Smaller type of surface skimmer

This blog has been stopped updating since 3 years ago, also no more any further upgrade of the tank since then. Day by days some of the plants already decease and algae growing fast on all over the glass wall, luckily the filter system is working good until now, the water in the tank still clear.

Last week suddenly in the mood of wanted to remove the ugly algae and redo a bit, it tooks me almost a day to clean, trim, and replace a new smaller type Taiwan brand surface skimmer. But after a week of using it, I can tell this small space saving product is as good as the huge surface skimmer, highly recommended to hobbiest.

I will try to update more in this blog to keep track of the so called new tank. Added in a new planet name Helanthium Bolivianum, hope fully is suits to keep in such a small tank like this.

After a month - updated photo

After a month of my hard work on maintain the tank, now it's looking better and with healthy plants, the Red Cherry cleaned up a lot of algae on the stone and leaves. Biweekly change water also helping a lot on reduce the algae from propagates, trimmed a lot infected leaves and minor rescape done in the past month.

Later will consider add in some fishes, but afraid of the young shrimps can't survive long. So far, I am happy with only shrimps & planted tank. Need to keep the shrimps healthy, I think with the algae inside is insufficient for them, will buy some shrimp's food to feed them soon.

New plant added!

Just bought some 'Pelia' & tied on the drift woods, at the moment still looks good, but later when growing up, totally I have no idea how will it be, and because this is the first time I am keeping some 'Pelia' in the tank. I need to do more research on this plant to maintain it in top condition, and do hope that I have more time to do so.

Upgraded CO2 diffuser

The old CO2 diffuser really looks huge inside the tank, just upgraded to an external type + DIY bubble counter(will upgrade that soon).

So far the rubber seal at the bottom cover of new CO2 diffuser no water leakage and the mixing process is great with some fine bubble produces.

Overall, quite like the new CO2 diffuser, my tank is clean look without the old huge CO2 diffuser. Since the ugly diffuser gone, now the digital thermometer is an issue to me, looks big in front. Another item need to take away soon.

20" Tank Journal ( Step III )

i) First of all draw out the water with a pipe to lower water level easy for scape.

ii) Started to transplant from the old tank, it took hours for me to select & trim all algae on the leaves.

iii) Spray on some water to wet the leaves.

iv) After put all the balance of plants.....it is still looks too simple.

v) Temporary solution, DIY CO2, had something in mind to upgrade to an external CO2 tank with a solenoid.

vi) After all stuffs ready, bottle+sugar+lukewarm water+......where the heck of my yeast? Searched all areas in the fridge....couldn't find it, I was really fell from the sky. End up have to drive to the nearest store to buy a new pack of instant dry yeast. Wasted an hour, the water became cold, and need to redo for the lukewarm water....later +yeast+soda..........ready to produce CO2.

vii) The previous bottles had threw away, need to make a new one.

poke a hole in the cap & slot in the pipe connector, then seal the small gap with glue gun.

viii) Turn on the other side of the cap and seal with the glue gun for double protection.

ix) When the glue cold down, its really hold tight.

x) Now is the part between cap & plastic bottle.

xi) Try to flatten the glue in between the cap & plastic bottle with the hot gun.

Tips: How to check the leakage? It is simple, put your ear near to the bottle, blow in some air through the pipe, if can't hear the whizzing sound, means no leakage.

xii) Went out for awhile to get some rocks & a background plant, really hate the LFS...no name tag on the plant. Another nightmare on separating the infected hairgrass & the healthy one.

checked water chemistry, all okies. Wait for another day to let water get crystal clear. And more plants to add in later.

Update: 3' planted tank

After few days of rescaping, I trimmed off some unwanted leaves and did water change. As the forum friends suggested to me to remove some white stones, it makes the tank look too unnatural. And added new plants at the rear of the tank's left side.

Are you ready for the International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest 2008?

Here is the link to the main webpage:
http://www.adana.co.jp/_e_contest/

Online Submission:
http://www.adana.co.jp/formmail/form_data/contest2008/_formhtml/form.html

Hard Copy Submission:
http://www.adana.co.jp/_e_contest/image/08-contest-E2.pdf

If you are ready, please submit before 31 May 2008.......Good Luck!!

Layout - Island Style

Well, this layout has been keeping for several months, the plants growing and algae also grow together with it. Now my tank keeping few type of shrimps, 'Red Cherry' happy with the environments and making their next generation. I planned to rescape it, and afraid of disturbing the 'Red Cherry', and temporary no ideas what should I do for next.

Some history of my 33" planted tank

These photos are my early stage 2006-2007 setup of the planted tank, without any experience in the beginning, know nothing about plants, and the worst is the aquascape skill really like a crap. Keeping a healthy planted aquarium and a good biological system isn't that easy and need to spend lots of efford & time to take care of it. Here is a place that I am sharing my experience and the stuff that I am using. May not be a good method, but it can be an idea or a study case that success to growth the plants. During setup the new aquarium, the bacteria in the filter system have not fully colonized and the water body is loaded with nutrients from withering leaves. It is best to plant densely from he start to prevent algae growth. Never start with a sparse tank as you only asking for trouble.
Of course it would be best to start with all your favorite plans provided you have the available quantity to begin with. If it is of budgetary concern, you can always start off with a combination of your intended plants along with cheaper, faster growing ones as starter plants. The strategy is to have your aquascape element arranged in accordance with your intended layout. Plant only those plants you intended for your design and leave the rest of the cheap starters plant in their plastic pots. Arrange them sparingly in the aquarium to maintain the tank's equilibrium. When the planted plants begin to acclimatize and produce vigorous growth, gradually remove the pots one at a time every 2 weeks. This way, you can maintain the balance and still have the ones you prefer. Different types of aquascape call for different strategies in cultivation of aquatic plants. For instance, if you plan to use Cryptocoryne as the focus of your layout, most of the leaves will melt away as it tries to acclimatize to its new enviroment, lending it a desloate look to the aquarium until new buds start to develop again. In this case, you will have to consider the beauty of the aquarium as well as faster growing starter stem plants that require stronger lighting. After a period of time, the stem plants growth will begin to show a decline, which is relative to the decrease in lighting intensity and other factors such as acidity and water hardness. Under such conditions, it would then be ideal and practical to introduce Cryptocoryne since they do better in mature tanks

top: the last design/layout of year 2007
bottom: new design/layout of year 2008