journal 3ft Low Tech :: Moss + Buce + Mischlings

[AwwYea]

 

 

 

IT BEGINS

 

 

Equipment

Komoda 3ft (SkyClear Rimless)

UP Aqua Pro Z LED

Eheim 2217

Hydor ETH 200w

 

 

Substrate and Flora

CAL Black Earth (Capping for plants)

Mr. Aqua Soil (Foundation for slope + buffering)

ADA Decorative Sand (Mekong)

 

Mini Fissidens

Mini Pellia

Nano Pellia

 

Crypt Parva

Needle/Narrow Leaf Java Fern

 

Bucephalandra 'Brownie Ghost'

Edited July 12, 2014 by AwwYea

[AwwYea]

Why low-tech?

Our first two scapes were challenging and demanding. The most exciting part of the journey was watching it mature and we found that once that eventually happened; our interest levels in it decreased substantially and so did the high maintenance it required. So this time we wanted to slow the process right down and also decrease the time we spend in front of it every week. We wanted a new challenge, one that I personally haven't seen enough of... low-tech scapes. I wanted to see how far we could push it + also combine our new found interest in shrimps!

[yeswaitnosorry]

I like this! Following.

[newbreed]

Amazing work! Must say I am stunned by the main piece of wood, never seen anything like it, great find!!

 

Watching this with interest!!

[jayc]

Agreed. That central piece is amazing. 

The eye is drawn to it immediately.

I love low tech tanks. After having had numerous high tech, high light tanks, I vowed never to build one again. Way too time consuming.

With carefully selected plants, anyone can still create master pieces.

[poeticwinter]

awesome scaping, shrimp will love it!

[slin1977]

You have done it again! What an awesome set up!

I take my hat off to you Sir!

[Squiggle]

Fantastic scape dude, you are definitely very talented, well done!

[AwwYea]

Thanks guys!

Driftwood was definitely a lucky find

I had already imagined in my head what type of wood I wanted... something with lots of cracks and holes for me to shove moss into.

So when I stumbled across these pieces it was a pretty easy sale!

[AwwYea]

 

 

 

Week 1

Not much to report... for once haha!

The CRS culls, red rilli's and the pair of Ottos are still happily zipping around... the water volume we have to work with is a huge change coming from the bookshelf.

 

 

Lighting

It's become obvious that the lighting is not cutting it on this tank.

The big pieces of driftwood do cast some very dominant shadows that create some very shady areas.

Will possibly have to look for something that could be mounted a little higher, brighter and has a wider spread that still keeps it low tech.

 

 

Plants

Ferts

Just dosing Borneo Wild (Ferrum) lightly once a week.

Excel @ recommended dose daily.

 

Mini Pellia

Definitely notice the difference in it's growth and overall appearance compared to it's previous environment.

With no CO2 injection, lower light intensity and lower nitrate levels it appears to be a lot more 'delicate and branchy'.

 

Buce

No signs of melting.

We positioned the two plants in two seperate areas of the tank originally; one in direct light and the other in a shady spot.

After a week the stem in the shadiest spot still had all it's new leaves closed up; so we have repositioned that to a brighter spot now.

 

Crypt Parva (Tissue Culture)

Introduced.

 

 

Preparing for Mischlings

We have decided to keep mischlings in this tank for the sheer volume it could hold.

Water parameters have been stable. 0 readings on both Ammonia + Nitrites. Nitrates are reading a little high @ 10ppm but it's to be expected from the Black Earth Premium.

TDS has been slowly raised from 50 to 150 using SaltyShrimp too. Tannins are apparent but not overly dramatic; will be getting some bags of BioChem Zorb to combat that over the coming week.

Edited July 12, 2014 by AwwYea

[fishmosy]

Looking better and better mate.

[newbreed]

Awwsome work indeed mate! Very inspiring!

[Gabe129]

Wow, very nice! Love the driftwood!

[FishBeast]

A beautiful scape. Could you perhaps try some excel?

[smicko]

Great looking tank you have there.

Good to see a low tech setup.

Cheers mick

[Squiggle]

Simply stunning dude, well done!

[AwwYea]

 

 

Week 4

Mischlings and TB's have moved in!

 

 

Fauna

20~ Mischlings

2 x King Kongs

1 x Panda

 

Now it's a waiting game! Not too much moulting activity at the moment... I see about 1 moult every couple days.

