George's Journal

[Dubby]

I also have LOADS of debris. It's so annoying. I just 'hoovered' it up on saturday and by the evening it was back again. I don't think my corys help! They just keep digging into the sand and their fins stir up the debris!! They seem to love it though.

In my experience debris means dead matter... I had this same problem and I did some hard gardening, thinning out the old growth. Thats put a stop to the debris. Otherwise my filters used to get clogged every week with this brown powdery stuff and every time one of my fish went near the bottom of the tank it would stir up loads of powdery muck

 

[Dubby]

The trouble is that the lights will block the view.

What about leaning the hood vertically against either the front or back of tank?

 

[George Farmer]

The vallis is really doing well now - I'm removing runners regularly. I like the way it bends over to the right. The ivy is also growing well. The great thing with these plants is that they are so easy to maintain - no pruning and replanting like before with all my stem plants. I just simply remove any unwanted runners from the vallis and give it the odd "hair cut". With the ivy I just pinch off any ugly parts of the plant.

The hairgrass is slowly but surely spreading and the lily is still alive but still very slow growing.

 

[houndour]

I think I may end up getting rid of my stem plants. I'm getting babies soon (not a real baby - rabbits on Sunday that I am rehoming) and you are so right, the stemmed plants take so much time to look after. My fave plants are the swords, the lilys and the foreground plants. I may buy some more plants of the ones I like and get rid of the stems to fill my tank out again.

You tank is still looking amazing though. The grass looks like it's doing very well. Can we see your lily in the pic? I can't see it.

 

[jimbooo]

looking great gf225, that hairgrass is spreading quickly. i guess you've gone back to 3 wpg then.

my hairgrass still hasn't arrived and getting the hump now, apparently going to be here next thursday, fingers crossed. the JBL Tubes have arived now though and first impressions are quite good.

i now have 4 tubes
-4000K - Full Spectrum
-5500K
-6000K - Full Spectrum
-7500K

what order would you fit them into the hood (lowest at front or back or a mixture??) i'm not sure what the best way would be bearing in mind i'll have a cart load of hairgrass lining the front soon and it's a rio 180 so reasonably deep.

 

[Dubby]

i now have 4 tubes
-4000K - Full Spectrum
-5500K
-6000K - Full Spectrum
-7500K

what order would you fit them into the hood (lowest at front or back or a mixture??) i'm not sure what the best way would be bearing in mind i'll have a cart load of hairgrass lining the front soon and it's a rio 180 so reasonably deep.

Jimbooo:

I assume they are all of similar intensity (lux/lumens) in which case it all depends on your colour preference. I like my tanks looking yellowish/greenish so lower K up front.

If they have different intensities I feel you should have highest intensity up front where it needs to penetrate deepest. Ofcourse it also depends on the light requirements of the plants you have there, I suppose.

 

[jimbooo]

ahh forgot about lumens, thanks dubby i'll read the boxes when i get home as i hadn't thought of that.

 

[George Farmer]

A higher K at the front would create an illusion of greater depth and would suit your hairgrass I imagine - that said my front tube is 3000K and things are fine. I would experiment to find what looks best for you.

 

[jimbooo]

thanks gf225, i'll have a play around then.

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

looking better and better

 

[George Farmer]

A nice shot of my Cardinals shoaling fairly tightly. Something that is normally quite rare in a tank size of less than 48".



Here's a close-up of my Hydrocotyle leucocaphala (Brazilian Water Ivy) pearling. I love this plant - so easy to maintain yet fast-growing and great at absorbing algae fertilising nutrients. Note the similarity to my Avatar (although my skills and camera aren't that good!)



The slowest growing Lily in the world! At least it's growing though. I'm not sure but I think that Nymphaea sp. need a rest period, this may explain its slow growth at present. The actual bulb is almost 18 months old.



Pearling Vallisneria spiralis. I'm removing about 5 runners a week. I wasn't too sure about this plant at first as it prefers harder water with a high carbonate content. My water is only 3 dKH but it seems fine. My gravel does have a little lime in so I assume that helps too, I keep this in check with my 30% weekly water changes using RO water buffered a little with tap.



There's no sign of algae even though I'm back upto 3 WPG. Happy days.

 

[RYO]

Looking good m8. Im trying to do a similar job (for the same reasom lol , baby on way)
My biggest bugbear is my java moss, it gets tangled iwith a fine thread like algae which needs constant grooming,plus its taken over 1 side of my tank lol.
keep the good work up m8 and keep us posted

 

[George Farmer]

Looking good m8. Im trying to do a similar job (for the same reasom lol , baby on way)
My biggest bugbear is my java moss, it gets tangled iwith a fine thread like algae which needs constant grooming,plus its taken over 1 side of my tank lol.
keep the good work up m8 and keep us posted

I had a similar problem with my moss. I ripped 80% of the Java moss out and it seems to have stopped any algae return - and the moss is growing back nicely.

Good luck with your new bundle of wonder. I've just about adapted to 4 hours of sleep a night!!

 

[jimboliana]

gf225,

Tank is looking very nice, plants growing well, what size is it?

 

[George Farmer]

Thanks. It's a Juwel Rio 125. 32"L x 20"H x 14"W. 125 litre - 34 US Gallon - 29 UK Gallon