Craynerds Rekord70 Planted Tank

[George Farmer]

Cycling with plants is a common method in high-tech setups. Obviously growth has to be rapid enough to uptake NH3/4 and NO2 but with sufficient lighting, CO2, nutrients and plant bio-mass then water quality won't be an issue.

 

[Dt524]

Craynerd sorry about the shrimp. But, i would like to know what substrate are you using?? I like it since you took the picture of a the snail.

 

[craynerd]

I have a 1 1/2 inch layer of tetra aquatic compost, then 1-2 inch of BD aquatic sand (play sand but from an aquatic retailer, its the same as what they sell at B&Q but it looks more natural imo has like flakes of colour which looked like broken shells....not vivid, just very subtle, hence i payed the extra) and then at one end of the tank is the compost but with gravel.

My original idea was that it was representing a the lake moving into the shallow shore line...hence the gravel patches.

 

[kennygater]

looking good chris, your doing really well, better than me when i first started, i think i will get some of them long nose shrimp tommorow i have got a bit of algae problem on my bogwood. i couldnt get any ricca today at my local lfs, so when you get a load come loose is there any chance of me getting some of you? i will give you some money for it or might be able to send you some cuttings of something i have, its up to you. let me know.
cheers

ps. have you put the java moss in your tank or didnt you bother with it? just wondering thats all

 

[craynerd]

Hey dood. Yea some of the java moss is in the tank, look at my pic, follow the central bogwood up to the left of the tank and at the point were it contact the other piece of bogwood, it is sitting there trapped between the two!! It looks cool..thanks again for that

Of course you can have some riccia. I have just cut a load out and replanted a ball of it. However how much do you want, i may have a little going spare next weekend but not much. Alternatively, if you 100% want some one of my LFS has some in stock, i could pick some up for you if you like but its £4.50, i know my other LFS has it for £3.50 normally but i don`t think they got any in! If you pay for it i`ll get you some, otherwise you can gladly have some for free when it bursts!
Jimboo said it`ll burst in like 3 months....i doubt it will last another month (total of 1 1/2) it growls like mad...

Chris

EDIT: may be £3.50...i`ll have to check again but they 100% had 2 / 3 boxes left today!

 

[kennygater]

i only need a little bit because i want to try it first just to see what it looks like, just let me know when you get some spare and i will be very greatfull.
cheers chris

 

[Gnatfish]

Hey

Nice tank!! I'm glad you made a journal becasue I'm learning loads from it

I can see that your actually quite good at taking photos. I presume you do it without flash, but when i take pictures of my tank without flash, my fish are all blurrs. Whats your secret?

Gnatfish

 

[craynerd]

Gnatfish...i`m only learning with the camera and haven`t an amazing camera. Its a Casio Exilim 3.2mega pix. Its a casio which is wierd BUT it has a pentax lens, which is why i got it.

I do not at all consider my whole tank shots to be good! Infact i really need help and would appreciate comments /tips of anyone on whole tanks. I just can`t seem to get the background dark enough yet maintain vivid leaves. Still i do my best!

With regards to the shrimp shots. I use macro mode and sit next to my tank for about 2 hours no joke!
For every one i post there is 30-60 in the bin, seriously!

ALSO the biggest tip i had was: wait until it dark and pitch black outside. Turn your flash off and take pics using just tank light. That way it stops reflection int he glass.

Hope thats helps...obviously as i said, i`m seeking help myself and would appreciate any advice or comments to imporve my pictures as well as my tank!

Chris

 

[kennygater]

Hey

Nice tank!! I'm glad you made a journal becasue I'm learning loads from it

I can see that your actually quite good at taking photos. I presume you do it without flash, but when i take pictures of my tank without flash, my fish are all blurrs. Whats your secret?

Gnatfish

hi try this link for taking great photos it helped me a lot
members tanks and fish photos

 

[craynerd]

Well i have had a big rescape! Moved all the stem plants from the corner near the filter and left it running for a week! Everything is booming again, the vallis is doing much better and the plants in the foreground are flurishing! No algea either, which is good because thats what i was most worried about with me moving all the stem plants! Obviously been keeping up with CO2 and also fertz!

I`m going to go pressurised in the next few weeks, since i will soon have my bottle!

Hope you like the new pictures. I didnt know which to choose so i have just posted the lot!

lol ...any comments as always welcome!

Hopefully it looks less jungle like now and less overgrown. I`m trying to slowly incorperate more structure into the tank design and layout.
I also had a go a replanting a small amount of glosso, hopefully this time correctly. Basically i noticed that some of my glosso was growing the correct way so i uprooted it, cut it and replanted. A small carpet is forming now!

comments welcome as always!! There is still lots to be done!

Chris

 

[Bloo]

Your plants look so amazingly healthy and totally algae free - just how do you do that ?

Is that Riccia just behind the glosso on the left hand side (by the wood) ?

Also out of interest, what are your water stats ?

 

[Luke_e]

Looking better every time you post pics Cray, crackin job..
I can see an MTS in the riccia in the first pic hehe, lets hope he leaves it alone.
Its a shame the light reflects off the sand when you take pics as its bright in the first 3 pics so its hard to make out the glosso.
How do you plant you're glosso? By hand or tweesers? I cant wait to get my set up going..
What substrate do you have under the sand? EDIT: Just read it in the first post.

 

[craynerd]

I can see an MTS in the riccia in the first pic hehe, lets hope he leaves it alone.
Its a shame the light reflects off the sand when you take pics as its bright in the first 3 pics so its hard to make out the glosso.
How do you plant you're glosso? By hand or tweesers? I cant wait to get my set up going..

lol, the MTS gets stuck in the riccia since its a plastic base and can`t get to the sand!!

Read about page 3-4 of this journal and jimboo gives a great explanation of planting glosso!! basically, i planted it wrong first time. It growing much better now but unfortunately i haven`t got enough just yet to completely cover the area i want, but its growing! Tweezers are a must, it would be impossible without!!

Your plants look so amazingly healthy and totally algae free - just how do you do that ?

lol, luck i think. I heavily planted, good light, OK CO2 (it highly fluctuates!! these yeast systems!) and not skimpy on the fertz! I have a little algea on the wood but hardly ever get it on the plants! If i do, i chop the leaf off! The only plant that use to get lots of algea on it and i nearly took out was the anubias, but i moved it under the bogwood in the shade and the algea went immediately!

Water stats are:

pH 6.2 which is low but its always been that and the fish and shrimp are fine!
Ammonia : 0
Nitrite : 0 ish
Nitrate : 10ppm (<-- cuz i add it in my fert otherwise zero!)
Phosphate is through the roof from my tap water: even after a week on EI it is still at max scale of my test kit 5ppm but thats just free fert and means i dont have to add KPO4
KH - 25ppm
GH - 50ppm
CO2 - 20/25ppm i cant seem to get it any higher with this yeast system!


I weekly water change 50% and all seems to be going ok!!

Thanks for the interest!

Chris

 

[bennett]

i was the first person to reply to your thread *sob sob* and since i've just sat back and watched.

this is awesome man, i'm very jealous of how everything has come together for you!

 

[Qays]

how do you get your nitrates at 0 usually? Is it because you have a planted tank and they take the nitrates in?