦐🦐


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## Griznatch (Nov 9, 2020)

Love the tank and the custom risers for the light!

I had issues as well with too much light and it sitting too close to the surface. My shrimp population was still pretty small, and the hair algae went nuts.
Made risers out of wood and just painted them to match the trim on the tank. Got the light 6 1/2 inches higher and the it helped clear up the algae. My shrimp population exploded in the last 4 months so I'm sure that helped.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Griznatch said:


> Love the tank and the custom risers for the light!
> 
> I had issues as well with too much light and it sitting too close to the surface. My shrimp population was still pretty small, and the hair algae went nuts.
> Made risers out of wood and just painted them to match the trim on the tank. Got the light 6 1/2 inches higher and the it helped clear up the algae. My shrimp population exploded in the last 4 months so I'm sure that helped.


Hey Thanks!

The custom risers make a world of difference. That's a great idea to make them out of wood to match the trim. Getting that light off of the surface is key. 

In other news. An amano climbed out of the tank last night. Thought my dog would enjoy the snack when I found it dried up the next morning but he was not interested. Everything is growing in nicely.


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

YES!!! thank you so much for letting me know about adding Mg to the tank, it really has made a difference in the last 4 weeks of dosing epsom salts. Definitely don't see more holes in plant leaves. That Socal water isn't the best  

I think eventually I'm going to have to go your route and just do RO  I've seen some inexpensive units but also hate the idea of more filters/membranes to keep up with and the waste water. 
didn't know the cu in the water could be fatal... probably why the only thing I've been able to keep are amanos and ghost shrimp


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

monkeyruler90 said:


> YES!!! thank you so much for letting me know about adding Mg to the tank, it really has made a difference in the last 4 weeks of dosing epsom salts. Definitely don't see more holes in plant leaves. That Socal water isn't the best
> 
> I think eventually I'm going to have to go your route and just do RO  I've seen some inexpensive units but also hate the idea of more filters/membranes to keep up with and the waste water.
> didn't know the cu in the water could be fatal... probably why the only thing I've been able to keep are amanos and ghost shrimp


Nice! Yeah I've found that the addition of magnesium has made a world of difference in my 20g. The RO unit I purchased was pretty inexpensive. I haven't replaced any of the membranes yet. I set it up outside and I fill up a 10g heavy duty trashcan. I drilled a hole near the bottom of the can and installed a rain barrel spout and have the can up on a cinder block in my side yard. Maybe I'll snap a pic of it. I have a couple 5 gallon home depot buckets that I collect the waste water in and use that to water the plants around the house and property. Ever since making the switch I feel like I am in much better control of the water. I do mix a little tap water with it before I add it to the 20g tank but that's mostly to warm the water temperature up because I keep the RO water for the 20g outside. 

The RO water for the shrimp tank mini M that I have is strictly RO with shrimp king gh/kh mineralizer. If I were to purchase that product again it'd just be the GH version of it as the ryuoh/seiryu stone that I have raises the carbonate hardness considerably anyway.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Here’s a quick shot of the tank. I got a culture cup of mariselia grown emerged for my mini m and had way too much leftover after planting the foreground in that tank. I really like the look of mariselia and think it’s a foreground plant you don’t see used as often. There are so many tanks out there with HC foreground especially iwagumis. Anyway. i pulled up some of the S. Repens in the foreground and planted the mariselia sprigs. I’m looking forward tothe new look and seeing how it fills in. I’m quite optimistic about that plant so fingers crossed.

Also not sure if I mentioned but I had added three amanos recently. One jumped ship and found him dried up on the floor. I believe another one did that as well. However the third Amano seemed fine and acclimated in the tank. I have a surface skimmer and thought...well...I bet he got sucked into the Fluval 307. 

During the weekly water change yesterday I opened up the canister filter and low and behold there it was alive on the sponge. I lifted the sponge out of the filter and held it over the tank and the shrimp jumped off the sponge and landed back in the water! Totally fine. I’ve added a shrimp excluder device to the intake of the skimmer which is basically a rubber garden house screen that I modified. Nobody is getting sucked down that tube now. I don’t love the look of it aesthetically but it has solved the problem for now. I do plan on adding some adult cherries to this tank as my mini m shrimp population has taken off. I know the little ones will be lunch for the cardinals in the 20g. I’ll probably end up culling the shrimp from the mini and adding those deemed deplorable to the 20g. 

Here’s a snapshot with the bare foreground.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Waiting for the marsilea to fill in. Adjusted the lighting period and intensity and upped the CO2. Thanks for looking!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Added some more cardinals and some salt and pepper Pygmy corys (corydoras habrosas). Raised the substrate in the back with fluval stratum which does not leach ammonia. Planted some more helanthium tenellum to those corners. It’s created another level of depth and makes the tank look so much bigger imho. Also raising the lily pipe to break the surface allows for better gaseous exchange, happier fish and more CO2.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Pulled the Helanthium tenellum as it was growing way too fast. It’s a phosphate sponge for sure. I resloped the back and planted eleocharis parulva mixed with eleocharis mini and rotala H’ra. Excited for the new plants. 

Also I have a new light coming to replace the Fluval 3.0z. Purchase a chihiros wrgb 2 with light shades from aquatic rocks Colorado for a reasonable prices. Looking forward to getting some nice reds from the H’ra I just planted. Thanks for looking!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Really excited about removing the hemainthus tenellum. Sometimes you get bored with your tank and I was definitely starting to feel that way. I didn’t feel bored about the rocks in it, just the way that the plants were growing. I feel like the h. Tenellum needs a bigger tank as it grows so rapidly. Winding it between the rocks was cool at first but it grew over itself so quickly and seemed to affect the growth of the repens as it seemed like the repens was losing the battle for nutrients. I started doubling my EI doses over the past week and the plants were depleting them rather quickly. Turning down the light intensity helped but I feel like the plants were in competition with one another as the tank aged.

Can’t wait for the e. Parvula and mini to fill in. I like the softer edges they provide around the rockwork and the way the fill in the aquascape. Can’t wait for the new light to come and to play with the reds of the royals h’ra. I grouped them in roughly 5 stems per bunch. 

On another note, I have the worst luck keeping Pygmy cories. If I buy 5 usually two will die after two weeks and the rest will remain. I think they would do much better in a low tech tank with a ton of hiding places and minimal co2. Otocinclus can be tricky too. When the co2 is on they stick to the glass and barely move for 6 hours. Then the co2 turns off and the lights go down and they are back to cleaning all the algae. The cardinals are by far one of my most favorite nano fish. They are so peaceful and colorful and are not chasing each other around the tank all day. They also school better than any fish I’ve ever kept...and they don’t attack the juvenile cherry shrimp. Added three of those from a colony of +50 in my mini m. Fingers crossed they adapt well. I think their biggest nemesis will be the surface skimmer but hopefully not.

Thanks for looking.

