[Brian_Cali77]

Everything looks really good.

Thank you!

Great recovery so far. Looks much better. That UG came a long way.

Thanks, Matt. Hope your tanks get to where you're happy with them. I'm excited for your 12L and Sat+ combo. If I didn't have a 60F already, I'd be adding the 12L for sure. I'll just live vicariously through your build!

Gorgeous. Yet another reason why I really need to think about tearing down my tank and rebooting it. My algae is getting out of control...

Ah man... i hate algae! I need to catch up on your thread and see what's going on there. I wonder why you're getting algae. I'm also dealing with some green fuzzy crap in my mini fiss.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

They do! They basically will eat anything. I am keeping them fed so they don't decide on eating stuff I don't want dead lol!!

Scrape it off with a knife? I has that weird fuzzy sfuff before. I left it. Kinda looked natural haha

What are those snails called again? Do they reproduce in your tank? They don't lay unsightly white eggs everywhere like nerite snails do they?

 

[Down_Shift]

What are those snails called again? Do they reproduce in your tank? They don't lay unsightly white eggs everywhere like nerite snails do they?

Poso yellow rabbit snails

They come in different colors as well.
Don't think they lay eggs. They reproduce very very slowly compared to nerites.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Experimenting:

 

[Dantrasy]

Thanks.. interesting point. Should I move the DW all the way to the back and fill in the front of it with the rotala macrandra, but keep it short?

perhaps just move the stems left a bit. the macrandra looks nice and red. is there another stem there to the left of the macrandra? looks like ludwigia repens. that stem is a bit too dark coloured, mixes in with the colour of the dw too much imo. so really, all i'm suggesting is shift the dark coloured stems.

 

[Nathan.G]

Hi Brian, just got the link to ur journal from anotherhobby, took about a week to get through it. as i was reading and u showed the pic of the fire. i remember seeing it on the news. It made this big world seem a little smaller. You said something about liking shrimp, I currently have a small herd of cherries if u are interested also i am horrible at plant names but if u see any in my profile pics u like there yours. I live in the valley and can hand deliver ,maybe make a trade?

also i shop at aqua touch, i bought 3 bags of the 9L amazonia for cheaper than i could get them shipped. Just a thought

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Hey Nathan.. crazy you recall seeing my calamity unfold a bit on the news. Luckily it could have been much worse.

Anyways, I have PFR shrimp so no need for RCS. But thanks! Any other species?

AquaTouch is definitely a nice shop. Probably the best in and around Phoenix. There's supposedly a better planted tank LFS in Tucson. Forgot the name. Last time I checked, my ADA AS was cheaper shipped from AFA than it would have been purchased at AT. Glad you got the bags less here. I wonder if they dropped their price or if AFA increased there's?

I'll PM you on plants.

 

[Nathan.G]

i bought em less than a year ago and they were like 70 a bag

Im on the fence about something and I'm hoping u could give a little insight, Im torn on lights. I have 4t5ho with individual reflectors over a 40b and need new lights so I'm about to pull the trigger on some BML 10k and 63k any thoughts?

 

[mythin]

If you dont have any shrimp in the tank yet, i recommend algae fix, it was the only thing I used that took 100% care of my spirogyra algae, if thats what you have, id use it. I couldnt even kill it with black outs or cranking co2. Safe for fish, maybe not so much for snails/shrimp.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

i bought em less than a year ago and they were like 70 a bag

Im on the fence about something and I'm hoping u could give a little insight, Im torn on lights. I have 4t5ho with individual reflectors over a 40b and need new lights so I'm about to pull the trigger on some BML 10k and 63k any thoughts?

Sorry for the late reply. Yes, I think the BML is a fantastic choice! I would have went that route if I didn't like the ramp function and FX that's all baked into these E-Series lights. I personally enjoy the flexibility and control RGB LEDs give you. I know that the BML's can be controlled somewhat with a separate controller purchase. But I think the overall cost with that makes the E-Series more appealing, IMO.

Bump:

If you dont have any shrimp in the tank yet, i recommend algae fix, it was the only thing I used that took 100% care of my spirogyra algae, if thats what you have, id use it. I couldnt even kill it with black outs or cranking co2. Safe for fish, maybe not so much for snails/shrimp.

