Dave`s Juwel Lido Journal.

[George Farmer]

Sounds good matey!

I'm a great believer in "eliminating the existence" as ADA put it re. equipment.

Glassware does look cool, but personally I prefer nothing at all if I can get away with it, especially for photography.

CO2 mist is actually better than CO2 via a reactor BTW. It's to do with microbubbles. Tom Barr has run experiments and CO2 mist "wins" hands down.

Good luck with the aquascaping.

 

[Dave Spencer]

Probably a stupid question George, but do you have any guesstimate as to how more efficient my Spio is (advertised at 98%) over the JBL vario? I haven`t had to adjust the BPS yet.

 

[George Farmer]

I couldn't say.

Not sure how they get 98%, if we assume there's no circulation then a lot of bubbles would escape to the surface before dissolving.

With CO2 mist circulation is very imporant and is one reason I assume that ADA advocate high turnover rates, so their lily pipes can move the water and CO2 microbubbles around well.

With other diffusion methods i.e. spiral, ladder, reactor then circulation is less of an issue as the water has the CO2 dissolved.

 

[Dave Spencer]

At long last I can start posting pictures again, so here is the latest phase of my jungley mess:

There seems to be a lot more room in there with the structured background and internal filter gone. I also took out the lump of bogwood this morning during a 50% water change (explains all the Nitrogen bubbles in the tank). Unfortunately, this leaves my Java Fern without a home, so I am in the process of preparing a smaller piece while it sits on top of the sand.

The left hand side of the tank is starting to take shape. The Hygrophilia just needs a bit of training, but it will look OK with my Rot. Rot. all around the base of it. The Rotala will almost certainly fill the centre section as well. This area looks really untidy since the bogwood has been taken out, but my Echinodorus tennellus is really starting to thrive now and will help to tidy it up.

The right hand side is full of Ludwigia Arcuata, which is also doing very well. I bought a few stems of Hydrocotyle Leococephala, but this is looking like a mistake. It is too dominant in this set up. Does anyone have a good idea on how to prune it back and keep it under control? I would hate to have to throw it away.

Less successful have been the Egeria Densa and the Marsilea. Both grew like mad, but the Egeria was a magnet for thread algae, and the Marsilea was starting its own BBA community.

Thanks for reading and any ideas for improvement or constructive criticism are very welcome.

EDIT: I forgot to mention my new filter. I did this morning`s water change and the water was crystal clear. I am well chuffed I got rid of the Juwel.

SECOND EDIT: I also forgot to mention that transferring the filter media from the Juwel to the AquaEl during the filter change had absolutely no effect on Ammonia levels. Most thanks are probably due to the biomass.

 

[RadaR]

Looks lovely. Very green!
Your fish must have a blast. Nice one.

 

[Dave Spencer]

Looks lovely. Very green!
Your fish must have a blast. Nice one.

Thanks for your comment.

The four Peppered Corys have the best time. They like the sand and swimming against the outlet to the new external filter.

 

[Themuleous]

Looks good, Dave nice to see some healthy lush plants.

Have you had any thoughts re the layout, etc?

Sam

 

[Dave Spencer]

Cheers, Sam.

Layout wise, my tank is fairly cube shaped, as in not particularly wide, but quite tall so I was thinking of small leafed plants. The Hygrophilia in the left hand corner was only put in as a stop gap algae buster, but it is really thriving and blushing pink, so I have decided it will stay.

Going around the base of the Hygrophilia I have Rotala Rotundifolia which is really starting to look good now that it has changed in to its submersed state of growth. It is my current favourite, so it will be filling in the middle ground as well, which is a real mess at the moment. I am also hoping to get my Java Fern in the picture somewhere, as a specimen plant.

To the right is my Ludwigia Arcuata which is also looking really nice and orange at the moment.

Foreground wise I experimented with Echinodorus Tennellus, Marsilea Crenata and mini Ammania. After some early die off the ET has really started to chuck out runners and is looking dominant. The Marsilea grew like mad too, spanning the length of the tank in less than one month, but it was best buddies with BBA so most of it has gone. The mini Ammania was a failure really, although there are a few stems clinging to the left hand corner of the tank. Shame really, because this plant would have looked really nice.

Do you now anything about cutting back Hydrocotyle Leucocephala? The plant is a favourite of mine, but is looking a little too much for my set up.

 

[Dave Spencer]

Well, my tank was officially seven weeks old yesterday.

I don`t want to tempt fate, but I think the thread algae has mostly gone, almost certainly due to my throwing away the Egeria. I thought it might migrate on to another type of plant, but this doesn`t appear to be the case (fingers crossed).

It is still early days, but the untidiness of the tank is really getting on my nerves, so this morning I decided to tidy things up a little and do a little pruning. I didn`t want to make the same mistake as before Christmas when I threw away a lot of cuttings and gave the various algaes I am collecting a stronger foot hold, so all the cuttings were shoe horned back in to the tank.

Here is a picture before my tinkering.

The Java Fern has now been attached to a smaller lump of bogwood. Fnal positioning has not yet been decided. Any advice on this would be welcome. I took off four plantlets and tied these to a tiny piece of bogwood which I will grow on a little before giving it to my friends son. I started a thread the other day about the discolouration on some of the leaf tips, but this is now disappearing and the plant is looking quite healthy.

I am a little disappointed with the Ludwigia Arcuata at the moment. It is still not ready for pruning yet, and I want to develop a large bush of it on the right hand side of the tank.

The Hydrocotyle Lecocephala (five stems) is currently hidden away behind the Hygrophilia Polysperma on the left hand side. i am still undecided what to do with it, but I do like the way it develops large, bell shaped O2 bubbles on its leaves.

Here is a picture after tinkering. Not the best time to take a photo I know, because the disturbed plants haven`t had the chance to bed in yet and start growing upright.

I hope you can see the Rotala Rotundifolia in the centre turning from its red state in to its green state.

Fish wise I have:

3 Otos.
4 Peppered Corydoras.
9 Cardnal Tetras.
6 Bumblebee Shrimp.
6 Amano Shrimp.

All criticisms and advice are welcome. Cheers.

Dave.

 

[Themuleous]

Still looking good, especially after the trim. Given time and a careful prune or two it looks like it'll be an excellent scape Either a U shape dutch or triangle style.

Sam

 

[JamieH]

look wonderful



well done

 

[Dave Spencer]

Thanks for the comments Sam and JamieH,

Here are some more pics.

Spent ages this afternoon trying to picture one of my Otos. The number of times they just sit around doing nothing for ages it should have been a doddle, but I have never seen them so active. This was all I could get:

Here is my Java Fern which is going to need positioning in accordance with the golden ratio. A bit of advice will be required from the experts here:

Here is my Hygrophilia Polysperma jungle:

Finally, an arty farty picture:

Hope you like them, I am still trying to get used to my camera. A decent macro lens could be on my next shopping list, although I was thinking of starting a nano. Perhaps I should concentrate on trying to get this tank right, first.

EDIT: I am hoping to get rid of the Juwel heater that is just dangling there as soon as possible.

 

[Fillet 'O' Fish]

Looking great Dave. Some really good pics there
You must be really pleased, especially with no algae present.

 

[George Farmer]

Looks sweet mate, great first attempt. Really well done.

So know you've done the "easy" bit, figured out how to grow plants well......

 

[RadaR]

Excellent. Nice accomplishment, you must be really proud and i bet it looks stunning in the room it's in.