Morcs

Hard for me to say how narrow the beams are - the spread of light is good and 'beams' arent visible. Quite happy with the unit overall. However, i wouldve liked it to be more sunlight rather than cool white in the spectrum. I think on a 4ft, the biggest unit you can fit should be good, due to the depth though, your foreground plants might be limited to low light plants. Cram it full of stems and crypts, and javaferns and i think the light will be good.

Thats the idea. Tempted to add some diy even with the low light, its always given me good results, especially with 'easy' plants like this

Rescape.

rescape coming this week realised some of the plants aren't in the best positions in relation to other plants and elevation. plus the tank is lacking a focal point.

a week on with my unit and stems are responding well (they do to pretty much any light) but dwarf sag isn't looking to good, it usually likes higher light, plus my tank is a bit deeper at 40cm id say they are good for a low tech setup

Its fairly quiet, but hard to say how it would be in the dead quiet of night. Eventually i want to have it quiet heavily stocked, not sure what with yet. Waiting for the plants to settle down and decide whats staying in - dont want to be constantly putting my hands in rearranging plants when its stocked

Got them from HFF Albany. Went in early on a Saturday morning and sat on the floor and played lego with them pretty much until I had two pieces that I liked :bggrn: Heres the tank this morning. Looking forward to everything straightening up, then ditching their emersedness.

So light and rest of the plants arrived today so much work to do. Light is a beamswork 200 LED unit. 5W with 33 LEDs. Well and truly in the low light category but very sleek and compact and looks fantastic on the tank without lids (but i have cats ) Baby javaferns finally arrived so i could attach them to driftwood to complete the hardscaping. Then i had one of those 30 plant specials from that fella on trademe. I wanted to plant it densely to start and see what thrives / dies and go from there. they come as a big bundle: Here they are, threw most in the bin as not enough room. Will update later this week

Thought id start a proper log for once Found the perfect tank for my needs. Looking to do a low maintenance low tech (excel, no ferts) planted tank with community stocking (been years since ive done a community tank) For plants im going random. usually ill use only 2-3 varieties, but this time im going to just cram it with all sorts. Waiting for one of those trademe special packs of 30 stems to arrive to go with the crypts, sag and others that ive been growing out in another tank. Tank: Aquaone Aquanano. 40x40x40, 55L (12G) 4mm curved curved glass with false back hiding filtration area. Really like the look of this. Filtration system appears to be awesome - some of the benefits of a sump (large size, quick and easy to maintain, hides equipment) without having the plumbing, or a pump big enough to move water a distance upwards. Comes with a 500lph aquaone powerhead which fits nicely along with a 55W heater. 2 bags of bio noodles are supplied (great so you can wash them alternately (to avoid killing bacteria) Tank is 4mm glass with lids, will look great rimless. Im a bit apprehensive as tanks this size im used to having 6mm glass and some bracing. Substate is seachem flourite dark. Looks nice and naturally. Washed it about 10 times, and managed to fill the tank cleanly. As soon as i decided to rescape the substate it clouded up, and thats where im at currently. Waiting for light unit to arrive :cofn: So tank arrived today, nice box. I bought mine cheap from livingreef.co.nz, as it didnt come with a heater or PL light unit like it says on the box Rear filter unit. Pulled the flourite out, and lay some black grit underneath to give me more depth and so i can build up a corner somewhat. