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Seeking Sustainability


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#1 smirq

smirq
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  • Joined: 25-July 13
  • Location:Near Pet Magic on Albany Hwy
  • Location: Near Pet Magic on Albany Hwy

Posted 17 August 2013 - 11:01 PM

Almost a month has passed since I joined the forum with my original post - Sand and LEDs Experimental Tank. I'd like to continue documenting the journey, and the journal section seemed like the best place. First off, a big thanks to Waxy and Androo who I met via the classifieds and who have my thanks and recommendation. Top blokes to deal with. Also thanks to Darren Bennetts in Langford, who is the man to see for plants (http://aquaticplantsdirect.webs.com/).

 

Here's a status update of my tank over the last month (changes in blue) - 

 

Size - 120cm x 60cm x 60cm

Filter - Aquatopia Internal 600 + 2 x Eheim 2213 canister filters

Heating - 300w Jager (removed the additional 100w Heto). Temperature set to 25 degrees.

Lighting - Still a work in progress, added some more LEDs. Detail below.

Substrate - gravel recovered from 2 foot tank + 40kg Play Sand

Plants - Lots. Detail below.

Decoration - 3 x medium sized pieces of driftwood + 1 x med, 1 x lrg and 2 x sml cave peices of driftwood

Inhabitants - 4 x small bristlenose catfish, 4 x small Pakistani (Yoyo) Loaches, 1 (+3=4) x small Upside Down Catfish (Synodontis nigriventris), 8 x small Neon Tetra, 10 x fully grown Serpae Tetra, +4 x small silver sharks, +6 x juvenile L397s. 

 

Test Results (API Master Test Kit)

PH - 7.4 (I'd like to reduce this a bit)  7.2 (added 2 more Indian Almond Leaves)

Ammonia - 0 ppm

Nitrite - 0 ppm

Nitrate - between 0 and 5 ppm

KH - 7  dH (still new to this, but seems to be ok)

GH - 8 dH (still new to this, but seems to be ok)

 

Future Inhabitants

+3 Upside Down Catfish (some friends for the reclusive one man wolf pack) now a four cat wolfpack.

+16 Neon tetra +20 Hengel's Rasboras  (changed my mind)

+6 x Khuli Loaches (almost grabbed some jumbos from Aquotix but wanted to read up on them more first)

+10 x Panda Coryadoras

 

Lighting

Custom LED job - still tinkering with it. 1W super brights, mostly Cree. Up to around 6600 Lux, around 30% of my calculated target. Colour ratios is 5 x red, 1 x far red, 1 x green, 1 x Ultraviolet, 5 x Royal Blue, 4 x blue, 3 x cool white, 2 x warm white. (22 Total). Will add more as time goes on, next round will probably be another 8 white to balance out the redness. Still need to build a hood to house them in, and reconfigure the placement to get an even colour tone, and leave some darkness for the catfish. Added 2 x 24 hour timers to help maintain consistent photoperiod, and simulate dusk / dawn with red only for 45 mins in morning and night.

 

Plants

Honestly, Darren gave us so many cuttings I've got no idea what half of them are called. In the end it was hard to find a spare patch to plant in  :lol: Though before heading to Langford I did get some -

-Java Fern, which most got holes in the leaves (pH too high or bristlenose eating it?)

-Lilaeopsis brasiliensis (Brasilian micro sword)  for the foreground which is sending out runners already but is a bit stringy in my low light conditions.

-Aponogeton crispus (Wavy edged swordplant) for the background to help obscure the internal filter.

-Echinodorus Grisebachii (Amazon sword) for the mid ground

-Echinodorus Crimson Sail (Melon sword) for the mid ground

I'll try to identify the rest before the next journal entry.

 

Photos

 

perspectiveshotPrePlants.jpg

Perspective shot before going nuts with plants. Stoked with the new wood on the right.

 

sideWoodColourCompare.jpg

Side view of new wood under red and blue LED strings.