-el Gordo


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Dialing in my CO2 again. Picked up a Fluval bubble counter. Can’t wait for the chihiros wrgbii to arrive and for the eleocharis varieties and h’ra to fill in. Realized I was way overdosing my tank with CO2. The cardinals were fine. I lost a few Pygmy corys to acidosis i think. I e cut back on nitrate dosing after the initial dose after a water change. No issues with osmocote leaching either. Minor staghorn algae appeared in an area of high flow. I think I introduced it by adding a sprig of marsilea from my other tank into this one. Spot treated with excel. So far so food. Also added 11 cherry shrimp from my mini m colony. They are doing awesome. Kh around 6 and Which I was able to bring way down using RO water. Glad I pulled the h. tenellum. Thanks for looking!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Still waiting for the chihiros wrgbii to get released from customs. In the meantime the HRA is really loving this tank. I thought about limiting nitrates but then decided against it. The hair grass is starting to send out more runners after a trim. That plant takes a little time to adjust if you buy it from a tissue culture. Salt and pepper Corys seem to be doing fine. Did a spot treatment on some staghorn with hydrogen peroxide. Planning on doing more thorough rock scrubbing per water change. also set up a 20 gallon RO trashcan for future water changes. Also moved about 100 Malaysian trumpet to the house. They were bulldozing my hair grass plantings. So far so good. Thanks for looking.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Light will be delivered next week. Stoked for the upgrade. In the meantime, the H’ra is growing in awesome and the two types of hair grass have turned the corner transitioning to submersed. Considering getting a baby bristlenose...we shall see.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Really loving that current serene background that you’re using. And especially how you’re using it to really enhance the entire look. I don’t know if you set the right colors to complement the right plants or vice versa. It really works and it catches my eyes every time as I’m scrolling through threads.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

ipkiss said:


> Really loving that current serene background that you’re using. And especially how you’re using it to really enhance the entire look. I don’t know if you set the right colors to complement the right plants or vice versa. It really works and it catches my eyes every time as I’m scrolling through threads.


hey thanks! I like it too. The colors are easy to change. The blue maintains the colors of the fish. So does a violet which is the closest i can get to white with the current. Orange looks good too (more for sunrise). Thanks again!

I just upgraded to a chihiros wrgb2 and wow is this light awesome. Check it out. Still messing with the settings but holy mackerel. I put shades on it which I really love as it balances the look of the tank on my homemade stand.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Trimmed the H’RA and replanted. Love love love this light. Snapped a pic during sunrise 🌄


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Boy oh boy does this H’RA grow and it get redder and redder. Have stopped dosing nitrates this week and have a constant 5-10ppm amount. Added 4 more horned nerites...im really enjoying these snails. All is well. Dosing just P and K and Mg on even days and some micros on odd ones. Thanks for the looking!!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Wanted to add this photo to my journal. Side by side comparison of the Chihiros WRGB2 and the Fluval 3.0 on my tank. The Chihiros outshines the Fluval by far . Zero problems with the app also. It’s been great so far. Fingers crossed.


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## mickmac (Dec 29, 2020)

Looks really terrific. I love the peaceful simplicity. Your plants look wonderfully healthy and colorful. Great job. Love your background light show too! Thanks for always taking the time to share all this.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

mickmac said:


> Looks really terrific. I love the peaceful simplicity. Your plants look wonderfully healthy and colorful. Great job. Love your background light show too! Thanks for always taking the time to share all this.


Hey! Glad you like it! I’ve really enjoyed working on this tank. It’s been a journey to say the least but it keeps it super fun and challenging.

The marsilea has really started to take off and I think the DHG has turned the corner and is settling in nicely. I still have some staghorn which I’m attacking slowly and some GDA that appears on the rocks. But the horned nerites love it. The shrimp colors are so wonderful up close. I’m slowly upping the excel to almost double the dosage per the bottle to get ahead of the staghorn. I think the gda and staghorn are feeding off the NH3/NH4 from the osmocote. I’ll have to check back to see when I put those granules in it would be interesting to see if the algae disappears once the granules have been exhausted of nutrients. Just going to have to wait it out.

here’s a video of my surface skimmer in action. I usually stop it from spinning this fast but sometimes it’s fun to watch it skim the tank like this. I am running my food for 307 at full flow. Going to clean it out mañana. 

Thanks for the comments and thanks all for looking!
el g


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Dear Me,

More excellent growth happening in the tank. Stopped limiting nitrates after the s. Repens started to turn red on the new leaves but chlorosis on the older leaves. Have doubled the excel dosage and am winning the stag horn battle. The one issue that always plagues me in this tank are the salt and pepper or dwarf corys. I have some that are always thriving and then one will just randomly die and another will as well. So there’s always two that are doing great but for whatever reason I’ve always had issues with them which is a bummer. It used to be that way with Otocinclus but the there I have in there have been there for months and clean the tank when the lights go down. Loving my 8 horned nerites. Awesome addition. H’RA loves this tank and light and water. Thanks, W


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## Bserve (Nov 4, 2012)

looks amazing dude! I might need to pick up some H'Ra... or upgrade to a WRGB2 that actually fits my tank.

Also, with your skimmer lily pipe, do you ever get gurgling/air bubble problems with the filter?


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Bserve said:


> looks amazing dude! I might need to pick up some H'Ra... or upgrade to a WRGB2 that actually fits my tank.
> 
> Also, with your skimmer lily pipe, do you ever get gurgling/air bubble problems with the filter?


Hey thanks man!! The H’RA is awesome and this was grown from two UNS tissue culture cups. It took off after a couple days and didn’t take very long to adapt. Do you have a wrgb 60 over your 90? I really love this light. And the shade attachment is brilliant and really reduces the light spill in the room. I’ve had zero issues with the app or the light running hot. It’s a lot heavier than I thought it would be. The chihiros also brings out the color in the H’RA so much better than the fluval that I used to have on the tank did. How’s your staghorn issue? You get control over it? Mine is almost gone. I trimmed the dhg way too early before it really established and had accidentally introduced a piece of marsilea from my mini that must have had the staghorn spores on it. The algae started to show on the trimmed DHG first....totally my fault. Almost gone now.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Took the foggy background off just for a change in perspective...


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## Bserve (Nov 4, 2012)

Fat Guy said:


> Hey thanks man!! The H’RA is awesome and this was grown from two UNS tissue culture cups. It took off after a couple days and didn’t take very long to adapt. Do you have a wrgb 60 over your 90? I really love this light. And the shade attachment is brilliant and really reduces the light spill in the room. I’ve had zero issues with the app or the light running hot. It’s a lot heavier than I thought it would be. The chihiros also brings out the color in the H’RA so much better than the fluval that I used to have on the tank did. How’s your staghorn issue? You get control over it? Mine is almost gone. I trimmed the dhg way too early before it really established and had accidentally introduced a piece of marsilea from my mini that must have had the staghorn spores on it. The algae started to show on the trimmed DHG first....totally my fault. Almost gone now.


Yeah its the 60 over a 90... basically like a vivid, minus the power. I've been debating adding a wrgb 90, but jury's still out. My tank is right next to a huge window, so light spill is pretty unnoticeable. Staghorn's been under control for 2-3 weeks now, although there is some BBA for some reason (I may just leave it alone though, it looks kinda cool).


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Did a trim and replanted the tops. Grows so fast but the bush it creates is quite lovely. Love this H’RA!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Did a trim and replanted the tops. Grows so fast but the bush it creates is quite lovely. Love this H’RA!

View attachment 1026135
View attachment 1026136


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Dear Me,

A pic of the tank right before the lights turn off...


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## Jasoncor (May 19, 2018)

You’re rotala looks amazing. Very clean tank!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Jasoncor said:


> You’re rotala looks amazing. Very clean tank!


Thanks!! It’s been a lot of fun adding this plant and seeing how it likes to grow! I actually just turned my lights down because i felt like it was growing too fast.

I’ve reduced my lighting intensity to 45 R 20 G and 30 B on my Chihiros WRGB2. I still really really love this light and the shades on it. Easy enough to use app and the light runs cool.

I’m gonna let the Marsilea grow where it wants and let it mix with the two types of DHG. It looks a lot like glosso buy every now and then it sends a heart shaped leaf out which I dig. I have two different types of DHG in the tank I have mini and parvula... but they both seem to be growing around the same height. low. Maybe by reducing the light intensity the parvula in the back will get taller. I have also moved the S repens to the front of the rock in the pocket there near the crypts. It’s lower light in that section so maybe it will fill in taller as opposed to being so compact.

thanks for looking!

el g


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## gjcarew (Dec 26, 2018)

I missed when you got the upgraded light but the difference is outstanding. Definitely a power upgrade, and the true red channel on the Chihiros just shows off reds better than the pink channel on the Fluval 3.0


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

gjcarew said:


> I missed when you got the upgraded light but the difference is outstanding. Definitely a power upgrade, and the true red channel on the Chihiros just shows off reds better than the pink channel on the Fluval 3.0


Hey!! Thanks for the comment. Totally. The Chihiros is an amazing upgrade and the red channel on it is superb. I’ve actually had to seriously reduce the light on the tank to slow down the growth of the plants. Did a major trim of the H’RA and replanted the tops which are pink/red now. I want to wait at least a month between H’RA trims, but at the rate of growth for the plant, it was more like 3 weeks. I’m also interested in just letting the plant grow wild and see if it will branch out of the water. Current RGB settings are 35 R 20G 25B and so far so good. Such a pleasing light.

Here’s a recent pic. (Artwork on the walls courtesy of my children!)


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## IScapedAThing (Mar 16, 2021)

Fat Guy said:


> *Pride Rock with Vids!!*
> 
> Update for this week. I should probably just start my own blog, but I've been using Planted Tank to document my progress in the hobby and to share it with others.
> 
> ...


Wow! Beautiful tank! Well done!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

IScapedAThing said:


> Wow! Beautiful tank! Well done!


Thank you!!

Here’s a current shot after a trim of the DHG.

Thinking about tearing this went down and doing a driftwood and rock lay out....


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## Plinkploop (Jan 24, 2021)

I truly love the artwork next to the tank 😉 gorgeous scape!!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Plinkploop said:


> I truly love the artwork next to the tank 😉 gorgeous scape!!


Hey Thanks so much!! My kids love putting their artwork up on all the walls. I like it too!! 😀👨‍🎨


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## Plinkploop (Jan 24, 2021)

They are amazing artists already!! One of mine has flown the coup and the other is a teenager that liked to roll her eyes at me 😂 enjoy them while they are still happy!!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Plinkploop said:


> They are amazing artists already!! One of mine has flown the coup and the other is a teenager that liked to roll her eyes at me 😂 enjoy them while they are still happy!!


Hahaha!! thanks so much!! they grow up incredibly fast for sure!!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Back to classic iwagumi. I was going to rescape the entire tank with driftwood...TBH that probably would have been much easier. However I wanted to keep the M carpet and dhg. So buh-bye rotala h’ra (loved loved you but you were a lot work) and back to the rock.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Fat Guy said:


> Back to classic iwagumi. I was going to rescape the entire tank with driftwood...TBH that probably would have been much easier. However I wanted to keep the M carpet and dhg. So buh-bye rotala h’ra (loved loved you but you were a lot work) and back to the rock.
> View attachment 1029446


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Added more e. Parvula with some ADA tissue cultures and raised the slope in the back. Also added a couple more horned clithons. Looking forward to lower maintenance and just letting the grass grow!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Better photo of iwagumi rebuild. Added some more e. Parvula.


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## dj2005 (Apr 23, 2009)

Looks great! Thanks for keeping us updated on this tank, I liked all of the scapes! And if you're ever looking to sell some of that Marsilea, let me know. I miss having that plant and it is hard to find nowadays.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

dj2005 said:


> Looks great! Thanks for keeping us updated on this tank, I liked all of the scapes! And if you're ever looking to sell some of that Marsilea, let me know. I miss having that plant and it is hard to find nowadays.


hey thanks a lot! Appreciate it!! Next time i thin out the marsilea i’ll let you know and can send some your way.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Added some E. acicularis tall to the back right. Ive got three types of grasses in here. Parvula, acicularis mini and now acicularis tall. Fish and plants are happy and healthy and staghorn appears only on the older leaves of some marsilea and shows up the most when the fish are overfed. I feed mainly 2-3 times per week...more like every other day if you count the shrimp pellet that I toss in. I have had zero issues with fish health and find that to be the optimal balance with the flora and fauna in these tanks. I got into it with a member on this forum who argued that fish should be fed 2-3 times per day. That’s just not the case for the fish I keep and the fully planted ecosystems i create for them. There are other things that my cardinals eat other than fish food in my tank...they will munch on plants...detritus worms...my pygmy cories would even eat diatoms...it’s all about balance and observation of the fish and the plants. But to feed my cardinals 2-3 times per day would be a recipe for algal disaster and add to poor water quality. But to each their own. There is so much information and miss information that exists out there...And YouTube university can be a great blessing and curse. But we need to keep in mind that these tanks are little science experiments and we as aquarists must adjust accordingly depending on what we add or take away to these cubes of water. Our plant and fish health don’t lie. So we observe and adjust and strive for equilibrium and be wary of too much internet chatter and false gurus along the way.

Filter cleaned every two months or so but depends on other variables. Very happy with this layout in particular and it’s progression. i’ve been keeping planted tanks since 2003... back when I started on this forum. Before that I used to keep Oscars and other cichlids and then progressed to discus and altum angels in larger tanks. I have learned a lot along the way and much prefer the planted aspect of the hobby. Much love to those that follow and those that don’t.

best, el g


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## rui.ferreira.526 (Jan 26, 2016)

Hi friend

you convinced me to buy the WRGB II 60.

I already had the twinstar 600S (first version) but I don't really like the colors. I hope I don't regret it.

Do you have the light at full capacity?


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

rui.ferreira.526 said:


> Hi friend
> 
> you convinced me to buy the WRGB II 60.
> 
> ...


Hey!! Nice! I think the light will be an awesome
upgrade from the twinstar. It has more capabilities and you will have more control. I think it is more versatile for sure. Where did you buy yours from?

I have had zero issues with mine since the purchase and the app works great. I don’t run mine any more than 50% and have it raised as high as it will go on risers that it comes with. 

My current settings are 40 Red 20 Green and 20 Blue. I found that I needed to turn it down to under 50% because of the plant growth being too rapid and i wanted less maintenance overall over the summer here. 

Hope you like your light. I have zero regrets thus far.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Quick update. Lowered light intensity to so slow down maintenance and added some hydrocotyle tripartita from the mini m just for fun. Super easy maintenance. Fish are happy feeding 2-3 times a week with an occasional shrimp pellet. Filter cleaned once every 2-3 months. Fert dosing dependent on plant needs. Lower the light intensity equaling less demand. CO2 always constant 1.5 hours before lights up and 1.5 hours off before lights down. 5-6 hour photoperiod. RO water with epsom salts added for Mg and using the seiryu stone as the only additional calcium source. Working great. Thanks for looking.

el g


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

After a few years with just rocks I’ve decided to pull them and to do a nature aquarium style tank with black spiderwood. Added some trident ferns, baby leaf bolbitis, varius buces and anubias and more hydrocotyle trisparta (which ive really grown to love). Low light, hopefully low maintenance. Added a red racer nerite snail which looks awesome in the light I have over the tank. Im enjoying the black wood and the scale of it in the tank. Cardinals and otos seem to prefer it as well. Thanks for looking.


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## Ordinary Joe (Feb 19, 2020)

This driftwood looks really nice!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

i spent more time today rescaping. Once you start messing with the wood it’s hard not to change it up all together. In a perfect world I would start over from scratch but I’ve spent too much time growing the foreground plants. More pics to follow soon. 




Ordinary Joe said:


> This driftwood looks really nice!


thanks!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)




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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Did a major trip of the marsilea and DHG parvula to reset the foreground and to encourage new growth. Also added some cyperus helferi to the back corner behind the driftwood. I received and excellent bunch of Pygmy corys that really seem to tie the fauna together when viewing the aquarium.

best, el g


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Finally got my hands on some bolbitis h. (The non deformis variety). It’s turning into a really hard plant to get here in the US and is sold out pretty much everywhere online. I heard from a supplier that they haven’t been able to get an affordable supply of it since midway through COVID. Got mine through Etsy of all places…imagine that. Anyvay! Really excited about it!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Did a serious rescape. I felt like I was getting a lot of organic waste build up in the old scape. I removed about a 5 gallon bucket’s worth of old soil and after a gajillion water changes and some Colorado sand later I’ve finally settled on this next layout. I pulled pretty much all of the Marsilea and DHG. The hair grass is a real pain in the butt after trimming. I feel like I’m always picking stray clippings out every day. I may have lost a shrimp or two during the process but I am really happy with the depth that this new scape provides. The corys like the sand too. Shout out to Bob‘s tropical fish in LA. Light currently at 20% but I may go even lower with the setting. Thanks for looking.


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## minorhero (Mar 28, 2019)

Really like the rescape! 

I'm kind of over dhg at this point as well. I am looking forward to getting it out of all of my tanks.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

minorhero said:


> Really like the rescape!
> 
> I'm kind of over dhg at this point as well. I am looking forward to getting it out of all of my tanks.


Thanks!! I’m really digging it too. I just chopped up some peacock moss and glued them onto some small rocks and placed in the front. Super happy with this.

I hear you about the DHG. I added some Juncus Repens in the back where the DHG used to be and am liking the way it looks more. So far so good.


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## gjcarew (Dec 26, 2018)

There is a guy doing a 300 gallon tank and he wanted to add like 15 pots of DHG. I advised him it was a bad idea. That stuff is such a pain to maintain


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)




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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Everything is growing in slowly but surely. Really really enjoying this process and this layout. Looking forward to the Juncus Repens acclimating from tissue culture to submerged plant. I’ve got it in my mini m now too. Plants are happy this week as I’m still dialing it in. I’ve been focusing on better gaseous exchange as well as providing a microbe lift addition that has done wonders in the water. Thanks to the friends at GLA for their suggestion. Can’t believe I didn’t add it to the water column sooner. Beneficial bacteria is our (smelly) friend. It’s definitely helped manage the organic waste in an older substrate. 

Lights at 17-20% which seems to be the sweet spot for the plants in this layout.


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## Asteroid (Jul 26, 2018)

Looks good, I've enjoyed this scape over the years. Very impressive hardscape. Bolbitis h is one of my all time favs. I'll be following to see how it works in this setup with that type of hardscape. Once the Bolbitis settles in it can take over a tank very quickly especially with co2.


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## gjcarew (Dec 26, 2018)

Asteroid said:


> Looks good, I've enjoyed this scape over the years. Very impressive hardscape. Bolbitis h is one of my all time favs. I'll be following to see how it works in this setup with that type of hardscape. Once the Bolbitis settles in it can take over a tank very quickly especially with co2.


Every once in a while I take it out and trim every frond off down to the rhizome. It seems to grow in smaller after that.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Asteroid said:


> Looks good, I've enjoyed this scape over the years. Very impressive hardscape. Bolbitis h is one of my all time favs. I'll be following to see how it works in this setup with that type of hardscape. Once the Bolbitis settles in it can take over a tank very quickly especially with co2.


Hey Thanks!! I'm digging the hardscape too. I really like the Bolbitis H. I'm looking forward to it filling in. I've got some mini trident fern in the middle between them as well. I've got a lot of rhizomes in there for sure so we shall see how quickly it takes over. I'm going to stay on top of it and trim the fronds to keep it in check if it gets going too fast.

I definitely have two different (possibly three) different varieties in there. The regular bolbitis h. that I got a great portion of from a member here. And then I have what looks like a narrow leaf variety and a baby leaf variety. The narrow leaf variety was shipped via an online vendor and labeled bolbitis H. but it is definitely not the same. I spoke with another vendor who was saying that the plant is really hard to import now due to the elevated shipping costs because of the pandemic so they aren't ordering it till the costs go down. Same word from a LFS here in LA. 



gjcarew said:


> Every once in a while I take it out and trim every frond off down to the rhizome. It seems to grow in smaller after that.


That's a great idea. Right now all the bolbitis has some bba on the leaf edges that came with the plant when I received it. I've been spot treating it and will eventually snip these fronds off with the BBA as the new fronds are starting to shoot out. I just like the look of the plants too much to chop it down at the moment. It may mean more BBA trouble down the line, but my co2 is up and my lights are low and my organics are in check so hopefully it will only be a matter of time.

