Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping => Gallery Showcase => Topic started by: Extreme_One on September 14, 2015, 07:41:26 PM
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A few pics of my aquarium.
I know it won't be most people's cup of tea as it's a bit wild and not 'scaped but I wanted a natural-looking habitat tank where the fish can feel comfortable.
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xat1/t31.0-8/12017683_10153650958498470_7097099563208371516_o.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpt1/t31.0-8/12002521_10153650958488470_8907878076145908102_o.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/t31.0-8/12031395_10153650958473470_5615245307598394541_o.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t31.0-8/12030516_10153650958768470_4243552873998912680_o.jpg)
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Errrrr......
Photos?
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Looks cracking Simon, fair play!
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Cod, can you see any photos?
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Hi Simon
I can't see any photos just large boxes with question marks in the centre. Don't know why Cod can see them and not me :(
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Lucky me, the pics are stunning. Viewing on Chrome on a Mac.
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Sorry, I'm not sure why some could and others couldn't view the pics.
I've edited the original post. Hopefully the photos should be viewable by all now.
Looks cracking Simon, fair play!
Thanks Cod.
:cheers:
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I can see them! :D
Very good photos and tank looks great.
Anne
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Thank you Anne. :)
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Aha, now I can see them!
And I agree, they are stunning. Beautiful tiger barbs and apistos, not to mention all those plants.
I couldn't even see Anne's question marks, just some writing then a blank space ??? I even disabled all my add ons, and still nothing.
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Thanks Sue. :-*
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Gorgeous!! I'm green with envy.
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Thank you Diz1. ;D
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Wow - absolutely stunningly beautiful.
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Thank you fcmf :cheers:
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Apologies if you've already told everyone this, but are you using Co2 in your tank? If not, how do you get that lush look with your planting?
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I'm not using CO² but do use Easy Carbo.
I'm on low lights, 36w for 12 hours a day, so have planted easy-growing plants only. I bought 100+ small aquarium plants, of different varieties, from an online store along with three small Java ferns, and so for the first few weeks, whilst the plants were very small, things looked very different.
I spent about £25 only on the plants as they were small cuttings and single stems.
https://www.plantsalive.co.uk/36-collection.html <- This is the plant collection I bought.
I follow a strict fertilising routine.
Each morning I feed the following:
2ml EasyLife Easy Ferro (Fe / iron)
4ml EasyLife Carbo
2ml EasyLife Kalium Potassium (K)
4ml EasyLife Profito (micro nutrients)
I've made life easier by transferring all my plant fertilisers into pump dispensers so I know how many squirts of each to put in.
I have a blue LED strip at the very front of the tank which helps bring out the colour of the plants and greatly enhances the blue in the Cardinal Tetras and the Blue/Green Tiger Barbs.
This is also on for three hours in the evening as a moonlight.
So far it seems to be working.
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Very nice. I might have to investigate some of this stuff myself! :)
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Plants looking great. Starting to think my 8 hours is not enought, Sue care to comment, 8 hours to little, for my planted tank
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Thanks chriswhy1967. :cheers:
I know you directed the question at Sue but I'll offer my opinions.
The length of time to put your lighting on for will depend on many things.
How bright are your lights?
What kind of plants are you growing?
Are you looking to maximise growth or simply maintain healthy plants?
Are you seeing any algae?
Are you fertilising?
To make your decision you should have a good look at your plants and decide of you think they're growing well and looking healthy. Do you have to trim them to keep them under control?
If the answer is no then you can make a change. Perhaps increasing lighting will help - try adding an extra hour a day.
If that doesn't show any improvement try something else.
Maybe you need to add more (some) fertiliser...
Perhaps there's not enough carbon for the plants needs - here you can add a liquid Carbon product like EasyCarbo or Flourish Excel, or you can look at a CO² injection system.
If something works, stick to it.
If you think things could be better, make a change.
If you do make changes, do so gradually and watch the results.
I'd never advise someone that's currently putting their lights on for 6 hours a day to instantly change this to 12 hours. Try 7 hours a day and watch your plants to see if things are improving, staying the same or if their health is declining.
If you make a change decide after a week if you see any improvement.
Don't change one thing on Monday and then something else on Wednesday because that way you won't know which change has had an effect.
I'm not an expert, I've done a lot of reading and through continual evaluation and trial and error, I've learned what's working in my own tank, but every aquarium is different with varying water quality, different plants, different lights etc.
So every aquarium will have different needs.
I do think that natural plants add so much to the aquarium, not only in terms of looks but also in adding huge benefits to the fish and the ecosystem you're providing them.
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Re light times - I have lightly planted tanks and know nothing about heavily planted ones that have CO2 injected or use liquid carbon like Extreme's tanks. But as Extreme says, I do know that you need to get the balance right between lighting duration, CO2 (gas or liquid carbon) and fertiliser. The reason I usually suggest altering light duration is that it is the easiest to alter as a first step, especially if the tank owner does not use CO2 in any form, or add fertiliser - if those two are low, light needs to be low too.
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A belated nice tank from me, it looks great!
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Thanks Fiona. ;D
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I took a few photos yesterday before a major trim, and to test the camera on my new phone and Google kindly made me a little animation.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/Extreme_One/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20151023_074523471-ANIMATION.gif)
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Lovely! What happy fish you must have.
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Looks good. :)
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Stunning. I love this but I like a lot of fish and I can't imagine how hard it would be to keep clean
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Stunning. I love this but I like a lot of fish and I can't imagine how hard it would be to keep clean
Thanks.
I don't find maintenance a problem. :)
It's not perfect, there are some patches of algae dust showing on some of the leaves so I do need to figure out how to eliminate it.
I do a 12L water change on a Wednesday and 12L on a Friday or Saturday.
