Aquascaper 600

[Wills]

So bit of excitement today

I am in the process of getting an 8 gallon ADA 60F together and the first thing I have ordered was the light which is a Chihiros A Series. Some of you might have seen the Chihiros brand getting mentioned on some aquascaping channels and I found a site that you can buy direct from china on and today it arrived!

Really impressed with the build quality, it looks like a proper piece of kit and comes with a dimmer in the box which is really cool. One thing I read before buying it was that putting the screws in can be a bit tricky which I would agree with, if I hadnt have read that I'd have been annoyed.

As I dont have the new tank yet I popped it on this tank to see just how it did compare to the Twinstar SM that is on there usually and these are the results. Chihiros is on the left Twinstar on the right. Funny you can also see a days growth in the tank haha!

Now... I didnt expect this light to fully compete with the Twinstar as the Twinstar has double the power. The Chihiros was also only £20 delivered... the Twinstar was £250

This is the two next to each other the Chihiros is on the left, Twinstar on the right.

I wanted to share some different angles of the tank too. First one is more of a top down 3/4 which is how I usually see the tank and the second is from the right side which is quite visable in the room so I've taken care to scape it from this side too. You can see the Helanthium and the Ranunculus which are not too visable in the front on shots.

Wills

 

[Wills]

Bit of maintainance tonight. Few sketchy looking bits of algae in the tank, think I'm getting black brush algae which is a bit concerning but when its in little tufts it does look quite nice...

Having moved the powerhead and diffuser under the filter outlet I was getting worse Co2 circulation than before so I have moved the powerhead and diffuser to the back right corner with the filter outlet front left. It blows my plants in a bit of the opposite way to how I intended them to grow but might be worth it. Im also considering lowering my lighting to 70% from 80% to see if that helps too.

Wills

 

[Wills]

I'm a bit late with this water change I wanted to get it done over the weekend but it didnt happen, Sunday night algae was building up and I had some of the brown thread algae that killed the tank a few months ago. Monday didnt look much better but noticed some of the plants were growing really well, when the lights came on today there was much less algae and really good plant growth from pretty much everything so I think the plants are starving the algae down. I didnt do much in the way of trimming tonight just focused on cutting bad growth or algae covered.

This is pre water change

Post water change

Next step for this tank is to rescape the back right corner. I've run into a problem with too many prolific plants swamping each other which I think was a catalyst for my previous brown algae issues so I want to address this. I got some more Frodo Stone at the weekend and the plan is to make a cliff effect in the corner like this. I've bought a pot of 1-2-grow Monte Carlo and Rotala H'Ra which I want to plant on this raised section with the plan for the Monte Carlo to creep over the edge of the rock. I'm also going to move some of the Hygrophila Araguia and Hydrocotyle Tripartita up there too as some of the Araguia is a bit at risk of being swamped and the Trip will hopefully trail down the rock nicely too. Undecided if I want any moss or ephiphite plants on the rock face or keep it open?

Wills

 

[Wills]

Added the rocks to the back. Not 100% on it if I'm honest. I've planted some Rotala H'Ra at the back and some H. Tripartita cuttings to the right so need to let it fill in, think I need to put some kind of epiphite on the top of the rock in front of the Rotala but need to let the Rotala grow in properly first. I want to get some more branches to arch over too which I think will help, really want to get to a point where I can take out some of the easy plants like the Limnophila and the Siamensis 53b but dont want to loose the plant mass.

What do you think?

Wills

 

[Wells]

I'm a little bit split on the rocks, it fills out that space nicely, and would look good with some epiphytes on it but also draws the attention away from the left maybe a bit too much?

That hairgrass is looking great, the tank is filling out nicely.

 

[HoldenOn]

I like it a lot! Plays to the rule of thirds, and it ties in nicely with the driftwood imo .

 

[Wills]

I'm a little bit split on the rocks, it fills out that space nicely, and would look good with some epiphytes on it but also draws the attention away from the left maybe a bit too much?

That hairgrass is looking great, the tank is filling out nicely.

I'm really happy with the front third most things seem to be doing really well. I've moved a crypt to the front left in a spot that is shaded by the filter pipes which other plants seem to grow around but I think a crypt should do well there. I'm thinking of trying to keep the hole under the big branch clear as that feels like a natural focal point eventually. I think the left is overpowering at the moment beause I have purposely left it over grown to take up any excess nutrients that got stirred up. I do need to have a think about what I want to do on that side longer term as there are a lot of very fast growing plants.

I always wondered what the difference was between moneywort and cardamine and from this tank the Cardmine is much harder to control and it grows more chaotically where as they hydrocotyle is growing much more condensed and giving nice effects like around the rocks on the front left.

Wills

 

[Wills]

Big trim tonight. I've put a few plants in unusual places to try and help avoid algae where I was having a few issues theres a thick stem of Caradmine at the back to help the H'ra get established - it is growing but got some of the brown algae I have issues with. I've wrapped some of the Moneywort around the middle branch as the moss that was growing under the cover of other plants has done really well but more exposed areas got the algae issues as well. Not been on top of maintenance this week which is why I think the brown algae got in a bit.

Wanted to put some detail shots in as there are some areas of the tank I'm really happy with

 

[Wills]

Bit of a clean up tonight - I'd not been able to get my hands in since the last update so it had gotten quite bad. Still sort of feel the same about the tank really happy with the front and left side, right side needs the Rotala to grow in which is getting there now it got swamped with brown algae but some healthy growth in there.

I've ordered some new wood as I dont trust any of my old stuff after the last scape... Going to try and make the space under the arch in the middle area the focal point so plants will start to get trimmed away from there and I might encourage some taller growth on the mid right.

Interestingly I've finally made my mind up on cardamine vs hydrocotyle - hydrocotyle is much easier to control and under strong light will stay compact. The cardamine is very unruley and gets very stringy and uncontrolable

I think my take on the tank at the moment is that its an unruley teenager but hopefully I can get it to grow into something better once I get more wood in and the plants mature on the right side more.

Wills

 

[Wills]

Bit of a tidy up tonight ahead of a bit of change!!! I've moved the rocks at the back further forward and replanted the H'ra as it was filling in nicely and I could tell from the area that it wasnt going to work so padded out the terrace a bit more and replanted it I'm slightly more confident this is going to come out nice now as previous attempts at this plant have failed...

The plan is that I'm going to move a largeish rock from the middle area (you cant even see it anymore but it is pretty big and a nice piece) to the back right infront of the "cliff" and most of my H.Araguia is going to go in place of where that is now. That will mean I need to move the Cardamine and Moneywort from the middle area and open up the space under the branches to create the focal point that I want. Then as they start to sink I will add more branches from the left to the right and try and add height so the 'trunk' of the wood breaks the surface.

Wills

 

[AilyNC]

Looking great Wills.

You mention a few times being on top of algae - what do you do?

 

[Wills]

Looking great Wills.

You mention a few times being on top of algae - what do you do?

Mmm not sure I’m ever fully on top of it just seems to be a constant juggle of which ones I can tolerate haha by biggest issues at the moment are little tufts of brush algae and brown algae. But usually you can reduce it by good maintenance, lowering your lighting, moving power head and filter outlet for flow or decreasing Co2 and ferts. Because I have such bad tap water I am finding that I need to keep light, Co2 and ferts high but then shade some plants until they get growing well. So once I start to win against one type of algae an other pops up.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

So bit of excitement today

I am in the process of getting an 8 gallon ADA 60F together and the first thing I have ordered was the light which is a Chihiros A Series. Some of you might have seen the Chihiros brand getting mentioned on some aquascaping channels and I found a site that you can buy direct from china on and today it arrived!

Really impressed with the build quality, it looks like a proper piece of kit and comes with a dimmer in the box which is really cool. One thing I read before buying it was that putting the screws in can be a bit tricky which I would agree with, if I hadnt have read that I'd have been annoyed.

As I dont have the new tank yet I popped it on this tank to see just how it did compare to the Twinstar SM that is on there usually and these are the results. Chihiros is on the left Twinstar on the right. Funny you can also see a days growth in the tank haha!

View attachment 119428

Now... I didnt expect this light to fully compete with the Twinstar as the Twinstar has double the power. The Chihiros was also only £20 delivered... the Twinstar was £250

View attachment 119429

This is the two next to each other the Chihiros is on the left, Twinstar on the right.

I wanted to share some different angles of the tank too. First one is more of a top down 3/4 which is how I usually see the tank and the second is from the right side which is quite visable in the room so I've taken care to scape it from this side too. You can see the Helanthium and the Ranunculus which are not too visable in the front on shots.

View attachment 119430View attachment 119431

Wills

IMO, I like the light one on the right better. Looks good!

 

[AilyNC]

Mmm not sure I’m ever fully on top of it just seems to be a constant juggle of which ones I can tolerate haha by biggest issues at the moment are little tufts of brush algae and brown algae. But usually you can reduce it by good maintenance, lowering your lighting, moving power head and filter outlet for flow or decreasing Co2 and ferts. Because I have such bad tap water I am finding that I need to keep light, Co2 and ferts high but then shade some plants until they get growing well. So once I start to win against one type of algae an other pops up.

Cool, thanks. I don't mind light brown on leaves but I'm getting the tuffs too that looks like beard maybe. I love looking at the fish but should have less light.

 

[Wills]

Cool, thanks. I don't mind light brown on leaves but I'm getting the tuffs too that looks like beard maybe. I love looking at the fish but should have less light.

It's a tricky one to get rid of - the guides I've read about say its to do with the Co2 in the water (even in non-injected tanks) and that it likes high flow. Main thing it advises is to manually remove it, I've been doing it with a kitchen knife but I want to get an aquascaping pick. I know ADA do them which is mega expensive but I have seen them from other brands for reasonable prices, when I keep on top of it and take most of it out it does die off so I think being thorough each session it would eventually eradicate it.

Wills