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Nano-Nater's ADA style 10gal Iwagumi-Super High Tech

17K views 52 replies 23 participants last post by  Cmeister 
#1 · (Edited)
hello fellow tank people!
My name is Benjamin im 24 years old, been a member for 8 years and i finaly decided to get back into aquariums.
ive been researching alot lately prior to buying all of this to make sure I start right and strong

Heres my new set-up!

Tank:ADA style 10g rimless MC aquarium starfire glass 45cmx30cmx30cm
Light: Aquasky 451 LED replica(chihiros)
C02: 10lbs pressurized 0.5 bps atm on 24/7 for ph swings but I have adequate surface agitation and waterflow fish are fine at night, Ceramic diffuser(Will get replaced by reactor),glass tube
*Co2 Reactor: Ista Max Mix Large, Ordered..Receiving soon*
Substrate: Tropica "plant care" ADA style(heard it was even better)
Filter: Eheim 2213, Soon Replaced by Fluval G3
UV: cobalt micro inline UV 3 watt
Hang-on-tank VIV drop checker
Hang-on-tank ADA style thermometer
Soon-to-have Inlet/outlet Glass Lily pipes

Ferts: (I have ordered them, will receive thursday) Flourish for micro flourish trace for trace,Nitrogen, Potassium,Iron,Aquavitro "activate" for phosphorus and potassium,
The tank has no heater because I maintain a stable temperature inside my condo using a air conditioner.

Tank params (API Drops):
Temp: 22deg celcius
PH:6.5
KH:2.24
GH:5.59
Co2: 21ppm(using calc) Old parameters, I have changed chemistry
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:5ppm
phosphate:1ppm
Iron:.25ppm
Silicate: 3ppm(is that bad? Diatoms feed off silicates right, anyhow im going to be switching to DI water ^^)

Iron:have to buy test kit
Weekly 50% waterchange

The tank is 2 weeks old and cycled using Stability for one week(with the UV off) prior to adding 7 lambchop rasboras.Ill add some nice shrimp to the livestock list and if I start having algae issues an Otocinclus(although I did my homework and should NOT have this problem)

The lights are running currently for 4 hours a day and i will increase the photoperiod by one hour per week until 9 hours a day has been reached. This is to minimise chances of algae. If algae appears Ill reduce photoperiod by an hour to 8 hours.

Ok now for plants I only have some HC "cuba" and another small plant that I forgot the name(ID would be nice). My goal is to have a Dense, lush, green carpet of HC.

Now I want to Start following a EI doisng using the products I mentionned above, Could someone help me with the dosing schedule? Im new to dosing and ferts for freshwater planted since back in the days I used to have a 50gal reef tank and would only have to dose 2 products and it was easy peasy.

Most Recent Shot:June 13 2015


below are some REALLY bad quality pictures of the start, I now have a great DSLR future shots guaranteed superb Quality

~OLD CELL PHONE PICS~

:D
 

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#2 · (Edited)
found what looks like to be a really really small flat shell snail on the glass today along with what looked like snail eggs(clear white goo with dots) I immediately siphoned out the eggs and used a razor blade to "scoop up" the tiny snail.

EDIT: Turned out to be Freshwater limpet and now theres quite a few but doesnt bother me at all. Beneficial actualy

Im guessing that he came from the plants as I did not dip them.

Ill inspect tank tomorow again to make sure that theres no more surprises.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Bump:

thanks for you comment, I live in canada and i got the substrate localy from Aquaplus Montreal. They specialize in Nature aquarium goods.

http://www.aquaplusmontreal.com/

And They (the store owner and his wife) are the ones that told me that the tropica substrate is better than ADA aquasoil, im guessing that its because it doesnt leech ammonia and buffers water. I could be wrong anyhow i am satisfied with the substrate so far.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Well this morning I noticed that there are 2 tetras with a white dot on the dorsal fin(ick). I am glad that I bought a UV filter yesterday! should take care of the problem in no time:)

Also noticed that the HC is pearling and developping some nice roots that are going into the sustrate! even noticed a nice growth. Still no sign of algae, havent scraped glass once im very happy so far. hopefully it will stay like that.

Morning tests:
 

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#10 · (Edited)
Update!

Got some more stuff to work with, will receive the rest of ferts thursday. I Decided to add a little more substrate around the back area and in critical areas to help create a better depth perception, and better flow(will picture Update when the tank gets a little more growth). Overall im happy about the results although I did cover some portions of HC in the process.... oops.

Let me know how to proceed to switch to DI water.