I haven't lost any yet *touches woods* and they all seem to be increasing in size very quickly.

 

I have also been feeding them a variety of Mosura Excel, Shirakura Shrimp Ball (White) and Snowflakes. Only 4-5 of them nibble on it for a minute or two before they scurry off.

I'm imagining that it's because there's still a lot of micro/biofilm in the tank for them to graze on as they are currently picking in and around the driftwood.

 

 

Hardscape

Introduced a few pieces of gold-vine yesterday to see how it would look against the darker existing wood.

It hasn't seen water for a year so it needs to be re-waterlogged. We are hoping to use it to simulate roots creeping around the rocks.

 

 

Plants

Buce

The Buce has been growing exceptionally well; getting about 2-3 new leaves every fortnight!

 

Crypt Parva (Tissue Culture)

About 60% of it has melted away. This is the AI variant... the one from EA is a much stronger variant.

 

Algae

We are lucky *crosses fingers*.

No sign of anything apart from a light haze of diatoms/green dust on the sides.

 

 

Water Parameters

GH / PH / TDS

4 / <6.0 / 150 / 22° C

The pH is too low to read for the standard kit; so will have to test again with a low-range kit.

 

Top-ups with RO water.

We are topping up about 1 litre a day from evaporation (would love to know where that amount of water is actually going to)!

Addition of SaltyShrimp Minerals only if the TDS in the main tank has dropped.

[slin1977]

Cheers for the update, nice to hear that all is going well

[KillieOrCory]

Looking great!

[fishmosy]

Fantastic mate

[Shrimp Aqua]

You have a gift there AwwYea, just beautiful!!!!!!!!!!

[Squiggle]

Looking good dude!

[newbreed]

Each time I look at this thread I feel inspired mate!! It just keeps getting more and more awesome!!

 

Thanks for the detailed breakdown of the setup too.

 

The Kk and Mischlings have an amazing habitat to thrive in!!

 

Congrats and well done!

[willzy]

Looking awesome as always!

[AwwYea]

 

Week 16

Fast-forward just a little!

 

Overview

My wife and I just returned from a 5 week holiday; we left for Europe just when the tank was springing to life; every single female was berried and some where even starting to drop.

I was a little unsure of what we would return to as the tank will not be maintained at all during this time. So we did the best we could and just glad-wrapped the top to reduce evaporation as much as possible. Lights were left on the timer and the shrimp were given a double feed of snowflake.

 

During the last few days of our voyage, the anxiety of seeing what will be waiting for us got real bad! My dreams alternated between the worst and best case scenario... surely my wife could pick up on this but I played it cool and reassured her they'd be fine! You must always have patience and optimism :)

 

So what was waiting for us at home... Hahahaha

Ugly tuffs of BBA had spread it's self so generously across 50% of our driftwood. That's the only damage!

Filter hoses were dirty and clogged but there was still flow... unsure of to what is getting in there as there is a sponge cover on the lily pipe inlet.

More importantly, we could see the tank full of life. Not 1, but 2 generations of mischlings/taiwans crawling around in there (females must have dropped, re-berried and dropped a second time). The females were also all currently berried as well for the 3rd time!

 

 

Fauna

∞ Juvie Mischlings, Taiwans (KK + RR and Panda variants)

We have a few KK's that are completely black... even the tail which is usually white is not visible!

 

9 x Female Mischlings

1 x Female Panda

1 x Male KK (Single stripe)

 

 

Hardscape

Introduced more lava rock to not only fill out the scape, but also increase beneficial bacteria.

 

 

Plants

Mini Pellia

Becoming very branchy and pulling away from the driftwood in some areas too. Will have to consider tying it down eventually.

 

Crypt Parva (Tissue Culture)

Settled in and is now looking very healthy! Will have to introduce more in the empty gaps.

 

Buce

Beautiful beautiful plant... We've been able to split most of the clumps into two now and replant them.

 

 

Next?

At this stage we are wondering if we have too many females?

We are moving all the 0.5 - 1.0 cm mischlings to a breeder box and selling them; this means the main tank doesn't feel overcrowded.

 

We are letting the Taiwans grow to a sexable size and thinking to move all the males on.

Should we keep all the females and replace all the mischlings with them so we are left with Taiwans and TBM's?

We also have a stunning Spotted Mosura coming :)

Edited November 10, 2014 by AwwYea