MY 1.8m tank project...

@McAnix, are you sure you're talking about Siamese Algae Eaters and not Chinese Algae Eaters?
Because that sounds like classic CAE behavior and is exactly why they shouldn't be sold in the hobby.

As a reference,
Siamese Algae Eater:


Chinese Algae Eater:


The latter comes in many different colours and is widely sold in shops. The former is very rare to find in local shops because they mostly get Flying Foxes, or mislabel them. I've got a Siamese Algae Eater and apart from being really fast, he's pretty much passive and keeps to himself.

 

Can't wait to see your setup Gareth! It sounds really nice

 

@Whipme, apologies, yes, the CAE were the problematic ones :wondering:

 

It's a common thing, the CAE is sold as a great algae eater, but they don't tell you that they grow to 15", get extremely aggressive, and stop eating algae past a few cm in length

 

Bristlenoses are also great algae eaters!

 

but don't Bristle noses also eat the plants?

I will post pics soon just waiting to get the water to clear.

 

My Bristlenoses don't know what plants are. They sometimes will suck the algae off the plant leaves, but they never eat the plants.

 

Some PIcs..... As Promosed

First I had to clean tank....



Then Follows the Substrate...



Then Capped it off...


Then the Planting began...





I will post pics of the tank again as soon as the water clears abit. :blink1:

 

Yaay pics Finally! Thanks Gareth

 

Hi Gareth
Looking good! Bigger tanks automatically look better for some reason.
Did you think of maybe adding another piece of driftwood in the middel where those smaller plants are standing and planting them around it or are you
Looking for more open space?

 

I have 3 pieces of Wood in the tank and a large rock at the moment but I am hopefully getting a few more plants this weekend t fill the gaps in the tank then I will decide if there is place for more bogwood, only problem is that the wood leaches a lot and my tank looks VERY yellow.

I will be adding D.I.Y Co2 this weekend as well to see if it helps with the plant growth
but I will put up new pics on Monday again so that you guys can see the light setup and so on..

 

sorry if I ask questions that may have been discussed before...

what filtration are you using?

did you finalize the lights?

max length T5's = 1.5m i dont think there's bigger but if you've found some please share the details...

 

I am using a HOB filter that is on the side of the tank (1600l/h) and I have 2 internal Filters, 1 is a 1000l/h that I am also going to use for the Co2 and then I have a second filter that is 1200l/h.
As for the lights I was not able to get any T5 here, it feels like I am living in the stone age here in Potch. I had to buy 2x T10 Balusters (5ft) which hold 2 lights each so I have 4x 65w T10 Tubes (cool white) and I also added a 4ft blue T8 36w tube as well but I am thinking of adding a third Baluster and two more blue lights to get the water clear.
What do you guys think?

 

whats the Kelvin rating on those T10s?

You must ensure the HoB return is below that water surface as if it cascades the water into the tank then it will eradicate CO2 in the process.

 

As far as I can see on the T10 the Kelvin is 10000K

 

T10? As in the old huge ones? Tubes should have a number on them like 7/8/965 on them. Last 2 digits are Kelvin rating

 

jip as in old thick ones...lol I will have to check later then what the numbers are.

 

Why? Surely you can get T8's at least?

 

I could if I am willing to wait 2 to 6 months for these people but the watt for the T8 is max 40watt? would they be better than the ones I have now?

 

Not sure about T8 vs T10, but there is a marked difference between T5 and T8