George's Nano Journal

[ChrisC]

Hi George,
just wondering, have you had any problems with the soil floating? What is your opinion on this substrate mixture? Effective?

Cheers

No issues at all. You wouldn't know it was there, even when I pull up the hairgrass.

It's hard to say how effective the substrate is as I run a nutrient-rich water column. Let's just say the hairgrass grows well and looks healthy.

I imagine I'd get even faster growth with Aqua Soil, but to be honest I wouldn't want much faster growth.

Thanks George. That's interesting what you said about not wanting much faster growth rates. As I am planning my hi-tech nano (30l) cube, I do not want ridiculously high levels of plant growth, and want it to be able to withstand the odd weekend away (or even a 3 week holiday under someone elses supervision). I may just be asking too much...

Chris

 

[George Farmer]

These photos were taken shortly after lights on, the Dwarf Riccia has a few O2 bubbles left from yesterday. In a few hours it will look very different. I will post another photo then, so you can see the difference. I've never seen pearling like it, and I've seen a few riccia photos now.

The riccia is growing at an extraordinary rate and I anticipate it full form a solid looking carpet by the middle of next week. I have ordered some angled pruning scissors from AE so keep the riccia carpet tidy.

Here's a working shot, all equipment is running, no backlighting or "special" photographing techniques.


My new overtank suspended lighting. The new 24w Daylight Plus PC T5 tubes is attached to the reflector using thin lockwire that is twisted and suspended from the kitchen cabinet using screw-in-hooks. It doesn't get much simpler.


The nerite snail is an excellent algae eater, I haven't cleaned the glass in weeks and the rocks haven't been touched.


I'm hoping to stock my fish next week and get PFK's photographer, Neil Hepworth, over for a photo shoot. Before adding fish I will be installing a CO2 dropper test to ensure CO2 is around 30ppm. It is much higher at the moment. I will also tidy up the hairgrass, thin it out a little and have it a little shorter towards the front to help create a sense of depth.

 

[Themuleous]

George, should the riccia pearl pretty much instantly from lights on ? Mine takes all day to get a good covering of bubbles. Nice clean rocks! Will invest in one of those snails ASAP! Do they eat thread algae?

Sam

 

[George Farmer]

George, should the riccia pearl pretty much instantly from lights on ? Mine takes all day to get a good covering of bubbles. Nice clean rocks! Will invest in one of those snails ASAP! Do they eat thread algae?

Sam

I don't think any plants will pearl instantly. The bubbles you can see were left over from yesterday. Pearling time depends on lots of factors, I guess you have lower lighting and CO2 than I for a start, so your riccia may take longer for these reasons alone.

I think nerites will eat most algae. I've not had thread algae (yet!) so can't say for sure.

 

[Themuleous]

Right well anything is worth a try! See what you mean about the bubbles, the riccia is still quite new so could be adjusting to the different light too I guess. Do you know the CO2 level in the tank, just out of interest? Hope its nice an accurate, given the recent info from Tom!!

BTW nice custom hanging hood, that's what I like to see, bit of ingenuity, although I guess you are an engineer so should have expected something innovative!

Sam

EDIT - and I see the hairgrass is filling out!

 

[lljdma06]

The riccia looks lovely, George, and that has got to be some of the best hairgrass I've seen in a tank in a very long time. Stunning, truely stunning. A nano to truely aspire to. I certainly hope you're competition bound with this one. I'd be disappointed otherwise. There's a few journals here where the posters should really be entering some scaping competitions. You and Moody come to mind, but there are others too.

Is your tank in a kitchen? I just noticed the tiled backsplash today. I hope the missus and you don't cook much, especially now that the tank is open top. Just never liked tanks in kitchens, as I've said before. So much can go wrong with chemicals and cooking fumes, and you've worked so especially hard on such a lovely aquascape.

llj

 

[George Farmer]

Thanks llj.

The tank is in the kitchen and yes, we cook a fair bit. However, the cooker has a decent extractor hood and the food prep surfaces are on the other side of the kitchen. Not forgetting my massive regular water changes, of course. It's a calculated risk. Thanks for the concern though.

 

[dasmall1]

Very nice riccia! It looks like it will form a better carpet than the HC did. Does the hairgrass seem like it's becoming a little too straight in the back? It's starting to look just like a "backdrop" as it did when you first planted. Otherwise, you're headed in the right direction!

 

[Graeme Edwards]

Its looking really nice George, top stuff!

It will look even better when the riccia fills out and covers the ADA riccia stone.
Im liking the DIY luminier, simple.

I think some carfull planting of the hair grass around your new rocks an in between the riccia stones will give you more of a sence of age in your design.

I like it

 

[George Farmer]

Thanks guys, points noted.

Taken after 4 hours of lighting. Pearling is an understatment.


For aquascaping purposes I prefer the riccia without the intense pearling, the contrast is too intense against the hairgrass. If I do enter this into any contest this is something to bear in mind i.e. take the photo just after lighting. Some of you may note that Amano's recent works have dwarf riccia in its non-pearling stage. I now understand why.

Next will be setting up the CO2 drop checker, adjusting CO2 to 30ppm, then a day or so later, adding some fish. The filter won't need cycling in the traditional "fishless cycling" sense, plant growth will deal with any NH3/4, NO2 as well as my big water changes.

 

[Squid]

very nice... you are definitely a soggy greenfingered person...

 

[Dave Spencer]

Good old locking wire eh! George,

I wouldn`t be without the stuff holding my lamps in their reflectors. I don`t trust the clips on their own. Better anchor those stones down too, or with that amount of pearling the whole shooting match will be floating to the top.

 

[George Farmer]

Good old locking wire eh!

Indeed Dave. Work is very handy for all sorts of bits and bobs, my previous luminaire had ejection seat slippers fitted to keep it off the tank, scrap slippers of course!

 

[voo]

Your tank certainly is coming along nicely. By using the riccia stones do you think it's going to be possible to achieve a 100% carpet along the front, so that the stones or sand won't show?

In my opinion, i think the hairgrass has grown a little too much and out of control, looks a bit too thick. Is there much dying off underneath, in the bottom layers?

Lastly, a word of warning really. I had a nerite snail in my tank. After a while it started laying these white eggs all over, which didn't hatch and didn't get eaten. This has ruined my bogwood as they're a pain to get off. A scrubbing brush isn't enough to remove them, I'd have to get a knife and scrape off each of the hundreds of eggs individually. Keep an eye on yours as if it does start to lay eggs, it could ruin your stones.

BTW are the riccia stones all the same shapes?

 

[OohFeeshy]

The tank is looking great- once the riccia fills out a bit and hides the slate it will look even better.
Have you seen all the fantastic Aquaone tanks out now? My LFS has put them all out for sale (probably in time for Xmas)- the shapes and sizes are excellent and the prices are really good (I paid £8 for my ~2g one with rounded front corners- a 12x8x8 normally costs twice that). I particularly like the Panorama ones.
How's the HOB going? Since I'm planning stocking it at levels that would make most people gasp (probably a school of microrasboras or similar and some tiny bottomdwellers) I'm going to be sticking a huge one on it.