My attempt at Aquascaping

[Thever]

I was surprised I was able to nurse them up myself. I've had a few questions regarding that mesh. I got mine from Joann Fabrics- they had some round disks and also 13x22 sheets- I think I got 2 sheets for about 4-5 bucks.

I then cut it do the desired shape, cut a duplicate- spread the riccia so it was just covering the mesh, put the top on and stapled it closed. On retrospect - I would advise against staples, just use small zipties to close it up. Staples begin to rust. The whole rig will float so you need to weigh it down - hence the strategic rocks.

One thing I am struggling with is hair algae and it gets in the riccia and causes a mess. I'm still looking for the perfect tool to help. I currently use a comb/pick - which works ok- kind of like a combine.

 

[jrp1588]

nice, I kind of suspected it was some sort of thing used for fabrics, seems liek I saw my mom fiddling with some sometime

 

[czcz]

Nice. The Downoi/P. helferi is going to look pimp in there.

You can score 12" stainless angled tweezers from the hardware secrion of OSH and some gardening stores for six or seven bucks. Another good tool you'll be glad to have are stainless steel scissors, and you can score nice grooming ones (smaller blade area) at Target/Walmart/etc for about the same cost.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Got some recent pics man?

 

[Jnam]

Direct dosing of the algea with excell also helps for me. My HC gets hair algae sometime really bad. I use one of the infant syringes to directly squirt it in a 5x concentration on to the algae covered areas.

 

[Thever]

Before lights on today, I tested things out to see how things progressed- I tested KH - 268 ppm and ph - was 7.4, so according to the calculator....drumroll please..18ppm co2! Fantastic! I'll check it right before lights off to see how much is taken up

Unfortunately I think my nitrate test solution is jacked - I put some diluted kno3 into the test tube, w/ some aquarium water and its as yellow as mountain dew.

And nobody(5 petco and petsmart) has those Hagen mini filters or Hydor rigs either- kind of sad

 

[Drewbie]

I love the looks of this stuff

How do you get it to stick to the wire mesh thing?

Off to search for posts on this stuff

 

[Thever]

This is what it looks like now w/ helferi and some other additions - I'll quit messin around with things and see how things go. Seems my big snail has gone MIA, I saw him last night, but not since- If I dont see him by tomm morn, may have to look under some mesh mats.

 

[Jnam]

wierd about the filters. My local petsmartco has at least 2 of them... Any small submersible pump can be retrofitted though.

 

[runninwoof]

last night i went to the lfs to get a small internal filter but they only had the tetra 10i filter, which has intake from the bottom and then overflows over the top. ill have to look for the elite 1s

 

[Jnam]

You can order them from the website to the store. or ask the manager to order them for you.

 

[Thever]

Which one does that? I'm not seeing that as an option at the checkout.

 

[Jnam]

Sorry you have to ask the store manager to order them for you. Its Zammies that lets me order site to store...

 

[Thever]

All I can say is wow! What a difference adding co2 makes. I've never had pearling like this before-shoot...even the stuff thats stuck to my intake is pearlin! And tomm, I do a PWC and start adding ferts-better put a latch on the cover! I highly recommend this to anyone, and its cheap so far- Just had to buy some yeast for $2 that will last a long time.

The next step is to make sure the co2 doesnt get out of control- so I'll measure tonight, and tomm morning before and after pwc. I'm giddy this is working

Petco wont order in the hagen, so I'll check another place-kind of irks me that I have would have to pay the same amount in shipping as the product cost.

 

[czcz]

I love the division with those rocks. What stem are you growing back left?

 

[Thever]

Thanks, are you referring to the stem on the filter intake, if so, I believe it is Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig' . I rescued it and planted it in front of the big rock.

Found this slick little site to help ID plants

Home page - Aquarium and Pond Plants of the World, Edition 2.0

 

[Thever]

So... I sit here looking at the tank and feel pretty good about it....part of me wants something growing on the side of the big rock facing the helferi...not sure what would fit though...any suggestions?

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Maybe something like tall moneywort or tall hairgrass?

 

[elwaine]

Using an AquaClear HOB filter to diffuse CO2

Very nice aquarium, Thever!

As for diffusing CO2 into the water with an HOB filter...

Scratch that internal filter comment just re read the post and you have an HOB.

I have an AquaClear HOB filter and use it quite successfully to diffuse CO2. It is more efficient - and quieter - than regular air stones or glass ceramic tulip diffusers. (I must be having a senior moment 'cause I swear I posted this yesterday, but cannot find my post anywhere... so I'll repeat it.) Here's what I did:

Just in back of the inverted "J" shaped intake tube (where the tube seats into the impeller opening), all AquaClear filters have a small hole drilled in the plate that separates the top and bottom intake compartments. Water in the bottom compartment is churned quite nicely and then most of it passes through the filter section on the right... up through the filter materials... and then into the tank.

The small hole mentioned above accommodates a green tube connector (sold at Petsmart) so that bottom of the connector passes through the hole and the fat central band sits above the hole, preventing further passage of the device. My CO2 tubing is connected to the green tube connecter and is held securely in place by an air tube suction cup stuck on the back-inside of the filter. I also drilled a hole in the top lid of the filter box to accommodate plastic air tubing. That way the lid fits perfectly on top of the filter box. (Don't exert pressure drilling the lid - and go slow - or you'll crack the plastic lid.)

By injecting CO2 into the bottom intake compartment, most of the CO2 passes up through the filter materials where it is dissolved. If you inject CO2 through the intake tube itself, you will not have as efficient a system. In AquaClear filters, a good portion of water (and CO2) coming into the filter via the intake tube short circuits directly into the filter out flow - by-passing the filter materials - and you will lose CO2 if you inject it that way.

When researching this on the web, a few folks were concerned about air locks and burning out motors due to air locks. There's no way an air lock forms when injecting CO2 as I described.

Anyway, the system is neat (nothing in tank), efficient, and quiet (at least at the rate of CO2 that I've been using for my 3 gallon Pico (60 drops/min to keep my CO2 at 30 ppm with kH of 140).

 

[Thever]

Thanks Larry,

I saw that hole in my filter(aquaclear 20) and thought about it but never pursued it, I just stuffed my hose in there and will let it ride for a bit and see how it works. Thanks for the info!

Any other plants that root to rock? I'd love to get something to grow at the top right corner of the big rock and go over the side and down. I believe I am fighting nature as most plants reach for the light.