Caliban's AquaOpti 85L

[Bert2oo1]

Cable ties. [emoji23] surely that wood is waterlogged by now lol looking good now. I like the heavier planted look

 

[Caliban07]

Cable ties. [emoji23] surely that wood is waterlogged by now lol looking good now. I like the heavier planted look

Lol the cable tie is the least of my concern right now. Cheers.

 

[Caliban07]

Oh gotcha I see now. Looks good. Idk...you and I talked about over thinking (ocd) lol. Every tank and rescape youve done has looked the same.....awesome. Perfect probably not but so what. I know youve research and studied butt off which is invaluable. Light capture and leaves....im with that a hundred percent. I see it everyday.

Looks awesome bro

Cheers flchamp. Too kind.

 

[Caliban07]

Looks awesome as usual. You have an impeccable reputation to live up to and have nailed it again.

Thanks Tmaier been a bit of a slog. Should look really well in a few weeks/months time when the plants grow in.

Things will move, disappear and appear over that time I'm sure.

 

[Autumnsky]

Thanks Tmaier been a bit of a slog. Should look really well in a few weeks/months time when the plants grow in.

Things will move, disappear and appear over that time I'm sure.

That is just how it goes. Fixing and fine tuning, experimenting and learning!

 

[Caliban07]

Ordered a protein skimmer. Surface film is doing my nut in.

This week I've flooded the living room (cracked bucket) and melted my heater plungers (left heater plugged in whilst draining)

Still tank is growing in well

 

[Caliban07]

Stupid magifloat meant to take another without that in the way [emoji5]

 

[flchamp89]

Ok...that looks better than it ever has imo

 

[TMaier]

Everything looks great! And that magnifloat....[emoji106]

 

[KingKoopa512]

Ordered a protein skimmer. Surface film is doing my nut in.

This week I've flooded the living room (cracked bucket) and melted my heater plungers (left heater plugged in whilst draining)

Still tank is growing in well

View attachment 296652

Nice lol I hear you on that just got a azoo skimmer 250 your tank is looking nice just set mine up last weekend

 

[Caliban07]

Ok...that looks better than it ever has imo

Thanks champ [emoji846]

 

[Caliban07]

Everything looks great! And that magnifloat....[emoji106]

Cheers TM. [emoji846]

 

[Caliban07]

Nice lol I hear you on that just got a azoo skimmer 250 your tank is looking nice just set mine up last weekend

Nice one KK. I got the ehiem skim 350. I missed your new tank. I'll bob over later on. [emoji106]

 

[Caliban07]

Interesting thing is the TDS. Originally I was adding less Fertilisers and my TDS was up in to the 300+ mark. Now I'm adding more ferts than ever and it's only just broke the 200ppm mark. Plants are definitely starting to soak up those nutrients now. Still haven't added any micros.

I wonder if glut adds to the TDS because I was also dosing easy carbo before whereas I'm not anymore [emoji848]

Still I'm happy with the TDS value bearing in mind a 50% water change is coming soon.

 

[Autumnsky]

The tank is beautiful! Nice to hear that things seem to be headed in a positive direction.

 

[Caliban07]

The tank is beautiful! Nice to hear that things seem to be headed in a positive direction.

Thanks Autumn. I'm thinking of removing the bacopa and ledwigia repens and trying some Pogostemon stellatus one more time. The bacopa has breached the surface! The ludwigia at the moment though is a nice centrepiece. When I turned the light up to max it went a deep red but I was seeing algae develop and the red actually looked stressful to the plant as it was so close to the light.

 

[flchamp89]

Interesting thing is the TDS. Originally I was adding less Fertilisers and my TDS was up in to the 300+ mark. Now I'm adding more ferts than ever and it's only just broke the 200ppm mark. Plants are definitely starting to soak up those nutrients now. Still haven't added any micros. F

I wonder if glut adds to the TDS because I was also dosing easy carbo before whereas I'm not anymore [emoji848]

Still I'm happy with the TDS value bearing in mind a 50% water change is coming soon.

Ok this is weird. Im trying figure this out too. Mine is going down as well while im still adding more.

 

[Fresh2o]

I agree, swap out the stem plants you mentioned with the P. stellatus. You will get fuller backdrop.

 

[Caliban07]

Ok this is weird. Im trying figure this out too. Mine is going down as well while im still adding more.

I think it's a case of overfeeding new plants that are still in transitional stage. My plants were unhealthy for whatever reason that was. Jury still out in micros. I just think that the plants are healthy and they are building mass and reducing TDS.

Either that or the CEC is removing nutrients from solution. Would that decrease water column TDS?

 

[Caliban07]

I agree, swap out the stem plants you mentioned with the P. stellatus. You will get fuller backdrop.

I know this is the right answer but I do love ludwiga repens. Mainly because it doesn't give me any grief.

Whilst on the subject of L.Repens

Lighting level 5



Lighting level 7



It was also prolific in the 46 hitting the surface and producing tiny offshoots at the nodes.



Love that picture.

Thanks for the feedback.