60l Rebuild Journal

[RYO]

Been missing a bit again lol, much to do not enough days.
Had to use xp2 on other tank as other filter sprung a leak, so will use my fluval 204 on this as soon as i modify the hood (tubes to big for the holes in lid)
Brown algae has come back , head scratching time again. Posted pic in other link with stats .
Link - http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=115658
Cheers for reply Zig still waiting for poxy water company to get back.
If any one else has any ideas please feel free to coment
On the fishy front thought id better get some in lol
Added 10 of these Eirmotus Octozona

 

[RYO]

Ok do ya think it need a trim lol, Ive let it run wild to see if the plant would out compete the hair algae.I kept the dosing up and there isnt much in the way of algae. .
Still not got round to binning the Eheim 2231, need to mod the hood to take the fluvals pipes. Will try to get round to it this week some time lol.

 

[George Farmer]

That's what I call a jungle style layout!

Great to hear your algae woes are sorted mate.

 

[RYO]

Ok lol got my machete out, killed the gorilla and trashed half the Amazon rain forest.

It looks a tad bare now, i have more grasses to plant but will wait for the glosso to take a bit.
Added 10 Red Cherry Shrimp (Neocaridina denticulata sinensis ) dead cute and tiny at mo.

 

[jimbooo]

wow your sholders must be killing you after all that bush wacking, LOL

love those shrimp, i've seen a few of those on the forum recently do they do anything for algae. i've been thinking of more amano shrimp but if those will do the job as well i'd rather have them in the tank any day.

 

[RYO]

Found this site ,gives pretty good info on most common shrimp, http/www.azgardens.com/shrimpfactory.php
They are suppose to be good algae eaters but we will see.

 

[jimbooo]

thats fantastic mate. did you order yours online? i've always been nervous of buying livestock online especially shrimp as they are pretty sensitive little things. i have a vision of opening a box of half deads.

 

[RYO]

did you order yours online?

no m8 i bought then from Rhyl aquaria, they orderd them for me. (Cheers gareth ,very helpful guy,)

 

[zig]

Looks a lot better now it was looking a bit down and out, what type of hairgrass is that and also is that P. stellata or L.aromatica..........nice shrimp btw ive yet to see those over here although the lfs are getting a bit better in the shrimp department.

 

[RYO]

what type of hairgrass is that

= Eleocharis parrulus and Eleocharis acicularis

P. stellata or L.aromatica

= Eusteralis stellata

cheers Zig i know haven't had much time on my hands lately, between baby, work and sorting out the other tank I'd let the 60L slip a tad,

 

[George Farmer]

Looking good mate, much neater. It'll be great when it fills out again - with more control this time eh?

Awesome shrimp too.

 

[RYO]

K better do an update lol, things didn't quite go as planned. First off the power compacts, because of the heat they produce (lots) the holders and the ceramic end caps on the tubes go very very brittle. I had to change a tube as 1 cracked when i dropped the lid (clumsy git) on trying to get the tube out of the holder the whole lot crumbled to bits. Ive now fitted 3 x 15w T8 tubes. Looks a lot darker now.
i actually see more of my fish now maybe 72w on a 60L was a tad much
I was constantly battling hair algae hopefully this will alleviate some of the problem .
Still not got round to changing the filter yet festive spirit and all that
The stems in the center will probably go as soon as the tank settles down again. Also had a good prune with the glosso, this gets very invasive. Maybe this will slow with less lighting.

Any constructive criticism and advise welcome.

 

[simonbrown403]

Its filled out nicely.

I think all the tall plants to the right looks like a fence, maybe something shorter and bushie to replace the hygrophilia to bring the two together.

 

[zig]

Hmmmm.......well this is exactly the same problem i have had with my own lights, the light just crumbled as i had to take one of the tubes out from the holder, the rubber tubing around the light also cracked and is gone really hard, the other light is still working (its a twin unit) but the other tube will be impossible to remove from the holder because the rubber has hardened and melted a bit

Anyway im sending mine back, ive read about this on other forums as well when i did a bit of research on my own situation, my units and tubes are only 6 months old, they are guarenteed for 2 years, i havent done it yet but i will in the next week or so.

Anyway lookin good, what filter have you on this tank btw, ive a 60 liter with 2x15 watts over it (also has a bit of bga in the tank) its a badly neglected tank, i just used it to store plants until recently, but im going to plant it properly V soon, its a Juwel tank so i dont know how i could add another tube without making a new hood and at the moment im feeling lazy so that aint going to happen just now, but i hate the internal filter and need to replace that.

 

[Ste_J]

I take it that the compacts you are referring to are the interpet kind? The crumbling issue happened with my first 55w that I bought, in fact the whole tube fell out of the ceramic! It's also happened to the replacement that Interpet supplied direct although it's still working away.

Going to be switching to my 56G this weekend when I will be added a double unit although not looking forward to taking my original single out as I know it's likely to crumble into dust.

Zig, I found the only way to remove the old fitting when it bust was to remove with a plumbers wrench- long nose on it so it slid under the rubber housing.