I'm hesitate to use excel on this plant and want to prevent any melt. The H2O2 has been doing the trick thus far.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

trimmed back the bolbitis h and many many new branches are emerging from the rhizomes. I trimmed it back to the rhizome because of some BBA that was forming on the old leaves. The new leaves are now reflecting the transition to my water parameters and lighting setup. I’m currently running my light intensity at around 12% for 10 hours a day with a one hour ramp up and ramp down. This Chihiros light is incredibly powerful and just awesome. Everything is starting to grow in nicely. I’m fine with the lower light intensity and lower amount of CO2 which has really had a positive effect on all the tank inhabitants. The tank is really cool to look at in person. Enjoying this style so much. Video posted below (hopefully the playback works)…


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## EmotionalFescue (Jun 24, 2020)

Fat Guy said:


> trimmed back the bolbitis h and many many new branches are emerging from the rhizomes. I trimmed it back to the rhizome because of some BBA that was forming on the old leaves. The new leaves are now reflecting the transition to my water parameters and lighting setup. I’m currently running my light intensity at around 12% for 10 hours a day with a one hour ramp up and ramp down. This Chihiros light is incredibly powerful and just awesome. Everything is starting to grow in nicely. I’m fine with the lower light intensity and lower amount of CO2 which has really had a positive effect on all the tank inhabitants. The tank is really cool to look at in person. Enjoying this style so much. Video posted below (hopefully the playback works)…


Tank looks great!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

EmotionalFescue said:


> Tank looks great!


Thank you!!!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

I switched out the metal pipes for the glass lily and intake. I like the way the water flows with the glass lily pipe. I also like that I can see through these pipes and they’re a minimal footprint visually. I have reduce the amount of CO2 in the tank. I think that I always have a good constant level of CO2 and maybe too good and that’s when the BBA takes advantage. I am seeing it on spots of driftwood and sometimes in areas of high flow including the inflow and outflow. so the lighting is around 10% and the CO2 has been reduced as well as the overall current in the tank. Everything seems to be growing very well and I am loving this scape.

(The lighting in the picture below is at 4%. It is really crazy how powerful this light is)


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## EmotionalFescue (Jun 24, 2020)

Looks great, OP. Very clean, and the triangular shape of the scape works really well in this tank. Love it.

The glass pipes really do get out of the way visually. I enjoyed them a lot more once I realized it was really easy to pop them out of the tubing and clean them. You have to push the tubing onto the pipe until it 'pops' and then you can slide it right off! You may already know that, but it made a huge difference for me so I thought I'd mention it anyway


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## Asteroid (Jul 26, 2018)

Looks great! especially with the wood being more dominant in height, etc over the plants.



EmotionalFescue said:


> The glass pipes really do get out of the way visually. I enjoyed them a lot more once I realized it was really easy to pop them out of the tubing and clean them. You have to push the tubing onto the pipe until it 'pops' and then you can slide it right off! You may already know that, but it made a huge difference for me so I thought I'd mention it anyway


Yep, never twist, push straight in toward the tubing and straight out, otherwise breakage. Sometimes with the return lily pipe I don't even take it off the tank. I clean it from the bulb side and put a small bucket when I start it back up to catch debris. Good for quick cleaning.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

EmotionalFescue said:


> Looks great, OP. Very clean, and the triangular shape of the scape works really well in this tank. Love it.
> 
> The glass pipes really do get out of the way visually. I enjoyed them a lot more once I realized it was really easy to pop them out of the tubing and clean them. You have to push the tubing onto the pipe until it 'pops' and then you can slide it right off! You may already know that, but it made a huge difference for me so I thought I'd mention it anyway


Thanks so much! I‘ve always wanted to go for a triangle type scape. I‘ve always liked the look of them in a 60p. It’s also been so much more enjoyable with the reduced lighting and maintenance. The fish and shrimp and plants are happy. I hear you about pushing the pipe up until it pops. I’ve broken many in my time. Sometimes just by accidentally dropping them or pushing too hard….sometimes I’ve had weak ones that just become too brittle over time. But I think with this setup the pipes will stay clean for longer. I like seeing the whole tank without the metal pipes in there but love their durability. Glad you like the scape!!



Asteroid said:


> Looks great! especially with the wood being more dominant in height, etc over the plants.
> 
> Yep, never twist, push straight in toward the tubing and straight out, otherwise breakage. Sometimes with the return lily pipe I don't even take it off the tank. I clean it from the bulb side and put a small bucket when I start it back up to catch debris. Good for quick cleaning.


Thanks!! Yeah, the less I have to mess with disconnecting the pipes the better for me. I too will clean the outflow without detaching the pipes. I think I’m going to bite the bullet and invest in an ADA spring washer. The other spring washers I have used in the past are either too stiff or too brittle over time. I thought about covering the wood with moss but I like the contrast of the dark pieces with the green plants. I chopped the peacock moss up with a knife and glued it to some stones that I placed along the bottom level that has provided a nice addition to the tank. Keeping the moss lower in the water column has kept the algae at bay during their startup. I’m also finding the peacock moss growing now on different pieces of wood from where little moss pieces have separated from the stones. I saw an older video of Amano rubbing moss that he chopped up over stones without using any glue or thread to keep it in place during a dry start and in not time the moss attached. Pretty amazing the nature of this type of plant.

Turning down the CO2 and adjusting the flow with the lily pipe has helped so far in keeping any leftover over BBA at bay. I introduced this into my water when I purchased some bolbitis off of Etsy of all places. That plant has been really really hard to get. I received the correct version of Bolbitis H. from a member here. I cut all the old leaves off and let the plant re-establish new shoots from the rhizome which has provided much healthier growth. The same goes for the mini trident java ferns in this tank. There‘s a rhizome of standard java fern that has found its way into the cluster which I don’t know if I want to mix in with the other ferns. But then again, it grows so slowly I’m not sure what harm it would do other than visually. The Juncus Repens has been an awesome addition too. I love that it doesn’t send out runners. 

Upon closer reflection of the tank before, I think I was overdoing my co2, especially when the lighting was lowered in intensity and the fast growing stems were removed. I was providing way too much co2 throughout the tank and the co2 that wasn’t being used by the plants was feeding the BBA growth on the wood. Also the high flow was spreading the spores around the tank so I never was able to really get the upper hand. I don’t mind seeing it here and there but I went away for two weeks a few months ago and when I got back it had taken over. I had reduced the lighting while I was away but didn’t reduce the co2 and low and behold the BBA thrived. I still occasionally spot treat with h2o2 but would like to shy away from that method. I have retired any use of excel as it can cause too much melt. I also notice a huge difference in activity of the fauna in the tank when I introduce h2o2 or excel. The h2o2 has more of a subtle change on the water column when I use it as an algicide, but the bolbitis can tolerate it only for so long. 

Thanks again for the comments. All the best!!


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## Asteroid (Jul 26, 2018)

Fat Guy said:


> I saw an older video of Amano rubbing moss that he chopped up over stones without using any glue or thread to keep it in place during a dry start and in not time the moss attached. Pretty amazing the nature of this type of plant


That's interesting. I could definitely see it attaching quicker emersed. Submersed it seems to take much longer, but the less moss you use the easier I've found it attaches. And of course if the surface of the rock/wood is rough and has crevices. 

Meant to ask if you know what PAR you running (sorry if I missed it) without the light only at a small fraction of it's intensity.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Asteroid said:


> That's interesting. I could definitely see it attaching quicker emersed. Submersed it seems to take much longer, but the less moss you use the easier I've found it attaches. And of course if the surface of the rock/wood is rough and has crevices.
> 
> Meant to ask if you know what PAR you running (sorry if I missed it) without the light only at a small fraction of it's intensity.