I use an algae scraper pad for the front glass occasionally but don't touch the sides or the back.
I currently have:
12x Tiger Barbs
12x Cardinal Tetras
12x Celestial Pearl Danios
2x Agassiz's Dwarf Cichlids
3x Stiphodon Ornatus
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It looks amazing!! I bet the fish love it. :) BTW I solved my brown diatom issue by the addition of a golden sucking loach, the thing has pretty much cleaned up my tank completely in about 3 weeks. I've never seen such a busy fish, my local MA have said they'll swap it for another small one when it gets too big.
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Thanks Fiona.
I plan on getting some Otocinclus to help with the algae as I hear they're really good with diatoms.
I will bear in mind the loach suggestion if the Otto's don't do the trick. :cheers:
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Make sure the shop really will take it back, Fiona. These fish are not the best for a community tank. They grow pretty big, needing a large tank, and as they mature they stop eating algae. And a lot of them then develop a taste for the slime coat of other fish.
profile 1 (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/sucking-loach.html)
profile 2 (http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/gyrinocheilus-aymonieri/)
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Yup I know Sue, which is why I'll swap it when it gets too big and they will definitely take it, it'll go in one of their sump tanks with it's big brothers and sisters.
My otos didnt really deal with my brown algae problem which is why I went for a golden sucking loach.
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That's good if they really will take it back. Too many shops say anything to make a sale.
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I think I'm very lucky with my local MA. It might help that I go every week to pick up to pick up live daphnea and bloodworm, I don't usually go at the weekend when they're busy, so they've always got time for a natter and I'm there generally for an hour.
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Took some more with my new camera, using a tripod this time.
I still feel I need more practice but I'm quite happy with these.
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/t31.0-8/1397216_10153858075153470_6942826300173506639_o.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/t31.0-8/10265544_10153858075148470_3323650919033949522_o.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t31.0-8/12440485_10153858075253470_5201478945518956380_o.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t31.0-8/921436_10153858075288470_6332495698892084986_o.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/t31.0-8/10580684_10153858075303470_7167941278327687055_o.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t31.0-8/12374892_10153858075383470_4079587895375775912_o.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t31.0-8/1277267_10153858075428470_6766906841923227640_o.jpg)
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Loving your work Simon, this is the sort of idea I'm after for my tank but it is also something that I want my daughter to enkoy and have a part in. Hopefully I can allow her to pick some fish that she finds desirable and then I can focus on the vegetation...
Your pictures are excellent, are you using a DSLR? I only have a bridge at the mo which is pretty hopeless at taking tank photos. I need something more manually selective. Auto settings just can't cope with the depth and colours...
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Thanks Paddy. :cheers:
I don't have a DSLR. My early photos were taken with a Canon compact and my recent photos are taken wth a new Nikon bridge camera. I'm hoping to get a DSLR this year.
I have my tank in the living room and the kids have a small tank with Endlers and Platies in their bedroom.
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Great photos and lovely fish.
I also like the video that you posted a while back. I like to see other people's tanks and I think your video was the first time I'd seen the green tiger barbs in a community aquarium (rather than LFS). I'm hoping that one of my tanks will be for standard and green tiger barbs, when it has finished cycling.
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Thanks Littlefish. :cheers:
A mixed shoal of standard and green Tigers makes for a really interesting display.
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Are the green tigers any less aggressive thank the 'normal' tigers?
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Are the green tigers any less aggressive thank the 'normal' tigers?
The green Tiger Barbs are the same temperament as standard tigers.
Tigers aren't really aggressive in any case, they have squabbles amongst the shoal to establish a hierarchy.
However, if kept in a shoal with less than ten individuals then they might start nipping the fins of other species. This is where they get their reputation for being aggressive.
As long as they are in a shoal of at least 10 then they're fine in a community tank.
The other thing to consider is that they shouldn't really be kept with species with long flowing fins as, even in a large shoal, the Tigers might not be able to resist the temptation and might nip their fin and tails.
FWIW my female Apisto is far more aggressive than even the largest Tiger Barb. ;)
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Treated myself to a new DSLR so decided to take some new photos of The Jungle.
Still getting to know the camera so the photos aren't the best, but I'm pleased nevertheless.
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/13443288_10154293855503470_5242333221777066770_o.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/13403189_10154293855508470_6907518584546420618_o.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/13392097_10154293855513470_8914945668966216703_o.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/13350264_10154293855633470_4939853892702693569_o.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/13422433_10154293855638470_5509151289035962407_o.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/13350500_10154293855643470_7697482012855468249_o.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/13392193_10154293855778470_3778824702805473045_o.jpg)
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Wow - those pics are absolutely stunning! The camera has done an excellent job - but you certainly have very honed photography skills too.
:fishy1:
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Those pics look professional! Fishies look healthy and tank looks nice.
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Very cool Simon, jealous of pretty much all of it... Fish, tank, camera etc... 8) 8)
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Holy pants, Batman! Fish, tank and pictures are all fantastic. Well done.
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I have excellent DSLRs and expensive lenses, but I still struggle, I think because the light levels in my tanks are so low with all of the floating plants. Even at high ISO and large aperture, shutter speeds are too low to stop fishy movement. I must have another try.
My Green tigers have been very feisty among themselves, biting fins among some of them has been constant. But they have never touched any other fish. I'm beginning to think that these things often depend on balance of male and female. However, buying 10 little ones that all look the same, it's rather pot luck. 7 out of 10 of my Emperor tetras turned out to be male, which is why I have had to split them up.
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Great piccies..... I must try harder to get some of my lot.
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Your photos are great - keep them coming ;D
I'd be interested to know what plants use have in your tank and which you find to be the most successful?
Currently I use anubias, amazon sword, vallis, crypts (I think...), java moss and pennywort.
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Nice piccies Simon :)