Any input?

thinking about doing a 50% water change and matching the temperature PH-KH-GH before adding into tank

**mini update**
Well It took Hours But after countless tests and dosing, I Finaly got my first "recipe" to craft 10 gallons of DI water with hard to notice difference in KH-GH. PH is on the spot.
Ill Take a new tank test tomorow after work and compare them to tonights tank params and the same goes for my DI water that will have rested enough making sure all salts have been dissolved 100% and that the params havent changed.

If everything checks out, ill start topping off with my DI water and do water changes also.

Let me know your opinion!

Now im trying to work out my ferts dosing schedule and amounts, I can post what I have made in mind so far..
 

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#11 · (Edited)
Update

Well Everything is pearling and growing nice, I also Couldnt resist and decided to add 6 crystal red shrimps to the tank.
I will post new pictures this weekend :)

So far everything is doing well, the shrimps are active and very interesting to watch!

I thought my thread would attract some interest but seems like everyone just looks and leaves.

Comments/tips/oppinions wanted!
 

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#13 · (Edited)
Hello Buddha, Theres a company called "Air liquide" www.Airliquide.ca 10 minutes away from me and they supply all types of industrial gases for welding and other applications. Im 110% sure that there will be no problem filling up my 10lbs bottle over there and for a great price.

Et salut! moi je suis de longueuil haha

Little update:

The tank is doing really good, the HC has grown alot and is sending runners along the substrate!

Im really glad to have changed fish, the neon tetras were hanging low-mid tank level and were nipping at the shrimps...The rasboras are always mid-high level in the tank(Im much more pleased) and havent seen them nip a shrimp so far.

The shrimp are thriving, I noticed the rocks are alot cleaner too.

I found atleast 3 molts tangled up between the rocks inside the plants that im still wanting an ID on

I ordered the Ista Max Mix Co2 reactor(large model) from Doctor Foster & Smith
with this reactor I will be able to remove the ugly and not so efficient Ceramic diffuser from inside the tank and get 100% Co2 Dissolving into water! The ceramic diffuser is also pretty noisy oddly enough.. Everynight/day I can hear a high pitch noise caused by larger bubbles forming at certain spots of the ceramic disc..pretty annoying TBH..
Best of all: no more diffuser in sight and no more micro Co2 bubbles everywhere inside the tank, last but not least slight increase in total water volume(the more water you got the easier it is to be stable)

Now I just have to bee patient and wait for it to arrive which should be Monday! or more since I live in Canada...

Oh and still no Algae :)
Edit:lol the next day I start seeing small faint browning circles upon some rocks! Shrimp food I hope
 
#16 · (Edited)
Little update:

Thanks guys for your input, Today I did a 45% water change and somehow while I was siphoning the tank one of the rasboras jumped I guess because I glanced inside the bucket and noticed the fish struggling at the surface of the water!(I used a contaminated bucket for waste water):icon_frow I tried to save him but he gave up..

Everything else is doing great, I slowly added back new mineralized DI water using airline tubing at first then topped off the rest with bottle. Went very well
 

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#18 · (Edited)
Hi!

I beleive this rock is called seiryu rock or stone, If you cant find some localy try looking on No Ebay Links Allowed. Indeed moss would look very nice and shrimp love that!

Today I cut the middle plant(staurogyne repens) Because I thought it drawed attention too much, I re-planted the top behind the left rocks for the shrimp to explore.

Results:
 

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#21 · (Edited)
Thanks!

I did a very minor trimming and re-planted the clippings of HC around the edges and the back, Water change coming up too!
Im very pleased with the reactor, The aquarium setup is very silent and I sleep next to it so thats great, Barely any noticeable bubbles coming out of the reactor running at ~2bps

I Finaly went and got a Glass Intake for the filter, Major upgrade. Cant see a single thing in the tank which is great!

Heres are Recent pictures of the tank, The first one is from May 1st and the bottom one from May 2nd. You can notice Growth differnece even in a day!
 

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#22 ·
Update

Well it has been a little while, the tank is doing really well. Diatoms have been trying to grow and coat everything but the clean up crew is doing an Impressive job at keeping it at bay, seems to already be going away anyhow was way less than compared to the diatom bloom I had with other tanks in the past. I Have cleaned the glass only 2 times so far and it wasnt really coated with alot of algae.

my Ei Daily Dosing seems to be doing the job, Lush and crazy growth as you can see. Cant wait to do the first decent trimming to the HC and get it to spreadout more and compact.

Heres a Quick FTS for May 8th 2015:
 

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#23 ·
How do you find the aquasky 451 chihoros compare to ada aquasky 451?

I search everywhere but no answer! By far i know ada aquasky 451 is 0.4w x 45 = 18w. Where chihoros claims 0.5w x 54 = 27w. Big different in light. One of the ada shop told me that ada has all range of spectrums and specially red and green. He said he set them up side by side. Ada way brighter and look even spread out evenly.