Sorry I didn’t respond sooner. I didn’t see your reply till just now. I wish I knew what the par was for the light at such low intensity. I’ve reduced the intensity just a little bit more so the tank is running with light over it for around 10 hours with a 2 hour ramp up and 2 hour ramp down with a maximum of 8% intensity. It’s still extremely effective and I sometimes run a background light as well. 

None of these plants are very light demanding. I wish I knew what I know now about lighting back when I first started many many many years ago (way before wpg and pc bulbs). This lamp is so powerful…even the lamp over my mini m is extremely powerful that running either of them at full blast would be so foolish. The biggest thing I have gleaned so far from all of my tanks is that slow and low seem to be the way to go with these tanks. Unless I am trying to bring out a ton of red stems, this method is by far the best and least problematic. I feel like I get to appreciate my aquariums so much more. Patience is the real art form here.

I added some ADA Cryptocoryne Parva to the back left corner of the tank and mixed it in with the crypt. wendtii kompakt. I also added some small sprigs in and around some of the rocks. Added some more Pygmy cories as well. I don’t think there is much more to add for flora and fauna in here. Really loving how it is coming together. The Bolbitis has adapted to these parameters and I am loving how it is growing. The Juncus repens is filling in nicely and makes a really interesting “marsh-like” addition. Added some to my mini m in my kids room and will update that journal shortly. 

best! 


Fat Guy


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Just an update- lights at 5-6% 9 hours a day and 2 hour ramp. Everything is healthily growing. So happy with the low maintenance setup. Love the way the bolbitis and other ferns look (especially from the top the mini trident leaves look really cool). Thanks for looking.


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## EmotionalFescue (Jun 24, 2020)

This is looking really good. 

It's great when you can get a tank to a point that its enjoyment to work ratio is really high... frees up capacity for another tank!


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## CGY_Betta_Guy (Jul 26, 2010)

very nice... need to get a detailed zoomed in view!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

EmotionalFescue said:


> This is looking really good.
> 
> It's great when you can get a tank to a point that its enjoyment to work ratio is really high... frees up capacity for another tank!


Hahahahaha!! Thanks!! And that’s always the running joke in my house!! My kids love the idea of getting another tank!! (My other half not so much)


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

CGY_Betta_Guy said:


> very nice... need to get a detailed zoomed in view!


Thanks!! I’ll try to get a closer shot


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Here’s a closer shot-


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## Asteroid (Jul 26, 2018)

Really nice! Hardest thing with hardscape focused tanks is holding back on the planting. I think you got a good mix in there.


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## ScrubbyDick (Mar 31, 2016)

I need to get my UNS 60U to be like this, low maintenance but beautiful!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Asteroid said:


> Really nice! Hardest thing with hardscape focused tanks is holding back on the planting. I think you got a good mix in there.


Thanks!! I hear you about holding back on planting. The last thing I added was the crypt p. And there isn’t anymore room for anything else now. I keep thinking about getting another tank… but in the meantime I’m looking for little upgrades. Just ordered a gla reactor…for no real reason but just to try a different method other than the inline.



ScrubbyDick said:


> I need to get my UNS 60U to be like this, low maintenance but beautiful!


Thanks! The lower maintenance has made a huge difference in enjoyability…it’s a marathon not a sprint right? (I keep reminding myself).

here’s the most recent shot. Found a cardinal on the carpet but got him back in there before he dried out and was still alive. Average about one jumper every couple months. I think my kids running around the tank is what scares them the most for sure.


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## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

Good lord it’s a stunning tank!!! 

Hahah ‘holding off on planting’... I got my latest little order of plants today and just realized I have no idea where to shove them in lol. Any pretense of planning or scaping is out the window 😅 Price of experience I guess. Next tank I’m planning everything out. Probably. Maybe.

Anyway yours is a beauty.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

LidijaPN said:


> Good lord it’s a stunning tank!!!
> 
> Hahah ‘holding off on planting’... I got my latest little order of plants today and just realized I have no idea where to shove them in lol. Any pretense of planning or scaping is out the window 😅 Price of experience I guess. Next tank I’m planning everything out. Probably. Maybe.
> 
> Anyway yours is a beauty.


Hey thanks!! It’s gone through many different layouts but I enjoy this one the most. This tank slowly took shape as I added driftwood later on and then started to change it as my idea for it grew. So my plans for it kept changing until I found the layout I was most happy with. Part of the process. I think if I were to start again with a new tank I would spend the most time planning out the hardscape in the beginning before planting. Also dialing in your lighting is extremely important and I think we often gloss over that step too… Anyway thanks again!


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## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

Fat Guy said:


> Hey thanks!! It’s gone through many different layouts but I enjoy this one the most. This tank slowly took shape as I added driftwood later on and then started to change it as my idea for it grew. So my plans for it kept changing until I found the layout I was most happy with. Part of the process. I think if I were to start again with a new tank I would spend the most time planning out the hardscape in the beginning before planting. Also dialing in your lighting is extremely important and I think we often gloss over that step too… Anyway thanks again!


Yep I think first starting out you just wanna get to the fish part already! Next one I'm definitely doing a whole soul searching thing before anything living goes in there.....


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## Asteroid (Jul 26, 2018)

Fat Guy said:


> Thanks!! I hear you about holding back on planting. The last thing I added was the crypt p. And there isn’t anymore room for anything else now. I keep thinking about getting another tank… but in the meantime I’m looking for little upgrades. Just ordered a gla reactor…for no real reason but just to try a different method other than the inline.
> 
> Thanks! The lower maintenance has made a huge difference in enjoyability…it’s a marathon not a sprint right? (I keep reminding myself).
> 
> here’s the most recent shot. Found a cardinal on the carpet but got him back in there before he dried out and was still alive. Average about one jumper every couple months. I think my kids running around the tank is what scares them the most for sure.


I'm with you on low plant maintenance. I stopped doing stem dominating tanks a long time ago. I thought about doing another tank, but I know it will take away from the other (main one) in terms of maintenance, etc. Instead I just live voraciously through the flowery stem guys here 

On my open-top when I keep the water 1"+ from the rim nothing really jumps out. It doesn't look as good, especially for pics, but the only thing that I lost was one RCS and a Nerite in 2 years, no fish, but YMMV depending on species/tank location. As you mentioned kids running could affect this.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Moved the tank to a different room. Added 5 chili rasboras from the mini M (I added three platinum rice fish to that tank). Installed my reactor from GLA and added some elbows to the tubing in the stand. Added some Christmas Moss to replace the peacock moss. The Peacock moss wouldn’t attach to the rocks. It’s interesting though how old dried up java moss was reborn on some old driftwood and is now covering and attaching to pieces of the spiderwood. Mosses are wild. I’m also enjoying the CO2 reactor for sure. Below pics show the inside of the stand that I built (door open). I always get the itch to turn the light up, but everything is working now so why mess with it? I battle a little staghorn on the leaves of the Juncus repens and sometimes on the helferi and DHg. I’ve lowered the light significantly so Ionly see it on some random Juncus reopens leaves. I’m going to just live with it for now. Anyway. Enjoying the scape.


