# Hello from South East Asia



## perlguy (Mar 26, 2014)

Beautiful tank!


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

Hello from the US of A. Looks like nice work and good progress.


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## aquarist (Aug 29, 2012)

Hello and welcome!! Those are some nice looking tanks. Looking forward to seeing more pictures.


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## camperintent (May 13, 2014)

Thanks for the warm welcome and the comments all . Will update again once everything grows in.


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## camperintent (May 13, 2014)

*1st Month progress report*

Here goes. Got a rental DSLR camera for my recent graduation so i took the opportunity to snap the tanks.

E.Ten carpeting nicely on a low tech setup.









Also, i noticed that the water surface had tons of dust (presumably from the parking lot behind my estate) so I DIY-ed a surface skimmer from my leftover small pump parts. Attached it to the service HOF. All parts are movable and removable. 



















FTS









As the plants growing in mass, I procured some fertilizers from the local aquarium store and hydroponics just in case they show signs of deficiencies. 










500g worth of Ca(NO3)2 & 100g of KH2PO4 for macro source 
500ml Excel for carbon source
250ml flourish comprehensive for trace

Thanks for viewing! :hihi:


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## Method (Feb 13, 2011)

Welcome! Not much to add other than my appreciation of the lush, healthy-looking plants!


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## camperintent (May 13, 2014)

Method said:


> Welcome! Not much to add other than my appreciation of the lush, healthy-looking plants!


thanks for the appreciation. I may probably have a hard time down the road to keep these plant in check, as my water supply has a PH of 8. The dirt and aquasoil is doing a good job at keeping the tank PH to a nice 6 though. Wonder how long it will last..:icon_lol:


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## Rock Island (May 29, 2013)

I like that surface skimmer you rigged up, I'll have to keep that in mind. Beautiful tanks!


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## camperintent (May 13, 2014)

Rock Island said:


> I like that surface skimmer you rigged up, I'll have to keep that in mind. Beautiful tanks!


Thanks! I'm gonna further improve the design. It's very humid where I am at so the tank water evaporates fast, causing air to feed into the skimmer hahaha. 
:icon_lol:

Also, I am planning to switch the tenellus with glosso.. Mr tenellus is growing too tall, making the scape look even smaller.


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## Aplomado (Feb 20, 2013)

Nice job.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Welcome to TPT!


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## camperintent (May 13, 2014)

Aplomado said:


> Nice job.





lauraleellbp said:


> Welcome to TPT!


Thanks guys  The tank is currently experiencing high temperatures of up to 87.8 F. Hopefully the moss pulls through. Been conditioning them to grow in warmer waters.roud:


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## camperintent (May 13, 2014)

11th June Update:

Nothing much has changed, plants growing in, fishes going missing in the tank (Yes, missing, I have no idea how they can go missing in such a small tank, suspected they were sick to begin with, died and then got eaten by others) 

1) Got my hand on a bottle of Seachem Iron, adding it as to the fert regiment. 

2) Also added DIY CO2 in an effort to increase CO2 content in the water, which I believe is really low as my tank's temperature clocks in at 87.8 Degrees these past few days. The plants are growing still though, including the Spiky Moss and a small patch of Fissidens I got from a local hobbyist. (Myth about moss not being able to grow in warmer is busted i suppose :icon_surp)

3) Last but not least, I upgraded the HOF to the largest model I could get my hands on. Wasn't disappointed, apart from the larger compartment, higher water flow is a +1 for this tank. Fishes enjoying it too.

4) On another note: I'm going to be enlisted into the army very soon (compulsory in my country). So in the mean time, teaching my parents to care for the tank during my confinement period - To top up tank water. hahaha. It's cute and funny at the same time to see my parents stepping in to look after the tank

5) I also won an Eheim Autofeeder in a recent Eheim Giveaway, which will be very helpful in automated feeding while I'm away. (PS: Its not that I don't trust my parents to feed the fish, they tend to overfeed them :hihi

Without further ado, pictorial updates: Sorry if it seemed small, i edited them with a android app on my phone and they resized the pictures :icon_frow



















Hope you guys enjoyed this journey as much as I do. Feel free to ask me any questions


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## Vincebus (Aug 20, 2010)

Wow, very nice! I hope the tank does well during your absence...


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## Jevon (Aug 21, 2013)

The tank looks wonderful


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## camperintent (May 13, 2014)

Thanks guys  Hopefully it can flourish even better. Recently, a local retailer in my country has offered a TEM mini chiller (comparable to a small PC speaker), which I, high likely will purchase one to keep the tank temperature down. Seen the reviews and it's quite promising, some of the local users were able to bring the temperature down to a whopping 75F degrees!  (although I am still skeptical about it's cooling capabilities since it a TEM technology..). 

The price is also quite affordable (only USD95) and is rated at 100 Watts. Will update again once I got my hands on a set of this mini chiller.


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## camperintent (May 13, 2014)

Another update 

Took a trip to the local fish shop yesterday. The original plan was to source for a suitable LED lightset in view to replace my clip on PC due to the heat generated by the bulb.. Instead I came back with these. So much for self control. LOL

Moving on the the Lightset. Up Aqua T Series Pro LED - Perfect for the tank. Not too bright nor too dim, managed to see the ferns pearling during its service yesterday so I guess it's enough lighting for this small tank. (0.5W x 7, 40Lm per LED)










Also, got a mini TEM chiller from a hobbyist to combat the high temperature. Works wonder for this tank. This chiller's concept is similar to those in-line chillers. 

1) Cools the tank according to the temperature set 
2) Cuts off power once it reaches the desired temperature 
3) Kicks in after detecting 1-2C change in water temperature. 

"The mini chiller a.k.a Glorified Speaker fan"









In a move to further reduce any potential heat source, I took out the HOF and replaced it with a 1 watt eco friendly Internal pump (which also moves the water into the chiller and then back into the tank via the spray bars). Here a picture of the current setup.










If you notice, I removed all the e.tenellus up front and replaced it with Marsilea Hirsuta, great plant and long time favorite. Also, swapped the bamboo diffuser for a ceramic one. Way better at diffusing the Co2. Planning to remove the Co2 once the hirsuta settles in and carpets.


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