64 Litre "Forest Edge" Tank - Week 68 Update (Final)

This will be the final update for the tank... its been 68 weeks since startup back in August 2013. I plan to re-scape it very soon.

I didn't have time to do any plant pruning or maintenance since the previous update (truthfully, i was just being lazy again), so the plants had absolute freedom to grow and take over the tank.

Here is its latest look...

Cyperus Helferi grew crazy as expected, quickly covering the water surface and arching over to the other side of the tank... i measured the longest leaves and they were more than 110+ cm in length!

Blyxa Japonica also went nuts and ballooned into huge bushes, the cluster on the right has grown tall enough to almost the reach the water surface by a few cm.

Eleocharis sp. 'Mini' continued growing even more densely but still retained its compact and short growth height, interestingly even the areas under shade grew well too. I've still not had to trim it ever since tank startup (which was more than a year ago). Its indeed one of the lowest maintenance carpet plants i've ever kept so far.

It was enjoyable keeping and maintaining this tank for the past year... but i'm expecting less free time due to my increased workload in the near future, so the tank will be re-scaped to a much lower maintenance setup. It'll still be running the same equipment setup (ie. Co2 injection), but instead with slower growing plants and a simpler layout. :)

Glass Lily Pipe Cleaning - By Cherry Shrimps + Otocinclus

No matter how algae free we keep our tanks... over time the pristine glass lily pipes will eventually be covered in algae. Algae eaters like shrimps, otocinclus and snails aren't able to access and clean it properly as the filter is constantly in operation.

I gradually discovered that whenever i switch off my canister filters for a few minutes while feeding the fishes, the cherry shrimps and otocinclus always try to rush into the glass lily outflow pipe and munch on the algae accumulated there.

So i ended up practicing a maintenance routine which involves simply switching off the canister filter for a longer duration of 15-20 minutes once a week (not too long to avoid starving the filter's beneficial bacteria). This allows the cherry shrimps and otocinclus time to have a nice "bonus" algae meal and at the same time help clean the glass lily pipe too. :)

Here is a video i managed to capture of the cherry shrimps and otocinclus doing some algae clearing work...

The video was originally around 7 minutes long, but i sped it up by 5x to give an accelerated view of how the glass lily pipe is cleaned. Observe how the shrimp at the top of the glass lily pipe consumes the green algae.

On an important "safety" note, if you are practicing this routine, do keep an eye on the shrimps and otocinclus while they are doing the algae cleaning work, there are times when they may get too enthusiastic and start to swim into the pipe to try to get at more algae, like this curious otocinclus at the right side of the photo...

There was once i stepped out of the room for a while and when i returned a few minutes later, one of the otocinclus actually made it past the top bend of the glass lily pipe, and it was busy eating algae all the way down the hose into the canister filter! I had to eventually disconnect the outflow hose just to rescue it.

So if you do spot any of them doing such reckless acts in pursuit of more algae, just switch on the filter momentarily for a split second to create abit of flow and nudge them back out, its much easier than having to rescue them later on. :)

27 Litre "Moss Garden" Outdoor Tank

I decided to change my outdoor tank setup... again.

This time round i'm preparing plant decor in advance for an upcoming aquascape project, so the tank was converted into a simple moss grow-out tank.

Thin layers of christmas moss were tied onto lava rocks and just placed into the tank, then left on their own to grow (i forgot to take the initial setup photos, but it was just mostly bare lava rocks with bits of moss).

This tank still gets indirect sunlight, but since the moss are not fast growers, i added various floating plants to help soak up any excess nutrients that will invariably build up in the tank. No additional fertilizers dosed, just regular weekly 30% water changes and a mini algae wafer every alternate day for the resident group of hardworking cherry shrimps. :)

Current moss growth (around a month after setup)...

There are still some patches of moss yet to fill in, but the growth rate so far has been quite encouraging. The ones on the right side of the tank get more light and flow than the left side, so they are growing noticeably faster... i'll have to start swapping their positions periodically to balance out their growth rates.

Hopefully the tank can maintain this way until the moss fully grow out. :)

A Look Inside The Cabinet

Most of the time its mainly the planted tanks that get highlighted in journals and write-ups... but the humble tank cabinet rarely gets much attention, especially on ideas and ways to maximize space usage. Perhaps its time to have a look inside them too.

Just to share, here is my display 2ft tank cabinet and its current layout...
 

 

Most of the equipment i have are quite standard in most cabinet setups... ie. canister filter, Co2 tank system, in-line reactor, water top-up flask, maintenance tools, power strip, timers etc.

Along the way, i managed to allocate enough space to place a small 10 Liter nano tank (L20cm x W20cm x H25cm) with its own hang-on filter and clip-on LED lights in the cabinet. It's a narrow fit, but with abit of arrangement, there is still sufficient clearance to allow easy access to the other equipment.

Due to the limited floor space in the cabinet, i had to look into vertical storage methods to keep the rest of the items. A simple solution was found by just using a combination of mesh grate and mesh baskets from Daiso. The whole vertical structure on the left side is modular and held up by heavy duty 3M command hooks.

Hopefully this layout inspires some useful ideas on maximizing space in your tank cabinets too. :)

64 Litre "Forest Edge" Tank - Week 56 Update

This tank has crossed its 1 year mark and still chugging along.

I got really lazy after the last tank update and started to neglect plant trimming, which resulted in the fast growing background stem plants constantly looking wild and unruly. It became a real chore to keep up with pruning and maintenance every week... so 2 months ago, i pulled out all the stem plants and replace them with a few bunches of Cyperus Helferi.

So far so good, this background plant's growth rate is slower and much easier to maintain. The original few bunches have since grown into a nice thicket of tall leaf blades that are starting to curve at the water surface... the tank has officially become a "grass" scape. :)

Yeah, the whole tank looks very green now... luckily there is still a resident colony of cherry shrimps to help add a little bit of red accent to the tank. :)

Phone Camera + Macro Lens - Indostomus Paradoxus

Close-up photo of an Indostomus Paradoxus, taken with the clip-on macro lens...

These tiny fishes have been living in my tank for months and i only catch a glimpse of them occasionally... really rare to be able to actually snap a good photo of one! :)

High-Clarity Low-Iron Glass Tank vs Normal Glass Tank

I've often received questions about the differences between high-clarity low-iron glass tanks and normal glass tanks, so for those who are new to the hobby... here is a visual comparison for reference.

The tank on the left is made from normal "float" glass, it has a noticeable greenish tint. The tank on the right is made from high-clarity low-iron glass and looks almost clear.

High-clarity low-iron glass tanks are sometimes also labelled as "crystal" or "optical" glass. The light transmission for this type of glass is much higher, which results in brighter light perception and more accurate color rendition when viewing the tank.

Here is a close-up look at both tanks side-by-side...

So the next time you go shopping for aquarium tanks, do keep a look out for such tanks... their price difference may not be as wide as you think, and it may be worth just going for the high-clarity ones. :)