# Fluval Spec 19L Project



## Conrad283 (Dec 10, 2012)

Great piece of wood. Good luck with the grow


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Thanks. It was maybe 6 or 7 separate pieces put together. I just hope they stay where I put them ha


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## sssnel (Nov 8, 2011)

great start!


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## dreamwallaby (Dec 8, 2012)

nice, I love the wood.


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## tex627 (Jan 11, 2009)

That wood is fantastic! A great start for a great ecosystem!


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

looking good so far!


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Thanks guys. Yeah I'm really happy with the wood. I said earlier I was in no rush but I've changed my mind now. I can't wait to get it planted up. I just hope the delivery guys don't take too long with the HC.


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

A plant or two but the filter end and a nice carpet with the driftwood on top would look awesome.


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

That's what I'm aiming for. HC carpet then hairgrass in the back left corner. It's pretty long at the moment so will plant it as it is and let it drift over the top a little. Hopefully it won't affect the hc from getting the light it needs


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

So here's a quick update. Got round to adding the water last week. Unfortunately the wood had been out of my previous tank for too long and had dried slightly. So the obvious happened, my neatly placed wood floated all over the place. School boy error but nevermind....

Got a few stands of hairgrass and Java moss in place and also the temperary co2. Root pills also in the substrate. Just waiting on the HC. I'll be emailing the company tomorrow to find out where it is. 

Oh quick one to anybody who might know. What wattage is the stock light unit? has anybody got any cheap upgrade suggestions? Thanks in advance


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Upgraded the lighting today before the arrival of the HC, which has been a nightmare to get hold of. Supplier issues grrr. Happy with lighting though...


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

So quick update. Mainly for a little advice. Two little bundles of hc arrived today after waiting ages for it to come. It all looks nice and healthy so I'm pretty pleased about that. My question is should I leave it to float around a little to develop some roots? Or should I be splitting it up into tiny strands and planting mini bunches? Please help lol. Thanks guys


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## philemon716 (Aug 14, 2011)

I would break them out and plant them now, although planting in a filled tank into fluval substrate (i believe) will cause you to age a few years.


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

So what would be best? Drain the tank down to an inch of water maybe? I'm new to this can you tell?! Ha


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## Rapture (Aug 23, 2012)

drain it as low as you can, plant tiny pieces throughout, put your water back in through the filter chamber


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Ok I'll do that. Thanks for your help


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

So tonight I got the tank empty and planted up with hc. Pain in the arse sorting it out and getting in planted but I guess you all know that anyway. Started pearling straight away but I'm guessing that's going to die down for a while until it settles in?! I'll just keep up the mini co2 until my new diffuser and regulator turn up. Hopefully tomorrow. As you can see from the pictures I ran out of hc towards the end. All comments/criticism welcome!


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## tex627 (Jan 11, 2009)

That wood is really interesting! Looking forward to see this scape evolve!


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Thanks Tex. I'm just hoping I manage to get the hc grow. Just liked the fb page by the way. Some inspiring pictures on there. Makes me want to go bigger but I should learn to walk before I can run haha


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## tex627 (Jan 11, 2009)

It's never bad to get your feet a little more than wet! Larger tanks are quite a different feat than smaller ones, so I would try both! Glad that you found our page inspirational!


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Quick update..... Got the pressurised co2 in place. All nice and neat now so happy with that. I also ordered up some glosso for my other tank but decided to fill in the gap in this tank first so should be interesting to see how the glosso and hc carpet. 









I've also tried to set up a little glosso pot to try grow my own for back-up so I'll see how that goes. Enjoy. All comments/suggestions welcome as usual


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## Synyster1337 (Jan 24, 2013)

philemon716 said:


> I would break them out and plant them now, although planting in a filled tank into fluval substrate (i believe) will cause you to age a few years.


Hahahahahahahaha, now that's funny. I'm using Eco Complete and it's a s.o.b. to plant small stem plants, and I even have small grain size.