Cheers
 
#25 · (Edited)
I cant really answer your Question because I do not own or have not used ADA aquasky 451.

but heres my 2 cents:
The fixture is very bright, blinds you really quick if you stare. I cant give you PAR numbers or anything specific other than I really love the light and its so bright I actualy had to dim it down a notch because green algae was starting to grow at the tip of the rocks. Also cant beat the price vs ADA. oh and the plants seem to love it too

Edit: one thing I noticed is that my light may have a defect, theres an extra LED that seems to have been placed as extra/defect, ill post a picture of what im saying later,
 
#29 · (Edited)
here are 2 pictures of the light defect, The Led Seems to be "wired" but not working and it looks as if it shouldnt be there

The light running 7 hours day so far dimmed one notch and thinking about dimming it some more, im getting some I beleive to be GSA at the tops of the rocks. Ill post a picture when the lights turn on today.

Is this generally from too intense lighting in my setup? should I not dim it another notch? I read about nitrate to phosphates ratio needs to be around 10:1
It hasnt been like that I wasnt dosing enough phosphates at the start I increased Dose since yesterday

Edit:Ya I decided to dim it another notch. There are 8 levels and im now running it at 6/8~ Will this have any negative impact on the HC?(yellowing mainly)

im trying to keep nitrates around 10ppm and phosphates at 1 ppm now,

Have a look!
 

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#30 · (Edited)
Heres a picture of the green algae im getting on the rocks(look slightly brown in picture but its bright green, not BGA), can someone tell me which kind of algae? im thinking GSA or GDA, its only growing on the rocks Please help me thanks.
I increased N03 and P04 and decreased lighting intensity by another 12.5% so 25% less intensity since start-up of the tank, is this good or bad? the HC still pearling crazy so far today.

Edit: Well the dimming seems to help alot I noticed it seems to be slowing down, diatoms are almost gone too

I also Include a new FTS for May 11th :hihi:
 

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#31 ·
Nano-Nater: Thanks for the pics... Look to me the diode was left there (faulty bit).

I decide to get the ADA Aquasky 451 for $50 more than the Chihiros, from lfs and warranty from lfs too. Chihiros is from online and hk (ebay). price not much different.

pickup mine this weekend and i should have pretty much start cycle my tank.

Edit: by counting your diode, 18 rows x 3 diode = 54 led, according to spec, 54 x .5 = 27w

Cheers :)
 
#32 · (Edited)
ya 50$ difference isnt huge, I too would have chosen ADA if I had the option between the too.

Update:I decided to upgrade my filter, I found cleaning a hassle and the flow is reduced quite abit using the inline Co2 Reactor and UV filter and soon to have inline chiller so I needed a stronger/better filter.

I ordered a Fluval G3, very curious about it and cant wait to set it up, it has real-time Temperature and TDS meter which is a big plus to me (I wanted to get one). It also displays graphs about your Temp and TDS flunctuations throughout time, I have since removed the thermometer I had inside the tank.

Will update once everything arrives and is up and running! Oh and, I might change the tittle from " High-Tech" to " Super High-Tech" lol

Any tips for the Algae on the rocks? Im thinking GSA, Phosphates at 2ppm and nitrates at +/- 15ppm.
Heres most recent Picture, You can spot a huge pearling bubble in the shot:proud:
 

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#35 · (Edited)
Are you going to stick with just the rasboras and shrimp in the tank, or are you planning on adding more later? Have you ID'd the plant in the back yet?
Hi im thinking about replacing the rasboras with another kind of fish eventualy not sure which as of yet..

I made research about the plant, seems to be Staurogyne Repens.


I have done the weekly waterchange, Performed the first "major" trim to the HC, Brushed the algae off the rocks. Diatoms is almost completely gone too.

I got myself a better camera, its a Nikon coolpix p600. Im still looking at the settings, heres a quick shot of the tank, all the bubbles are oxygen produced by the carpet, the fish are out of focus....but the quality is so much better UPDATE:I returned the Coolpix P600(Wasnt providing me with what I wanted, well besides being pretty affordable, Its more of a long distance camera and not an DSLR) and got instead a Canon DSLR, its the Canon 5d Mark II(full Frame). Also bought a Canon 100mm f2.8 L Image stabilizer(which is Super awesome BTW) Macro lens along with a Polarized filter and Canon ring flash. These 2 pictures are with the Coolpix, future Images will be from the Canon DSLR

My new filter should be here soon this week, probably around tuesday. I will make another update soon folks!
 

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