Caliban's AquaOpti 85L

[TMaier]

Originally Posted by Fresh2o

Generally speaking: Don't boil your spray bar (some us us have not forgotten )...

OMG now there is a thread I have missed reading. Lol

[Caliban07]

Originally Posted by Fresh2o

If you do this, start with a few holes, observe flow, and continue (or stop). You might be able to plug some of the holes with silicone in case you get drill happy.
Generally speaking: Don't boil your spray bar (some us us have not forgotten )...

Thanks for the heads up. I'm only going to be opening the holes up slightly if I finds it's necessary. I'm going to be regulating the flow rate using the valve on the Canister. Such a huge canister in a small pretty cabinet.

I don't think I've heard this story. Feel free.

[Bert2oo1]

Originally Posted by Caliban07

Thanks for the heads up. I'm only going to be opening the holes up slightly if I finds it's necessary. I'm going to be regulating the flow rate using the valve on the Canister. Such a huge canister in a small pretty cabinet.

I don't think I've heard this story. Feel free.

Another thing to consider is can u fit the co2 and the filter in the cabinet? I know I only just fit both in there.

Is the fire extinguisher going to happen on this tank? Or sticking to paintballs?
My 2.6kg cylinder is still going strong after 3 months

[Caliban07]

Originally Posted by Bert2oo1

Another thing to consider is can u fit the co2 and the filter in the cabinet? I know I only just fit both in there.

Is the fire extinguisher going to happen on this tank? Or sticking to paintballs?
My 2.6kg cylinder is still going strong after 3 months

Where you been Brook? Had the FE a while now.





As you can see they fit quite well. Just set the E1501 up and it's not too bad at all. No drilling, just turned the outlet valve a tad.

Hardware in the tank though will look better with 1 heater. Need to shorten the intake tube a touch somehow and get my new light then co2 switch on and start scaping.

My ludwigia glandulosa were holding on well in for vision 180 with a splash of easycarbo here and there but 3 days with nothing in the opti has seen them shed half of their bottom leaves.

Wimps....

[Bert2oo1]

Haha nice! The setup is coming along nicely! Scapings the best part. I just love new plants

[Caliban07]

What in tarnation!! Evaporation you suck.

[Caliban07]

Originally Posted by Bert2oo1

Haha nice! The setup is coming along nicely! Scapings the best part. I just love new plants

Cheers bud. If my light doesn't show up soon I'm cracking skulls.

[Bert2oo1]

Originally Posted by Caliban07

Cheers bud. If my light doesn't show up soon I'm cracking skulls.

I has been a while! Should have gone express post

[Caliban07]

Light fixture came the other day. It's thinner than I thought which makes me wonder about spread.

The colours are a bit more washed out too but I was told about that by others.

Overall for £45 I'm really pleased.

I've just been running the tank with massive surface agitation and 5-6 hours of light. No co2 or ferts. The plants seem to have adapted pretty well. No browning or signs of algae. Even some new growth.

I went shopping for some rock and some plants and decided to get Monte Carlo for the foreground. It's still in its pots because I've been too busy to scape this weekend. I also bought an aponageton just because I've always wanted one.

No other plants yet.





I'm looking to shorten my intake pipe. Should I just cut it? Any DIY tips here? Thanks.

[Bert2oo1]

Looking good! Yea I'd just cut it. Intake pipes are cheap if u ever have to replace them

[Caliban07]

Ok so I cut the intake pipe which is much better and fixed a problem with my co2 (the inline was filling up with water) turns out I had left one of the o rings out last time I cleaned it.

Planted the plants and the rock and wood. At this point I may end up replacing the wood with a large rock or covering it with moss as eventually this will house predominantly shrimp and perhaps a betta.

Plants will change over time but here's where I'm at at the moment.







Whacked the filter on full too so very good turnover and the co2 spread it perfect.

Let's see how this progresses.

[Brookster123]

Looks good to me!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

[Caliban07]

Originally Posted by Brookster123

Looks good to me!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

Cheers Brook!

[Bert2oo1]

All that trouble with sinking the old wood and now it's gone! Haha
Looks really nice. That Carlo carpet will look great all grown in!

Personally I hate moss now, it ends up in everything!

Becareful with the high flow u might end up digging up the Carlo while its settling in.

All in all it looks great

[Caliban07]

Originally Posted by Bert2oo1

All that trouble with sinking the old wood and now it's gone! Haha
Looks really nice. That Carlo carpet will look great all grown in!

Personally I hate moss now, it ends up in everything!

Becareful with the high flow u might end up digging up the Carlo while its settling in.

All in all it looks great

Cheers Bert. The Carlo carpet is pretty well in there. I planted it like a noob yesterday and today it was getting on my nerves because I knew I had been lazy so I replanted it. It was planted like this.



I know that wood haha. I like this one better. I have a plan. If I can find a root piece on it own I'm going to cover it with moss and glue the hole root to this piece so it looks like a tree.

I'm surprised how well the Carlo has took to the eco complete. Was expecting a frustrating few hours but took me less than one.

[Bert2oo1]

Haha very lazy first plant. Spreading it will be so much more rewarding over time. I found the Eco frustrating to plant Cuba into. I'm guessing Carlo would be similar rooted?

[Caliban07]

Originally Posted by Bert2oo1

Haha very lazy first plant. Spreading it will be so much more rewarding over time. I found the Eco frustrating to plant Cuba into. I'm guessing Carlo would be similar rooted?

The individual stems were probably about 1.5cm long so using tweezers I pushed all the stem under just leaving the top couple of leaves exposed to the light the other leaves along the stem were using to anchor it in. I drove them down pretty deep using the long stems for the deeper substrate and the shorter ones for nearer the glass. I threw some away as I was getting a bit bored but they were mainly straggly bits.

[TMaier]

I don't know if I could ever take a pair of tweezers to a plant knowing full well what I did to my brows...

[Caliban07]

Originally Posted by TMaier

I don't know if I could ever take a pair of tweezers to a plant knowing full well what I did to my brows...

Your brows will grow back provided you have enough co2 and distrib.....Dang autopilot with the co2 thing!

I say tweezers. They are more like forceps. They are old sterile operating tools that were headed for the bin. My whole fishy toolbox is really.

[Caliban07]

https://youtu.be/g54_E2RoLro

Did a little video before. A ludwigia uprooted and started floating around towards the end of the walking dead. I just left it......