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Quick update. Tank now ready for some livestock so picked up a couple of ottos today. Hopefully they will get cracking with the algae that's building up


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## tex627 (Jan 11, 2009)

Those are really healthy looking otos compared to most! Best of luck with your algae.


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Everything growing in slowly. The moss that I thought had died off is growing really well. Glosso is getting tall. Not ideal but I'm letting it get really set in to the substrate before I start trimming it. HC is doing well also. Spreading across the substrate nicely and setting its roots. Just a bit annoyed with the browning of the leaves. Any suggestions to prevent this? Lighting is currently around 8 hours per day. 

Thanks


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Hey everyone. Just some updated pictures of the tank inhabitants. 

Otto and cherry (little blurry)









Amano (again blurry. Bloody iPhone camera!)









Another shot of an otto. Probably my favourite fish at the moment









Had a little bit of a change around. Added more substrate to the left to cover the glosso more and also swapped the hairgrass for some rotala. Everything is growing ok. Ordered some additional LEDs for the stock lighting so I'll see how that goes.


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## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

question, how did you keep your wood from floating in such a short period? Did you use stainless steel screws onto plexi glass?
also what lighting are you using? 

This setup looks like a neat little project =)


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Hey there. The wood I just had to let float around in the water until it sank on its own. Took a week or so but eventually it got there. I'm just using stock lighting and a desk lamp with a 11w PL tube. I'm just ordered some led strips to mod the original light so I'll post updates when I've got it sorted.


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## dru (Mar 9, 2013)

Any updates on this tank?


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## DefStatic (Feb 19, 2013)

That wood is freaking awesome! I wish I could find something like that.

I like the changes in regards to the hairgrass.


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Hey guys been having massive bba outbreaks so I'm going to have to tear the tank down to clean everything and try put it back together as it was. Pretty frustrating as I'd just added a pair of dwarf puffers. Here's the most recent picture anyway


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## second (Jan 31, 2005)

Nooo don't tear it down, make adjustments and fight the algae


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## horsedude (Nov 10, 2012)

second said:


> Nooo don't tear it down, make adjustments and fight the algae


agreed, you can fight bba, i managed to get rid of it easily


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

What's the best plan of attack? I'd ordered some H2o2 to bath the wood in to kill the algae. Just waiting for that to arrive. Then I'll crank up the co2 too. Hopefully that will help. The drop checker in the photo had just been added hence why it's still blue


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## horsedude (Nov 10, 2012)

joey24dirt said:


> What's the best plan of attack? I'd ordered some H2o2 to bath the wood in to kill the algae. Just waiting for that to arrive. Then I'll crank up the co2 too. Hopefully that will help. The drop checker in the photo had just been added hence why it's still blue


Heres a couple of threads that will help your dosing of H202
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=170286

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=142286

i usally just leave all the lights of for a week just as it starts to appearer it wont do to much harm to your plants but i would not leave the lights of for anything longer than a week, good luck


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Thanks I'll get cracking with it once my H2o2 turns up. It's a 9% solution so I'll have to go careful with it


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## second (Jan 31, 2005)

keep us posted joe btw how are your water parameters?


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Parameters are fine. I've just got some h2o2 so will begin treatment tonight. Hopefully all will go well


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## binbin9 (Jan 31, 2012)

YOu'll be surprised at how effective the h2o2 will be, combined with excel and lower photo periods it'll be gone. After I got rid of my algae I lost interest in the tank and was like what's next?


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Haha always searching for a challenge. I think that's what I'll be like.


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## STS_1OO (Nov 28, 2012)

I would ditch the stock lighting and even ditch augmenting it. Consider the Fugeray 16"/18" for a medium light setup (I use the 16" on my Spec V with good results).


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

I have upgraded the lighting recently so a 3x8w t5 fitting. It's just a cheap one from china just to see how it went really. I'm not sure those lights you mentioned are easy to get hold of in the UK.


