AL's 28g UK Jungle...

[Little-AL]

Hi Everyone, new member on here from the UK! First of all, apologies for the quality of the images... Just use my iPhone for general updates! Will take some better images soon!

Long story short... I have recently moved away from marines and back in to a tropical setup with the aim of less maintenance and less expense spared! I decided to go heavier with the planting than I had ever tried before - aquascaping is growing in popularity in the UK and there is far more support than ever before so it seems a good way to go!

My last tropical setup had a lot of Vallis and some Koi Angels:



So I went down to a local aquatics store where I used to work (Maidenhead Aquatics in Shirley) and had a chat with my old colleagues - struck a deal on this tank. Capacity is approximately 130 litres before displacement - comes with twin T5's as standard - I opted to upgrade to a much bigger external filter and purchased a JBL CO2 kit...





Purchased some JBL substrate and a few other items...



Tried in my 'swamp root' for size...



There was a big gap in time whilst I had work commitments and was soaking the wood. I finally got an afternoon of work and went to set up the tank... I purchased:

Microsorum pteropus
Microsorum pteropus 'Windelev'
Anubias barteri var. nana
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis
Pogostemon helferi
Bolbitis heudelotii
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica'
Cryptocoryne wendtii Green
Cryptocoryne petchii
Cryptocoryne moehlmannii

Taxiphyllum sp. 'Spiky'
Vesicularia dubyana 'Christmas'

Picked up my RO from Maidenhead Aquatics:



Planted the tank out then started the big fill! Brace bars came in handy here...





Filled up with the lights on:



And as it stood an hour later:



A few days later I decided I wan't happy with the wood position so took it out, re-attached the ferns, anubias and mosses and put it al back in place...



Was happy with my CO2 at this time too!



Looked a lot better when it had settled down!



To be continued...

[Little-AL]

My original CO2 cylinder ran out so I put this in place:



Added some Otto's and some Amano shrimp recently then added a shoal of Cardinal Tetra this week:







Most recent pictures...





Going to allow the tank to mature and fill out for a while - plan to add some more fish in a few weeks (probably a pair of Rams). C&C welcome!

[garloki72]

Im liking the setup man! Love the piece of wood to the right, it has so much character, its not your regular staight branches you know?

[djdan724]

Fire extinguisher! Never seen that before, very clever.

[Little-AL]

Originally Posted by garloki72

Im liking the setup man! Love the piece of wood to the right, it has so much character, its not your regular staight branches you know?

Yeah it is a really nice piece! Fits well with the plants around it! Thanks

Originally Posted by djdan724

Fire extinguisher! Never seen that before, very clever.

Haha, common in the UK as CO2 kits are quite expensive generally! Mine would have been around $450 originally...! Thankfully my regulator fitted straight on to the bottle and the pressure is perfect! Very happy

Thanks guys!

[Little-AL]

FINALLY got the Canon out to take some decent-ish pics...

Cardinals:



The Java Moss is really taking off now... Looks a lot cleaner since I changed the flow in the tank!



Close up of the centre/right hand side:



Newest addition(s)... Pair of Gold Rams! Not had Rams before but in love with them already - active and feeding from day one - very pleased!



Angled FTS:



Full frontal FTS:



Here I want to add a big thanks to Dave, Scott, Paul and Chris at Maidenhead Aquatics in Shirley - helpful guys and a great shop! Now for the tank to grow in

[morgan]

Hey nice scape. Will look great in a few mnths time .
I see ur a brummie , not too far from me . Ive heard good things about maidenhead aquatics but have never been there yet .
the fe's are ok but are not really suited for aquarium use , if u get chance swap it for a co2 welders bottle , there safer .

[fishboy199413]

This is a great tank, good job. I wish had access to Britain's fish, plants, and equipment. Keep up the good work. By the way what kind of filter is that, it looks really cool.

[Little-AL]

Thanks fishboy, yeah we are quite fortunate in some respects! The filter is an Aquamanta 1000U sold through the main fishkeeping store chain in the UK (Maidenhead Aquatics - fishkeeper.co.uk) - its a great piece of kit and very cheap!

Originally Posted by morgan

Hey nice scape. Will look great in a few mnths time .
I see ur a brummie , not too far from me . Ive heard good things about maidenhead aquatics but have never been there yet .
the fe's are ok but are not really suited for aquarium use , if u get chance swap it for a co2 welders bottle , there safer .

Yep I am indeed a Brummy! Make the trip over to Maidenhead Aquatics when you can! Great little store with some really nice stock... Just tell them Alex sent you!
Not heard of any issues with FE's - CO2 is generally CO2 when it gets bottled (used to deal with BOC a lot) - can't see it causing any issues unless its a really really old bottle

[morgan]

Hey , do they have a selection of shrimp there? def will go down there one day , about 15 mile from me. The aquarium by me is not the best for plants and never heard of a crystal red lol . I sold something on ebay ages ago for a nice profit so pretty much everything in my tank is from online/ebay .

"The FEs have a tube that goes to the bottom of the cylinder (the best example I can give is a windex bottle etc) and has the potential to allow liqud co2 into the reg and if it gets though it will rapidly boil gassing far to much co2 into the water. The welding bottle wont have this tube allowing the co2 to convert to gas before entering the reg(as long as the bottle is upright)".

[Little-AL]

Took a few pics on my phone tonight as the tank is looking pretty damn happy! Having a little bit of melt on my Pogo since the trim last week but also a lot of new growth so hoping it will thicken out! My Moss is also going mental... Growing loads and looking really really clean! Quite chuffed Think the additional Amano's I got last week are helping...

Moss with one of my monster Amano's (came out of the sump in my local MH!)



Cardinals together!



Male Ram (had my first batch of eggs this week!)



FTS so I can keep track of growth



Going to order some LED strips this week - some blues for a bit of moonlight and probably some whites to make it brighter at the front!

[Little-AL]

Originally Posted by morgan

Hey , do they have a selection of shrimp there? def will go down there one day , about 15 mile from me. The aquarium by me is not the best for plants and never heard of a crystal red lol . I sold something on ebay ages ago for a nice profit so pretty much everything in my tank is from online/ebay .

"The FEs have a tube that goes to the bottom of the cylinder (the best example I can give is a windex bottle etc) and has the potential to allow liqud co2 into the reg and if it gets though it will rapidly boil gassing far to much co2 into the water. The welding bottle wont have this tube allowing the co2 to convert to gas before entering the reg(as long as the bottle is upright)".

They have regular deliveries of shrimp! Best thing I can suggest is to call them on 0121 733 1090 and ask - tell them Alex sent you

Good info on the FE - will bear that in mind!!

[zzrguy]

what lighting set up do you have in there now?

The tank looks sweet

[Silky]

nice looking tank man. I like that you left the center open. I would kill for some wood like that. Well ...not kill but maybe maim and dismember.

[Little-AL]

Bought more plants!

Anubias barteri var.nana mounted on a new piece of wood at the rear with some Microsorum pteropus 'Narrow' - some more Lilaeopsis for the foreground, some Hygrophila at the back with the Vallis and some large Anubias barteri var barteri on the wood on the right hand side.

Move a few crypts to fill the centre and make it look a bit more like a jungle!