8g Fluval Flora Journal

[Zimmanski]

So nothin to amazing to report, the HC I planted is looking really good and starting to spread out so I'm pretty happy about that. Also got some goodies in the mail today. 20ft of clear co2 tubing, 2 glass check valves and two glass drop checkers. Check valves and drop checkers straight from china! Haha This makes me a lot more confident to order my lily pipes from overseas.

 

[Billbug68]

I've had good luck with everything BUT lily pipes from china... I'm actually still waiting for them... I got so fed up with it I splurged for the Cal Aqua ones and got them in just a few days.

 

[Zimmanski]

Well my friends, today is a good day for an update. The Amazonia ammonia leaching battle has finally been won! Finally after having the darkest green I have ever got on the ammonia test, it is now a perfect yellow!! Parameters now are 0-0-15ish(can't tell between 10 and 20). I'm pretty excited. I'll be adding back a couple shrimp and the Cory's today and I'll be watching parameters like a hawk haha. I cleaned up the sand path as much as I could, only a couple soil pebbles in it but I'm not messing with it again until the plants fill in. A stand, canister, the ordering of lily pipes and several other goodies will be happening in two weeks so this will be my last update until then, but here's some pictures to tide us over. Whatcha think?

 

[Rodeo one]

It s just brilliant, Zimmanski! Consider a frosted glass background ?

 

[Zimmanski]

It s just brilliant, Zimmanski! Consider a frosted glass background ?

It has a frosted glass background haha, you can just really see the cords in the back because the room lights are off and I havent tied them up and put them out of the way yet because I'll be moving the tank in two weeks anyway. Ohhh, and I made a neat picture like all the other cool kids haha

 

[Rodeo one]

Oops!....

 

[Zimmanski]

Time for an update?! I think so! Everything has been great since the ammonia leaching fiasco was resolved, lost two corys which I will replace and a couple shrimp but now everything is stable. The DHG is hanging on my a thin thread, not sure what to do about it but I may replace it with some glosso that I'm playing with in an emersed project when its grown in. The DBT is doing great! I'm not sure you can tell from the pictures but in person its worlds apart from where it was, its filling in wonderfully and staying low to the ground, maybe next month I'll be trimming a full grown carpet. I had a bit of an algae bloom, a little green spot and diatoms on the glass, I didn't clean the glass before the picture so ignore it for now, I'm trying to fix it by adjusting my lighting and co2 instead of constantly cleaning it off. I also added a couple nerite snails to help out. One of the snails actually had hung on to a heater that I took out of a tank and I didn't notice, FOR A WEEK! I plopped him into the flora and he immediately woke up and started cruising around the tank, so incredible, gonna start calling him super-snail haha

 

[Billbug68]

Looks good man! The HC looks nice and healthy! I kind of pat mine down some if it starts growing up too much. Although mine is so compact now that I get dead spots underneath. Keep up the good work zim, looking forward to this filling in. It won't be long now!

 

[MMantelli]

Lookin good

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Lookin' good! So how do you like the Eheim vs. a Fluval 06 can?

 

[Zimmanski]

Lookin' good! So how do you like the Eheim vs. a Fluval 06 can?

I like it a lot actually, however I did buy a 206 for my 36 AFTER the eheim, shows you which I like better haha. The no bypass of the eheim is a great idea and probably filters better in theory, but I like the separate baskets of the 06s and I like the fluval aqua stop better, but I think if I had a stand and placed the eheim aquastops in a different location I would like it more. I'll be buying fluval from now on, its just a good sturdy easy filter and I love 'em. I'm not upset with my eheim purchase at all, its a grass is always greener on the other side kind of thing, you'll never know if it actually is greener if you never jump that fence, ya know?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Yeah good philosophy on trying new things! I'm all about that! I really like Fluval too but "almost" bought an Eheim... I mean at times, it's almost neck-and-neck... the TPT people just love Eheim (most of them at least). But I totally agree with the Fluval... I just love the design better (even if there's some bypass).

 

[Zimmanski]

I know, people with eheims swear by them, but really now having them side by side with fluval 06 I know for sure which I like better. The eheims media is just kinda weird to me, its like 20% mech, 10% chem(which I don't use), and 70% bio. Having that much bio filtration is good and all, but what do I do when I need to clean the filter?? Fluval is so much easier since I can just remove the baskets and clean what I want instead of having to dump out a large amount of little beads to get to the filter rings.