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Update time. BBA was getting ridiculous so I pulled the tank apart and cleaned everything with h2o2. I also wanted to have a little bit of a tweak with the wood and secure it better. Had some Perspex left over from a tank top I'd made so decided to use that to secure the wood to. I just used some stainless steel screws and got busy with the dewalt drill. 
Here's a few pictures. First is my pile of parts....









First piece to go down was the largest piece. It seemed to be a good base to work from 









Quick shot of the screws in place









Added the next piece









And the next









And some more









Finally had a tweak around and came up with my final arrangement. I personally think it looks really natural looking so will leave it at that. Before adding it to the tank I gave it a good rinse to remove and plastic/wood particles. I'll be adding substrate later today once I get motivated lol


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Oh also a quick plants list. I just ordered some blyxa japonica and also some of that elatine hydropiper mini glosso stuff. Looks pretty cool I think.


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Hardscape and substrate in position. Just waiting on plants lol


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## Jdiesels (Mar 20, 2013)

joey24dirt said:


> Hardscape and substrate in position. Just waiting on plants lol


Why run the co2 if there are no plants?


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

I've had bba issues so just cranking the co2 just to make sure it's all killed off. Bit of a waste I know but I'd rather make sure before my new plants arrive.


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## Jdiesels (Mar 20, 2013)

joey24dirt said:


> I've had bba issues so just cranking the co2 just to make sure it's all killed off. Bit of a waste I know but I'd rather make sure before my new plants arrive.



Just don't turn on the light until your plants come


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Yeah I'm doing that also. Sounds stupid I know but like I say I'd rather be sure. Plants should be hear soon so it's also good to get the co2 dialed to how I want it. That way I can return my puffers to their home.


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Quick update. Spec is all up and running now with plants in place. I tried using elatine hydropiper for the carpet but it didn't survive the trip from Poland so had to replace it with HC. Got that put in place last night. The blyxa japonica is doing really well and is a bright green colour which looks awesome. Mixed up a new batch of ferts and increase the dose a little so hopefully we'll see great growth and zero algae lol!


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Quick update. Not much has changed really. Things are growing ok without any issues. Increased the lights from five to six hours today so we'll see how that goes. Added some riccia flutans that I got from a friend. Stuffed it where I could and also sandwiched a bunch of it together to try make a bush under the wood. 

Here's some quick iPhone pics. The puffers are in the shot too. Bonus!!

The start of my bush lol 









General tank shot


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## Jdiesels (Mar 20, 2013)

If you still have those puffers and the shrimp, either get rid of the shrimp or the puffers, the puffers will eat all of the shrimp D:


DBP Member 003


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

I have no shrimp so no issues. They didn't seem bothered by them when they were in though so may try some amanos


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Update time. Blyxa is growing like crazy and is keeping my big tank stocked up with cuttings. The HC is growing slowly although I do wish it would hurry up so any tips are appreciated.

New additions. A friend of mine gave me ten red cherry shrimp. That was a week ago and I still have ten. The puffers don't seem too bothered while they have snails and bloodworm to munch on. Also moved some ottos over from the big tank just to keep on top of the algae. They seem to be having fun so all good.


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

The plants in this tank are finally getting established and growing well. This was taken about a week ago. The HC is starting to spread really well and the blyxa is just going crazy!









Love the riccia


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## Plantie (Aug 7, 2013)

Thanks for sharing the updates and pictures really useful. Have just bought my fluval spec and got some great ideas.
Do you think it is essential to upgrade the lighting? 
Thanks again!


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## Plantie (Aug 7, 2013)

Can you recommend a good online shop in the UK to buy lighting from?
Thanks!
Ben


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## joey24dirt (Jan 2, 2013)

Hey yeah I think light upgrades are a must if you plan on growing any med/high light plants. I just got a cheapo light unit from eBay for mine but if you have a nice budget then check out aquaessentials or thegreenmachineonline for light units


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