Office Space

[seangee]

Wow! A 6 year old pleco? That’s impressive.

America is doomed

 

[AilyNC]

How's your lid now? Do you've to lift it fully off for water changes? And how did you set up your light? You mentioned pairing the tank - was this to provide a background?

I'm still swinging between a low long tank like this (or the 36x15x12 or 48x15x12) or Juwel Rio 125L. I think the Rio would be more awkward for me to do water changes as I'm pretty petite and the counter is waist high. But everything is made & ready.

 

[seangee]

How's your lid now? Do you've to lift it fully off for water changes? And how did you set up your light? You mentioned pairing the tank - was this to provide a background?

I'm still swinging between a low long tank like this (or the 36x15x12 or 48x15x12) or Juwel Rio 125L. I think the Rio would be more awkward for me to do water changes as I'm pretty petite and the counter is waist high. But everything is made & ready.

Yes the lid is just balanced on top. I have some of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07WMPL4M9/?tag= around the edge which allows enough space for air to get in and the cables to get out. The light just sits on top https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07V8JD19P/?tag= - see post #107

Its still warm enough down here that the lid is slid back a bit which means I don't need to move it for feeding. There is a reinforcement edge inside the tank which safeguards against fish jumping out, although I do usually close it up once the lights go out. When it does cool down I may think about cutting a feeding hole and possibly sticking some handles onto it. Although TBH sliding it back and forward is easy enough and I just do that with the light in place. I do remove the lid completely for water changes.

 

[seangee]

The big picture today. The new heteranthera zosterifolia (there is more behind the central piece of wood) is still looking quite straggly, give it time...
The melted echinodorus all have good solid (and healthy) root structures. They will be back.

The skimmer definitely has to go this weekend

It's come a long way in 10 weeks

 

[seangee]

Who's the prettiest of the all?

 

[AilyNC]

Oh wow! That's some change the tank is gorgeous. What's the fish above?

 

[seangee]

Oh wow! That's some change the tank is gorgeous. What's the fish above?

Thanks. The sparkly ones are sparkling gourami (trichopsis pumila).

 

[AilyNC]

What a gorgeous fish! Your tank is just so beautiful. I think the height issue is swinging back towards Clearseal. I'd definitely like a shallow long tank.

 

[mbsqw1d]

What a gorgeous fish! Your tank is just so beautiful. I think the height issue is swinging back towards Clearseal. I'd definitely like a shallow long tank.

I was about to say something about length and girth but thought better of it

 

[AilyNC]

 

[seangee]

Minor update. Removed the ugly skimmer and replaced it with another (electric) sponge filter. I was struggling between balancing mechanical filtration and meeting the needs of fish that prefer calm water. Sponge filters aren't the most effective at mechanical filtration so I either had it on min which meant a lot of organics left in the tank, or turned it right up and made life unpleasant for the fish. Biological filtration has never been an issue here. I don't have a major problem with the organics as I do an 80% weekly change and I know that most of it is still from the newish plants. Thankfully almost all have now stopped melting so that should resolve itself. Added a spray bar to each of the filters and aimed them at the back wall. So now I have both filters cranked up to max to maximise the amount of water (and muck) going into the sponges but have negligible flow in the tank and happy fish.

The jury is still out on the helanthium tenellum , it is growing and spreading, but some of it is still dying off
Another advantage of the new flow arrangement is that the water sprite is all pushed to the font of the tank rather than one end, and its no longer pushed under the water to get tangled up in the hygrophila

 

[seangee]

Oh and several of the sparklers have coloured up quite dramatically over the last week - so best stick to low flow to avoid breaking bubble nests

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Oh and several of the sparklers have coloured up quite dramatically over the last week - so best stick low flow to avoid breaking bubble nests

You might have baby sparklers soon! Are you planning to save and rear any fry? Or see how the parents do at raising them in the tank?

 

[AilyNC]

Oh my goodness it's gorgeous

 

[seangee]

Feeding time means I can get all the species into a single shot