Also, just ordered some lily pipes, had to go with some Asian ones. GLA NEVER has what I want in stock on payday.... me and GLA need to get on the same page at some point haha. Last time I wanted their inline atomizer and the day I got paid was the day they went out of stock haha

 

[Zimmanski]

Update!
Thank you china! I finally got my lily pipes in the mail, and they are absolutely perfect. I thought the intake was going to be way to long but it sits about a 1/2" above the substrate and I love it, it has such tiny slots for the strainer and that mixed with the outflow actually allows me to have my 2213 fully open!

Please excuse the mess in the pictures, this tank seems to be getting its butt kicked by diatoms, I'm really hoping they'll take care of themselves soon, I hate looking at a dirty tank. Aside from that the DBT is growing perfectly and the new DHG I got in from Peabody's Paradise is looking better than any others I've tried for sure. This tank is super easy and I love the way its coming together, just need to be a little more patient with it I think.

On a side note, I think I'm going to be in the market for a new light soon, not that this light isn't getting the job done, but I can't decide between the fugeray and fugeray-r. The FR has moonlights which I want, but the FR-R is probably what my plants want. Comparing the looks of the two I probably like the R better only because then the cord would be in the back instead of the side, though I guess I could mount the fugeray front to back. Ugh.. Anyone have opinions?

 

[Billbug68]

Lookin good Zim! Glad the lily pipes worked out! Now you just need an in-line heater! as far as the fugeray r goes, I was fairly disappointed in the par numbers, only 25 at 12 inches. Here's a link to all par charts for the fugeray, ray 2, and fugeray r so you can compare.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=189944

 

[Zimmanski]

Lookin good Zim! Glad the lily pipes worked out! Now you just need an in-line heater! as far as the fugeray r goes, I was fairly disappointed in the par numbers, only 25 at 12 inches. Here's a link to all par charts for the fugeray, ray 2, and fugeray r so you can compare. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=189944

Ive actually have been looking at those charts a lot lately haha, the fugeray and r had the same numbers so as far a par goes its even ground. The difference would be that the r would be a couple inches higher than the fugeray but in a better color spectrum for plants, so that's where I'm getting tripped up in the decision making process. I would like to get a little higher par out of a new light, but that would be hard to find in the same price range I think. Either of the finnex has to be better than the fluval par rating though, and they'd be lower to the tank, right?

 

[Billbug68]

I'm not sure what the par rating is for the fluval light. My only concern with the par values for the fugeray and fugeray r is, whether or not it'll grow the HC well. With the lower light, it might grow up, rather than out. I'd say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it... BUT, if you have the extra cash to spend, it might be worth testing out and letting us all know how well that light really works...

 

[Zimmanski]

I'm not sure what the par rating is for the fluval light. My only concern with the par values for the fugeray and fugeray r is, whether or not it'll grow the HC well. With the lower light, it might grow up, rather than out. I'd say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it... BUT, if you have the extra cash to spend, it might be worth testing out and letting us all know how well that light really works...

I think $50 is easy enough for a test run on one of them, and I'd definitely let you guys know which is better. I could easily and for the same price as the finnex get a second fluval light, but the real major reason I want to replace it is that when you turn it on it takes a couple seconds to do anything and then flickers on and off for a few more seconds, the tank looks like there's a lightning storm in it if I don't cover the light with my hand at first, really freaks my Pygmy corys out. This is what I need finnex to do, make a ray 2 in 12" size and add 3-5 red LEDs, and add a few blue LEDs on a separate switch, and have a capability to dim the whites for a less intense evening light, sooo get on it finnex. Haha

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

How about that new Fluval Aqualife & Plant performance LED? There's a square one that has dedicated red, blue, and other bandwidth LEDs. Should look good on a cube like yours.

Or what about a full spectrum fixture buildmyLED.com?

There's a new finnex Fugeray plant LED being produced with red led's. Just don't know the sizes available and release date. It has moonlights too.

 

[MMantelli]

What about a daylight spiral CFL bulb? Being an open top 8g would that be enough light?