# Newbie Fluval Spec



## victor_pho (Jun 30, 2012)

someone help me out here! lol


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## maxwellag (Mar 30, 2012)

Hi, I have a spec too and love it. Awesome tank over all, but the light isn't enough like you said. I switched mine over to a 15w spiral CFL and it grows HC well enough. I haven't found a small enough co2 setup for a good price yet, but I might not use co2 for it because my plants seem to be doing fine without them. Usually when you add new plants (especially more demanding ones), there is a die off period for a few days where the leaves look like they are dying and don't grow. Normally after a week they perk up and are happy again. Don't worry-since you have more than enough light and co2, I am almost positive that it will perk up. Are you dosing any ferts? You have a lot of HC already.  it should fill out pretty fast. A while back I had MY CFL burn out, and it was about 3 weeks before I was able to get a new one. A lot of my HC had died and I was left with only a few stems, so I moved them to my 5g where I have co2. They had the die off period and have now perked up and started filling in. By the way, your tank looks great! The plants all look extremely happy and I like the layout.


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## victor_pho (Jun 30, 2012)

thanks! hopefully all goes as you say. lol at the moment im dosing only flourish potassium. like half the cap initially. i wasnt sure what other ferts i should have going with this. what do you recommend?


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## maxwellag (Mar 30, 2012)

victor_pho said:


> thanks! hopefully all goes as you say. lol at the moment im dosing only flourish potassium. like half the cap initially. i wasnt sure what other ferts i should have going with this. what do you recommend?


I get by with half a cap full of Flourish Comprehensive weekly, even without co2. I would use comprehensive to start and maybe eventually you can dose dry ferts.


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## victor_pho (Jun 30, 2012)

lol i will look into getting comprehensive instead. well today i noticed some hair algae on one of the front patches of HC. its not much, only covers an inch. i know it means are is an imbalance, should i worry about that or keep it as it is?. I also got my fluval mini compact in...and man....it looks nice. lol other than that, i threw in a low grade cherry shrimp to test the water before throwing any sakuras in. still debating if i want 1 amano shrimp, a few CRS, or my 4 sakura cherry shrimps in this tank. hmmms?


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## victor_pho (Jun 30, 2012)

btw. my initial plan was to have the microswords in the back while having a carpet in the front of hc...should i have used a hard plastic sheet to divide the tank under the substrate so runners wont go to either side?


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## victor_pho (Jun 30, 2012)




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## daygoboiz (Apr 20, 2012)

Hi Pho pb co2 and excel should be good with it as long as you have a decent light on it. I'm using just 12w led over my edge 2 weeks ago and noticing new roots. Hopefully your hc will spread soon. Good luck with it (ps I'm picking up a 5g cube tomorrow) ;-)


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## SCMurphy (Oct 21, 2003)

:thumbsup: It looks really nice, if you are vigilant about trimming back the runners you won't have to worry about the microsword taking over. If you ever rescape the tank though, a barrier for the microsword is a good idea. 

For the constructive criticism part, pull those stems and trim them all to be the same height, about an inch taller than the rock. Let them grow about two inches and then trim them down that much leaving the bottoms planted, if you want to you can replant the tops among the bottoms. Let them grow up about three inches and then trim them back down two inches. See the pattern? ---lather rinse repeat --- Oh, and make your life easier, get some tweezers.


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## victor_pho (Jun 30, 2012)

thanks for the suggestions! tweezers, check. i also replanted the plants, had enough to cover the back from descending order with height. looks nicer now! 

BTW IF ANYONE WANTS DISCOUNT FROM WAG: 60%off..not sure if u can include with the promo codes. 20$ for 13w CFL..paid like 25 last week with promo code.
http://www.wag.com/buy/WagPromo=JulyClearance/Animal=fish?PageSize=200


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## victor_pho (Jun 30, 2012)




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## Basil (Jul 11, 2011)

'Like'


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## CryptKeeper54 (Apr 14, 2012)

I'm getting ready to join the spec club soon too. You have a nice nano going there. Keep up the good work.


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## jbig (Jul 13, 2012)

nice! i like man. i tried keeping a betta in my spec but the pump was too strong for him and he didn't like it. good luck with the swords too, i was unsuccessful with them when i tried planting them in my spec. they didn't die, but they never, ever, ever, grew for some reason.


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## maxwellag (Mar 30, 2012)

CryptKeeper54 said:


> I'm getting ready to join the spec club soon too. You have a nice nano going there. Keep up the good work.


Is there an official club?


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## CryptKeeper54 (Apr 14, 2012)

maxwellag said:


> Is there an official club?



I don't think its a club, but rather a dedicated thread called "Show me your Spec."


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## victor_pho (Jun 30, 2012)

lol heres a update. i havent been on this forum in awhile


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

I like it, nice work... though I have to say I think a select piece of driftwood would look great in there and give the shrimps something to climb all over


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## victor_pho (Jun 30, 2012)

andrewss said:


> I like it, nice work... though I have to say I think a select piece of driftwood would look great in there and give the shrimps something to climb all over


i was thinking the same but i just couldn't find one that would look nice that fit in the spec without ruining the simple look of the tank lol. still on a search! just added 2 pieces of lavarock under the stem plant to make it look a little more "interesting"


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

gotcha, well eventually maybe the right piece will be found


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## smirkis (Oct 1, 2012)

dang thats a beautiful spec. awesome job. i just ordered the fluval 13w because of you lol. the stock light sucks.


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## victor_pho (Jun 30, 2012)

lol guys I was wondering if I should switch back to stock lighting with no co2. Algae outbreaks on the glass is very annoying and I only have the HC carpet left. Would it survive but not grow under stock lighting? hmms..


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## victor_pho (Jun 30, 2012)




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## victor_pho (Jun 30, 2012)

the fluval spec running high tech is alot to take care of after awhile lmfao. i get tired of having to trim the other plants and whatnot. changing the water is also a bit of a hassle so i took out the big plants and just have this carpet. i am debating on how to make this setup more simple or possibly take out all of the carpet and get new plants. more interested in something simple with shrimp right now lol.


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## sssnel (Nov 8, 2011)

I can't blame you. It is a lot after awhile. I have a Spec with the stock lighting and it has 3 healthy bushy blyxa plants and some HM. I am about to redo since I want to see more vertical space being used. I plan on making a second story for either the blyxa or the hm not sure yet with cross stitch plastic. I have every intent on keeping the stock lighting.


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