UPDATE! Kessil Fluval edge 12g - My First Tank

[bVo]

RESCAPED (what you guys think?)


Before:





Fishy:
7 cardinal tetras
4 rummy nose
2 Vietnamese white cloud
9 crystal red shrimp
1 galaxy rasboras
1 ranger pleco
1 dwarf looking pleco?
1 kuhli loach

Setup:
-Kessil amazon sun LED (custom mount under the hood an inch above the water)
-Co2 disposable cartridge (dissolver mounted below filter waterfall outtake to dispurse co2 evenly from flow of current)
-50watt mini aquarium heater
-water source from local water shop that has ro? No water treatment, fish seems happy

Before I did water changes every month and sometimes every 2 weeks. Currently, 30% every week, every single time. Started co2 dose @ 1bps and the new light fixture a few days ago. This tank has been running for about 6 months, just upgraded co2/light. Plan on running the light for 6 hours to test the waters. Fish seem happy.

Future projects:
Remove all boring plants and rescaping the tank massively. This time, plant the entire tank, no soil showing! Will most likely remove that big rock taking up way too much space and thinking to use the middle area of the tank to grow my carpet plants, maybe something like HC. The reason behind this is the kessil light focus point is right in the middle, so might as well make that area the magic carpet area where all the magic happens right?? =) Hopefully with all the plants I plan to plant, my algae problems will balance out!

I would appreciate any advice, critique, ideas, or questions!

1/11/2013
Included Kessil

1/22/2013
Included Co2

1/24/2013
Plants seem to respond to the light a lot better than the previous one. Little bleach on the middle plants, but not so bad yet. The Background plants are doing well, but the front plants aren't with the previous lighting. Tank looks very random at the moment, I was testing the plants out with the old light to see how the plants responded, and most of the plants I got from my friends left overs. Figured no point buying nice plants when I didn't have the right setup. Now the led lights might be overkill, but I'm hoping with the height and re-positioning of the plants, I will have better luck.

1/26/2013
Rescaped and increase height of the light, now 3-inches above the water.

[acitydweller]

.remove the .HTML and post as images, not as links...

[IWANNAGOFAST]

yeah man, none of the links work.

[vincenz]

Whoa, you have a Kessil an inch above the water in such a small tank?

I foresee a lot of problems, but let us know how that works out for you!

[bVo]

Update: Sorry guys, hopefully these images are better, I am new to this forum stuff and working from the phone makes it a little tedious!

@Vincenz yeah, so far it seems okay, but a few of the leaves from the middle are bleached. In the future, I plan on growing carpet plants in the middle, that way we won't run into that bleach problem, and have a bunch of bushy plants on the side and back.

[wierdfishguy]

Nice looking tank. I wish I would have gone with the 12g edge but I ended up with the 6g. I dig your set up.

[fusiongt]

Okay now the images work, much better!

Now I'm afraid of the Kessil like someone else mentioned. I have my Kessil on a 25 gallon about 8 inches above the tank... that's moving it closer than when it was 12 inches above. If you're an inch away, man you're going to get crazy growth assuming you have the direct cO2 to support it (and the necessary fast growing plants). If you don't have those I'm afraid you may run into SERIOUS algae problems. I hope you don't, but if you see any signs of it I'd move the light higher above the tank. I mean, even the directions say a foot above the tank so I'd start there then move it closer as you see it (not the other way around).

I have seen it done before though at my LFS. They of course have direct cO2 and the Kessil is on a 25g 18x18x18 cube tank. They have the light a few inches above the tank but it's very close, and there's just crazy growth. The ground plants are so thick there's absolutely no gaps and you couldn't even get a chop stick in there heh. So it can be done.

[bVo]

Does anyone have any recommendations for what plants would do well in my setup? I notice the slow growing plants would be more prone to algae in my tank, so overall, I prefer faster growing plants to keep up with this intense lighting. Also, I am looking to setup a pressurized co2 that has the automatic system to turn on/off. My spending range is 100-$250 preferably. Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated!