Sam's Nano Journal

[Themuleous]

Right thought that as I had updated the 20g I might as well show you guys the mess that's is my nano! (again!) Thread algae doesn't come into it!

Before

After - fortunately its relatively easy to get out with a careful water change.

You can see the size of the HC, really not how it should look under 48w of light, think I can already see a change since swapping the bulbs.

Am liking the dwarf riccia, its exactly the look I was going for. will replace it all with D.riccia when I redo the tank. Normal riccia is just to big for this size tank.

I'll strip the tank down in a few weeks, same layout as I think its really got potential, just new plants. Will see what happens to the current HC with the new lighting tubes.

All ottos and shrimp have gone and have only seen 5 corys, but hope they are all still in there. Mostly likely due to the deodorant issue, But they have some cool red and tiger shrimp in the oxford MA so will get some of those instead of amano's, they might even breed really like the pattering on tigers.

Sam

 

[Dave Spencer]

You make me feel good about my thread algae

I reckon you are right about keeping the hardscape as well.

 

[Themuleous]

Haha glad its of use to someone! There is far to much to learn in this hobby! I've had this tank running for nearly a year and its still not right!

Sam

 

[lljdma06]

You make me feel good about my thread algae

That's mean Dave, don't make Sam feel bad!

That's pretty green there, Sam. I think you scared away the shrimp and otos. I only see one stem of egeria floating in there, there should be more, but that's just me being extremely picky. Otherwise, the scape for this tank is really creative and very pretty. I hope the HC pulls through, it already looks a bit better. If you do strip, I'd keep the hardscape and then plant with Egeria and hornwort first until things are stable then gradually add the plants you want. Much slower, but I honestly think the outcome will be superior.

You've gotta treat this as a learning experience.

llj

 

[Themuleous]

Thanks Llj, I removed most of the hornwort and egeria that was floating in there as it was easier than trying to clean it all! There was more, and be rest assured, Ill have tons of the stuff in there when I do rescape.

Will def give this layout another try, just with new plants. Don't think I got the right hand rock quite right anyway so will give me an opportunity to change that as well. Make it more dramatically vertical.

And yeh, keep on learning!

Sam

 

[Themuleous]

Time for a small update, as you can see, its not working and this is after a clean! I feel a rescape coming on

As you can see the HC has done OK under the cheap triphosphor tubes but still not what it should be

Gonna stop being a cheap-skate and get some decent D&D tubes when I do the rescape I just dont want to waste yet another 2quids worth of HC! Might even get some more rocks. Gonna replace the riccia with Marsilea hirsuta has the riccia wasn't the right shape and think the Marsilea hirsuta would give a better 'tree' appearance.

Sam

 

[~T~]

Whoah thats crazy.

Dont suppose you fancy sending me some of that HC, I will pay.

 

[Themuleous]

You dont want any of it trust me! Its in a shocking state and it full of thread algae. But you can have it if you want!

Sam

 

[zig]

Flamin heck Sam better evacuate its a disaster area!!

Sam sometimes its just better to just rip it apart and start again, I wonder though if the problems had been well under way before the new triphosphar tubes came into play.

Don't know what to say, still haven't started up my small tank yet although will be setting it up in the next week or so, just ordered some stuff from Aqua essentials, still reckon the triphospar tubes should be ok, I was hoping to find Philips 950 5300k tubes (probably the best of the cheapies although impossible to find) failing that was going to use 24w Philips triphosphar 6500k tubes, cheapies again, still cant find a supplier though that will post to here, will buy the Osram tubes off you if you like, thats if your deffo going to get rid of them.

 

[~T~]

You dont want any of it trust me! Its in a shocking state and it full of thread algae. But you can have it if you want!

Sam

If your just gonna chuck it then yeh I would take it off your hands mate.

 

[Themuleous]

Flamin heck Sam better evacuate its a disaster area!!

Sam sometimes its just better to just rip it apart and start again, I wonder though if the problems had been well under way before the new triphosphar tubes came into play.

Don't know what to say, still haven't started up my small tank yet although will be setting it up in the next week or so, just ordered some stuff from Aqua essentials, still reckon the triphospar tubes should be ok, I was hoping to find Philips 950 5300k tubes (probably the best of the cheapies although impossible to find) failing that was going to use 24w Philips triphosphar 6500k tubes, cheapies again, still cant find a supplier though that will post to here, will buy the Osram tubes off you if you like, thats if your deffo going to get rid of them.

Yeh think it'll be easier to start again rather than battle my way through this current 'disaster area' and you may well be right about the fate of the HC having been sealed before I added the triphosphor tubes, I also might not have left it long enough, but to be honest I just want to rule it out completely, hence getting the D&D tubes. It's one less thing to worry about, its already a complicated little tank. I'm also desperate to prove to myself the EI works! And if I stick with these cheapo tubes and it goes peter tong again I'll forever be wondering if I should have just got 'proper' plant tubes. As I said, I don't want to waste a load more money on new plants only to kill them again. It's also only £20 for new tubes as I only run two, but getting a third to get free postage and also so I have a spare.

You can have these tubes if you want them, they'll only get recycled.

It must be the paint fumes, but...I kinda like how the algae looks Rip out the HC and riccia, leave the algae alone!

ps. Is it really hair algae? It looks like a variant of cladophora on the last picture. AFAIK hair algae doesn't form fluffy balls like that.

Oh no there was plenty of hair algae in there! What you can see is BBA, there is plenty of that as well! It's just no as invasive as the thread as it stays small.

If your just gonna chuck it then yeh I would take it off your hands mate.

PM me

Thanks people

Sam

 

[George Farmer]

Sam, you should consider changing your username to algae-head!

 

[Themuleous]

Haha you cheeky sod!

 

[Dave Spencer]

I have just had a scan through this thread again and there have been some very promising scapes on the go. If anything, at least it is keeping you on your toes imagination wise.

Have you got any plants in mind for this scape? Maybe some you haven`t tried before?

Cheers, Dave.

 

[Themuleous]

Yeh its been fun to watch the scapes develop over the last year or so, I've learn loads and certainly I think my current scape is my best so far. Just need to work on getting it 'algae free'

I'm going to keep the current scape when I get the new plants, just strip it down for a good clean, might try repositioning/replacing the far right rock, its not vertical enough to get a real 'cliff face' effect, but will see what happens.

My only change plant wise (there are only three species in there at the moment, if you dont count the algae ) will be to have Marsilea hirsuta in the centre rather than riccia. The riccia got a bit big and the rounded leaf shape of the Marsilea I think will give the illusion of tree tops better. But will be sticking with the HC. Moody suggested adding a few other species when I first set this scape up, but not sure. Will work on getting it balanced first and then think about having other species in there. To many species will ruin the effect I think. The only other plant will be some egeria and/or hornwort during the early stages for algae control. But that wont be in there for pics, etc.

I did think about having some Plagionium but think its to slow growing for such a small tank, perhaps one to introduce once the tank is established again.

Sam