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## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

Glorious!!! How big is the tank? Can we get some closeups?

Also how did you move it? Is it on wheels?


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

LidijaPN said:


> Glorious!!! How big is the tank? Can we get some closeups?
> 
> Also how did you move it? Is it on wheels?


Thanks! It’s a UNS 60U. I’ve got some closeups a few posts back but will take some more. Moving it was an event for sure. Emptied out as much water as I could without stressing the fish too much. Then I plastic wrapped the top to keep the humidity in the tank. I actually did the same for my mini m as well (I moved them both). And once I was ready to transfer to the new location I picked it up very carefully and relocated it. It hung out on my dining room table while I was getting the new spot setup. I’m running co2 to two different tanks. I drilled a small hole and ran tubing from the cylinder under the floor and up through another small hole to my other tank. The greatest distance I covered doing this method was about 50feet of tubing between the two tanks under the flooring. There’s a small crawl space under my building. I grabbed a flashlight and was able to shimmy underneath on my back to make this connection. A job not for the faint of heart that’s for sure but I think worth the trouble in the end. Also beats having to get another co2 cylinder. All the best!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Just a quick pic. Always seem to have a little bit of staghorn appear on older leaves of the Juncus Repens. Trimmed it And treated the new clippings and replanted. I attribute it to overfeeding. The new tank position can also catch some morning sunlight if the main curtains aren’t drawn. With the lower light settings I’m using the staghorn flair-ups are manageable. Sometimes I’ll use h2o2 but IME the bolbitis ferns don’t respond well to it. They can get burned. And I’ve stayed away from EXCEL for treatment as well. I’m clipping any suffering leaves and replanting when clean clippings when I have the chance. Really enjoying the new reactor. It’s been a welcome addition. Currently sanding and treating a plywood board for the Mini M for on top of the wood dresser where it sits that matches the stain color and top of the diy stand for the 60U. Also ordered some new auqario pipes for that one…but that’s an update for another journal on another day. Best, el g.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Upping the light just a bit for now. Slowly incremented from 5-10%. Running it for 9 hours total and a 3 hour ramp. I’ve got the co2 dialed in a little better with the reactor. Gonna keep an eye on the Anubias for gsa with the light increase. So far so good.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Some closeups pics for fun. The buces and crypts look really great under this light.


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## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

It’s too gorgeous ⭐


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

LidijaPN said:


> It’s too gorgeous ⭐


thank you!!!!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

I added some cryptocoryne willisi “lucens” to the back left corner. Trimmed some hydrocotoyle t., cleaned the filter and mixes some more liquid frets. I realize that I was adding way too much potassium to my mixtures when doing the calculations. am I quite sure what effect I was having on the plans but unless I was adding way too much.. So get the occasional staghorn but only really on the juncus Repens. Trimmed it way back. The Juncus that’s closer to the light source does not have the staghorn growth but rather the juncus that’s farthest from the light has it. Not sure if this has anything to do with it, but added the new crypts where the lower juncus is. We shall see how it pans out.


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

THIS is the tank I've been searching for all day! I knew there was a tank with Hydrocotyle kind of floating on the side through the hardscape like that but just couldn't locate it. Really glad you posted an update, @Fat Guy. Your tank is always super-soothing to see.

This is what I meant about how it can look light and feathery, @LidijaPN.


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## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

somewhatshocked said:


> THIS is the tank I've been searching for all day! I knew there was a tank with Hydrocotyle kind of floating on the side through the hardscape like that but just couldn't locate it. Really glad you posted an update, @Fat Guy. Your tank is always super-soothing to see.
> 
> This is what I meant about how it can look light and feathery, @LidijaPN.


Yap that I like a lot more than the standard field of clover!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

somewhatshocked said:


> THIS is the tank I've been searching for all day! I knew there was a tank with Hydrocotyle kind of floating on the side through the hardscape like that but just couldn't locate it. Really glad you posted an update, @Fat Guy. Your tank is always super-soothing to see.
> 
> This is what I meant about how it can look light and feathery, @LidijaPN.


Thanks so much!! I have an affinity for hydrocotyle when the bright green leaves mix through the other plants in the tank, especially through the ferns that have a darker shade of green. It’s rather delicate but I use it in all my tanks. I’m even growing it out of the water in a couple jars on my windowsill. It has flowered during the summertime when grown out of the water.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Little hydrocotoyle trim. Had a some bba pop up on a piece of wood and an edge of Anubias. I think it’s from the morning sun that hits it if the shades are left open. I moved the tank to a different room and I think that is part of the issue. Spacing my feedings out more and trying to keep the waste organics low. Running 10red 7green 6blue for leds.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

More of the same. Just plants growing. I’ve increased my lights to around 10% and actually decreased my dosing as I learned my nutrient uptake was a lot slower than expected. I kept the co2 constant and increased a little as well. Mild bba in the darkest sections. Mainly appears on older leaves or the same spot of driftwood. Not a problem just an interesting algae. It has made me rethink a little and keeps me on my toes.


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## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

Still looks beautiful!

How do you measure your nutrient uptake, measuring nitrate or other stuff too? I’m trying to dial mine in and not quite sure how to tackle it....


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

LidijaPN said:


> Still looks beautiful!
> 
> How do you measure your nutrient uptake, measuring nitrate or other stuff too? I’m trying to dial mine in and not quite sure how to tackle it....


Thanks!
Every so often I will test my nitrates and phosphates. When I had a different setup with stems and higher lighting, I noticed a rapid phosphate depletion and had to keep up with the demand. This setup not so much.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Lowered the co2 and the bba disappeared. The reactor is awesome but saturating the water with too much dissolved co2 was hands down why the bba popped up IMHO. All is well!


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## rzn7z7 (Aug 17, 2013)

Fat Guy said:


> Lowered the co2 and the bba disappeared


Interesting....what led you to believe lowering CO2 would solve the BBA issue? Typically we turn the CO2 up for algae but with too much I could see it causing an imbalance, too, with respect to other ferts


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## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

rzn7z7 said:


> Interesting....what led you to believe lowering CO2 would solve the BBA issue? Typically we turn the CO2 up for algae but with too much I could see it causing an imbalance, too, with respect to other ferts


I'm also curious as to how you discovered CO2 as the culprit? Everyone always seems to be insisting that the stronger the better......


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

rzn7z7 said:


> Interesting....what led you to believe lowering CO2 would solve the BBA issue? Typically we turn the CO2 up for algae but with too much I could see it causing an imbalance, too, with respect to other ferts





LidijaPN said:


> I'm also curious as to how you discovered CO2 as the culprit? Everyone always seems to be insisting that the stronger the better......


Totally great questions. And yes, tons and tons and tons of information out there saying that if you have BBA that you should turn up the CO2. So that’s what I did and it got worse. So I paid more attention to any changes that I made in the tank before the BBA appeared. And the big addition to my tank was the addition of a CO2 reactor. 

Before I was using an inline diffuser which was fine but no bba. And it wasn’t my lighting as my tank is pretty low light and also the bba was appearing mainly on the darker sections of the tank at first. I tried spot treating to no avail. And then the bba appeared up on plants and equipment higher up in the water column as well as the filter intake. Also forgot to mention I also used a turkey baster and siphon to reduce any accumulated organics. But still no progress. 