 

panorama1.jpg

Panorama. Colour balance still needs a bit of work...

 

wood1.jpg

Close up of new wood after stocking up on plants.

 

upside.jpg

A rare sighting of my right-way-up catfish.

 

I'm stalking my L397s like paparazzi, but so far the few snapshots I've managed are so hazy you could mistake it for bigfoot (I'll keep trying, I'm sure they exist). Thanks for reading  :) 

 

 



#2 smirq

smirq
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  • Joined: 25-July 13
  • Location:Near Pet Magic on Albany Hwy
  • Location: Near Pet Magic on Albany Hwy

Posted 06 September 2013 - 09:31 PM

Finally caught them posing  :D

397stare.jpg397Filter2.jpg397Wood.jpg397Log2.jpg

 

YoYo Loaches are getting friendly too.

2yo397.jpg

yo397s.jpg

 

Panda Cory gang chills down under

3cory.jpg

 

I'll try and get a decent photo of the aquascape this weekend after a water change. There's heaps of wood, and about 3 days after a water change the light dims too much to get a decent level of detail. I've got a few more Cree LEDs en route from Cutter Electronics (http://www.cutter.com.au/) which should be the final lot I need to finish my custom LED build. Bit of an ongoing hack job lol, but I'll post that up too for any DIYers out there to improve on.  :lol:



#3 Kleinz

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  • Location: Maylands

Posted 06 September 2013 - 09:46 PM

Heh. Do Cutter take ages with your orders? I'm starting to hate those guys... if only there was another place to buy them...

 

I see you have opted for more whites. Did away with the royal blue and reds? Looks nice in the above shots



#4 smirq

smirq
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  • Location:Near Pet Magic on Albany Hwy
  • Location: Near Pet Magic on Albany Hwy

Posted 06 September 2013 - 10:09 PM

Yeah first round from Cutter was "express" and took a week. Still cheaper than shipping from RapidLED tho, and the XTEs are nice and bright. I've still got some blues on the left of the tank at low mA, but removed the ones on the right because they were too bright and causing a halo at the surface in photos.

 I've got about 6 reds, 6 blues and 2 greens on the shelf which I might try and work a few back in once I've got enough cool white in play that the colors don't overpower sections. 



#5 Kleinz

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Posted 06 September 2013 - 10:19 PM

How did you find the plant growth with the blue and the red? is the red the deep red up round 660nm? Differences? Trying some now, but don't have that segregation.



#6 waxy

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  • Location:Perth WA
  • Location: Parkwood

Posted 06 September 2013 - 10:41 PM

Looking great. Nice pics

#7 smirq

smirq
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  • Location:Near Pet Magic on Albany Hwy
  • Location: Near Pet Magic on Albany Hwy

Posted 06 September 2013 - 10:53 PM

Cheers Waxy, I think the zucchini definately helped them overcome their shyness.

 

The LED spectrums I had was 5 red, 1 deep red, 6 royal blue and 2 blue. Difficult to gauge plant growth as it hasn't been long enough really and I've modified the placement and ratio a few times, but the plants have been growing steadily in a fairly dim environment without added CO2, and a few API root tabs. If anything, some plants seem to be a bit stringy, like they are reaching for the light. I've switched to two photoperiods a day so I can keep the lights on a bit more when I'm at home, and allow a dark period of CO2 respiration when I'm at work. A timer that activates at 5:15am (doubling as an alarm clock to kick in my circadian rhythm in the morning), then switches off at 9:30am, and then activates again between 4:30pm and 10:45pm.



#8 Kleinz

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  • Location: Maylands

Posted 06 September 2013 - 10:56 PM

Blue will make them reach more



#9 smirq

smirq
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  • Location:Near Pet Magic on Albany Hwy
  • Location: Near Pet Magic on Albany Hwy

Posted 07 September 2013 - 11:00 AM

Updated aquascape. Still some colour balance issues I'll resolve when the last batch of Cree XTE20-CWR5 LEDs arrive.

 

aquascape.jpg






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