Fred's 33gallon Experience

[RadaR]

Hi all.
This is my Juwel 125 as it stands now. I'm very pleased with the layout and plan not to change it but only let it grow. All the fish will be removed except the Ancistrus sp. I shall then like to add 20 or so Cardinal Tetras and them some more undecided fish.

Tank Stats

Filtration- Juwel internal filter and Supafish aqua pro 1 external.

Lighting- 63W for 2 hours, 99W for 6 hours, 63W for 2 hours. All tubes with reflectors.

Lighting layout from front to back is:
25W SunGlo
18W Arcadia Freshwater
18W Interpet Daylight Plus
20W SunGlo
18W Arcadia Freshwater

CO2- Pressurized system with 2Kg fire extinguisher and Ceramic Diffuser

Substrate- ADA Aqua Soil Malaya

Ferts- Tropica Plant Nutrition, 5ml 3x week and DIY NPK 3x week. Nitrate 15ppm, Phosphate 1.5ppm, Potassium 20ppm. 50% water change once per week.

Fish

Keyhole Cichlid
4 Harlequin Rasbora
2 Black Widow
Ancistrus sp.

Plants

Cryptocoryne parva
Cryptocoryne undulata
Cryptocoryne walkeri (lutea)
Cryptocoryne wendtii ''green''
Echinodorus 'Red Flame'
Echinodorus bleheri
Microsorum pteropus
Vesicularia dubyana
Anubias barteri var. nana 'Golden'
Cardamine lyrata
Vallisneria sp.

Tank with 63W(25W SunGlo, 20W SunGlo and 18W Arcadia Freshwater)

Tank with 99W

Java moss (Vesicularia dubyana)

Anubias barteri var. nana 'Golden'

Crypts

I will post water stats tomorrow.
Thanks for looking

 

[severum boy]

Jeez dude I see what you mean about the amazon sword; huge! So which is the red flame then?
Its a great looking tank, gets better each time you change it. How much have you spent on it now then?


You need more oddballs.

 

[mlawson]

Very nice tank, jungley with luscious plant growth, I like it!

 

[stang1]

Great looking tank, your plants look so healthy.

 

[Liam]

Looks really lovely, cardinals would look great and love it in that tank

 

[lljdma06]

Looks really lovely, cardinals would look great and love it in that tank

I agree. It is a beautiful tank. I love the lushness but is there a reason for so much light? Most of the species would be fine with just 63W, if my calculations of your tank size are right. It's about 33g US, right? What you're doing looks great, I was just wondering?

llj

 

[RadaR]

Jeez dude I see what you mean about the amazon sword; huge! So which is the red flame then?
Its a great looking tank, gets better each time you change it. How much have you spent on it now then?


You need more oddballs.

Thanks mate. In the first picture the Harlequins are swimming past one of it's leaves. I don't want to know how much I've spent on it, it would be hard to calculate it up to.

Looks really lovely, cardinals would look great and love it in that tank

I agree. It is a beautiful tank. I love the lushness but is there a reason for so much light? Most of the species would be fine with just 63W, if my calculations of your tank size are right. It's about 33g US, right? What you're doing looks great, I was just wondering?

llj

Great question llj. I intended this tank to be a high light tank (yes, the high light disease) but as it came round to picking the plants I actually liked the more slow growing plants. Stems just don't really appeal to me. The 63W is kind of the main lighting but the extra lights making it 99W is just a boost. Im actually going to reduce the time that 99W is on.


Thankyou all for the comments, effort payed off

 

[RadaR]

Water stats

Temperature- 25degreesC.
pH- 6.4
KH- 8
GH- 16
Ammonia & Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 15ppm (what I dosed yesturday and the test kit seems to be right)
Phosphate- 1.5ppm (don't have a test kit for this but dosed yesturday)
Potassium- 20ppm (don't have a test kit for this but dosed yesturday)

 

[Dave Spencer]

Real nice tank Fred. I am a stem plant freak myself, but it`s tanks like this that make me want a Crypt, Anubias etc. set up.

Like Llj said, just be a bit wary of the light levels. Even during the low light period you are around 2WPG and there are not many fast growers.

That`s a particularly nice looking M pteropus you have. Did you buy it that size or has it been grown on by you?

Dave.

 

[RadaR]

Thanks for the kind words Dave.
I'll be on my toes for the worst with the light levels. Thankfully the Red Flame shelthers some areas of the tank.
The M pteropus I bought from the LFS I work at. We sell them already tied to wood, it's grown a bit since I bought it.

 

[Castellop123]

looks good! You have to love Echinodorus sp...

 

[RadaR]

Man, this ADA Aqua Soil Malaya is messy stuff, aspecially when you have a plec! .
Today I removed the fern at the back and front, pruned them and put them back. The amount of clay dust and waste that was sturred up clouded the tank! It stuck to some of the plants too and I had to wave it off. Thank heavens for the my external filter containing lots of filter floss.
I still hoover out alot each week but I hope the crypts and swords will break it down aswell. For future tanks I may not use ADA Soil.

 

[lljdma06]

I still hoover out alot each week but I hope the crypts and swords will break it down aswell. For future tanks I may not use ADA Soil.

It is for that reason, that I'll probably never use a soil substrate. I'm sure it's great stuff and grows plants wonderfully, but I really hate it when water is clouded. Plecs are messy fish, I've never understood their charm. I keep otos, which is a relative, same family, but much, much smaller.

I don't have to grow the most amazing plants. I'm pretty satisfied with my inert substrate, much less messy and with the laterite and rootabs, it grows things to my satisfaction.

External filters are great aren't they. I've got two HOB, I love them.

llj

 

[RadaR]

Ah good, I'm not alone then.
Just had a spot of bother, my Bristlenose plec got caught in a piece of hairnet holding the java moss down (bottom, front, left of tank). Just cut her loose. She was very cooperative though. Hope she's ok (she's gone and hid now).

 

[RadaR]