Yeah I do have algaefix on hand. I think I'll try a session of that soon to see if it can kill off some of the green fuzz algae.

 

[Down_Shift]

damn dude i want your light =X

 

[Brian_Cali77]

damn dude i want your light =X

Are you hinting that you'll be getting one soon? Haha

 

[Nathan.G]

Are u seeing better growth from 1 e series than u did with 2 of the sat+

 

[Drift Monkey]

Here's the kicker! When I went to Ikea to buy the besta, I really wanted the glossy gray door. Since I didn't see it online or in the catalog, I had no idea how much it would be. I did know that the standard doors cost only $10 (the besta is 65$). I was sticker shocked to discover the gray glossy door and some other glossy finishes are $50! Quite the markup!! So I decided to grab a regular door, disappointed... on the way to checkout, I stopped at the "as-is" handy man corner and found the gray door in perfect condition (not a scratch, wrapped in plastic), just missing the mounting hardware, for only $5! So I bought both doors to get the hardware to mount it. It was like meant to be man! Score for sure!

Here's the other attractive glossy finish... it's like gray with black stripes. Found this picture online in my research.

Lol, this is a pic of my setup before I filled it. :hihi: It's not a planted tank though.

 

[Andrew H]

Hey Nathan.. crazy you recall seeing my calamity unfold a bit on the news. Luckily it could have been much worse.

Anyways, I have PFR shrimp so no need for RCS. But thanks! Any other species?

AquaTouch is definitely a nice shop. Probably the best in and around Phoenix. There's supposedly a better planted tank LFS in Tucson. Forgot the name. Last time I checked, my ADA AS was cheaper shipped from AFA than it would have been purchased at AT. Glad you got the bags less here. I wonder if they dropped their price or if AFA increased there's?

I'll PM you on plants.

Arizona Nature Aquatics. Very cool we have such an awesome shop in town.

Are u seeing better growth from 1 e series than u did with 2 of the sat+

Curious to see the answer.

EDIT - Scrolled through your thread. Better growth but not as much coverage. You said something earlier about running the two Sat+ lights and how it'd be enough light for what you wanted and you wouldn't have to worry about blinding light from a more powerful light. Still feel the same? Have a 60p that I want to set up and I'm torn between running your previous set up or just getting something else with more par. But now I'm kind of leaning towards the dual light set up to get better coverage and since you were able to grow the same types of plants I want, I believe it may be my best option.

 

[Trnt]

I came across your thread while looking for a stand for my Mr Aqua 17.1, a 60p clone if I am not mistaken, and I had a feeling that I had seen your layout before. Low and behold that it was your youtube video of the Ramp timer in action that I was remembering. Thanks for the video! Sold me on one instantly.

How is your besta stand holding up by the way? Is this the one you have?

I saw that you had an apartment fire a while back, I'm sorry to hear that- my house burnt down when I was a kid in the middle of the night. No one was hurt thankfully, although we did lose a boston terrier. Having a house fire definitely gives you a bit of a different perspective on material goods. I'm glad you were safe.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

I came across your thread while looking for a stand for my Mr Aqua 17.1, a 60p clone if I am not mistaken, and I had a feeling that I had seen your layout before. Low and behold that it was your youtube video of the Ramp timer in action that I was remembering. Thanks for the video! Sold me on one instantly.

How is your besta stand holding up by the way? Is this the one you have?

I saw that you had an apartment fire a while back, I'm sorry to hear that- my house burnt down when I was a kid in the middle of the night. No one was hurt thankfully, although we did lose a boston terrier. Having a house fire definitely gives you a bit of a different perspective on material goods. I'm glad you were safe.

That's cool you remember my tank from YouTube. Glad my video was helpful to you. I appreciate your sympathy about the fire. It was quite an experience, luckily I didn't lose anything irreplaceable.

BTW, welcome to the 60p club. It's a fantastic footprint and offers plenty of scape potential, ADA or Mr. Aqua variant makes no difference. And yes, that's the Ikea Besta Cabinet I use. At first I did it ghetto style by using cinder blocks to elevate the stand in a study yet inexpensive way. Ironically, this saved my stand from flood damage from the fire. To this day, my tank and Ikea Besta combo are still going strong. Only change I made was adding the Besta legs to elevate the stand off the ground. Works and looks great.