So I started back stepping and knew it had something to do with the reactor. Which I really like! And being that I liked the reactor so much I did not want to identify it as the problem. But using the reactor I had increased the amount of co2 by nearly double. Now yes, a bubble counter isn’t the best method but it is enough to get some idea about how much gas is going in when comparing it to how you added it in the past. Before reactor I was about 2-3bps. With reactor i increased it to almost 4-5 bps. And that’s when the bba showed up. 

In all honesty I don’t think I need that much co2 in a low light tank…didn’t really need a reactor either…but I have it now and I like it a lot. Also I should note that in my mini m I have zero bba and the water quality ferts and lighting are virtually the same (but no reactor). So last week I cut the co2 to 1 bps and my little drop checker is green and not yellow like before and the bba stopped growing and disappeared in less than a week. My mind is kind of blown by how quickly the bba disappeared. 

I have read a lot about no bba in high light with CO2 but it appearing in low light with co2. I think in my case I was providing too much co2 for plants that didn’t demand it as much because of their slow growth and the bba took hold. 

Simply the more co2 I added the more the bba appeared as the ferts and lighting and feeding regime and water changes remained the same for both tanks. That is how I came to my conclusion. I’m sure it will be met with resistance but it is what worked for me and makes sense to me in my brain. I found other hobbyists with similar setups and plants resolve their bba by lowering their co2. However the overwhelming method to battling bba is contradictory to my solution. But each case is different and if I had higher light and weak co2 then yes, increasing the co2 would be a good first start. Not in my setup though. I had to solve the problem using my own method of deduction. The hardest part was going against the grain of an overwhelming online consensus.


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## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

That’s pretty fascinating. It makes sense from your observations but also makes sense as a source of disbalance - one resource was disproportionately available and it knocked over the tank equilibrium.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

All is well! And a Buce is flowering too.


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## Asteroid (Jul 26, 2018)

Looks good. 

That's interesting about the co2. I run alot of epiphyte dominated tanks with high co2, but I always have at least a peak light period of a few hours and the rest pretty dim. With the peak period I get pearling and pretty fast growth for ferns. 

Only time I saw BBA was when I removed a ton of Bolbitis and I figured the uptake went way down so more organics left over for algae production. When I increased water changes to compensate the BBA went away.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Asteroid said:


> Looks good.
> 
> That's interesting about the co2. I run alot of epiphyte dominated tanks with high co2, but I always have at least a peak light period of a few hours and the rest pretty dim. With the peak period I get pearling and pretty fast growth for ferns.
> 
> Only time I saw BBA was when I removed a ton of Bolbitis and I figured the uptake went way down so more organics left over for algae production. When I increased water changes to compensate the BBA went away.


yeah it’s very interesting how it appeared. It definitely peaked after I installed the reactor. However I also think organics as well. And maybe even reflected sunlight in the morning as the tank has switched rooms. I wonder if old aquasoil has anything to do with the waste organic contribution. It’s been recycled and in use for about 4 years. I did not rinse it out or let it dry out before i rescaped. If I did this layout again I would use way less, especially in the back where the slope is the highest. But getting a siphon back there to clean is near impossible. I have increased the co2 a bit and am using the ferns as a reference when I start to see a small amount of pearling from the bolbitis. There is still a small amount of bba but not like before. Also I wonder if there has been some fish deaths. This tank has a faint fishy smell which I usually attribute to decomposing fish. That and a thicker protein layer. But all in all looks good.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Pulled the juncus repens out. It grows fine but is never as healthy as the other plants. I think it would thrive in more light. The buces are flowering which is cool. Added some small portions of pinatifida uk into the green jungle mix. The bolbitis is looking good. Replanted some fresher tops of the tripartia and tossed the older stems. Accidentally bumped a rock in the mid ground (it was covered in plants). Felt it was better to just pull it then try to mess with repositioning it. More room for plants to grow. Added a couple sprigs of Sagitaria to where the main clumps of repens was. I may change my mind about it though. Not keen on a bunch of runners but the light is below 10% so it’s not going to be a sprint. Low and slow works for me.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Pulled the old glass intake and added a new glass skimmer to the back. I was getting a lot of organic film at the top in the mornings and the tank was starting to smell fishy. Problem solved with the skimmer. Love that i can hide it behind the bolbitis in the back right. Better gaseous exchange happening and happier fish and plants. Lights at 9%.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Added 10 emerald eye rasboras and another ADA cup of Anubias nana petite. May put the cardinals in the mine m and the embers in this one…just to switch it up.


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## Mbrman (May 6, 2018)

Your tank looks more beautiful every time you post a new pic! Love it!

Dave


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Mbrman said:


> Your tank looks more beautiful every time you post a new pic! Love it!
> 
> Dave


Thanks Dave!!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Not much to report. Reduced the co2 and all the bba went away. Light is at 10%. Everything is growing well. Should probably do a trim but may just see how it all pans out without. Low maintenance has been a real blessing at times.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

The ferns have taken off with the low light and low co2. Water changes about every two weeks. Strange crypt and Anubias melt on some of the plants (excel I believe was the culprit). Minuscule bba only on a few pieces of wood. Not on any of the plants. Same pieces of wood in the same spot before. I don’t mind it though. There used to be a scape in their with the wood but the ferns have had other plans. I love the way the mine trident fern grows. I wish I had a bigger tank just for the bolbitis and the regular trident Java fern. They are getting huge. Loving this low maintenance setup as my attention to the hobby has drifted to other callings at the moment. Best, el g


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Blue background light for fun-


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

The bolbitis and ferns are really taking off. A lot of booze I had planned it earlier was completely in the dark so I moved some around into the more lit part in the front of the tank. I know deep down I should trim the ferns way back but I’m really enjoying how big they’re getting.


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## Rob23 (4 mo ago)

Low maintenance setups with trident ferns, anubias and bolbitis have always been my jam. Your aquascape is gorgeous.


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## mourip (Mar 15, 2020)

Fat Guy said:


> The bolbitis and ferns are really taking off. A lot of booze I had planned it earlier was completely in the dark so I moved some around into the more lit part in the front of the tank.


Are you auto dosing with the booze or doing it manually?


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Rob23 said:


> Low maintenance setups with trident ferns, anubias and bolbitis have always been my jam. Your aquascape is gorgeous.


Thank you!! I really dig them as well!! love ferns and other low light plants in a natural scape. Especially bolbitis and the trident ferns.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

mourip said:


> Are you auto dosing with the booze or doing it manually?


hahaha! Manual dosing twice a week or so. Booze only for my own consumption!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Did a serious trim and added some more larger pieces of driftwood. The bolbitis which is probably too big for this tank was insane. I have many a rhizome I removed. Added some ember tetras and green neons. Overall happy with this tank and the low maintenance. Still some bba on the wood exclusively but I kind of don’t care anymore and just accept it. I think it feeds off the decaying wood which im ok with. Thanks for looking. W


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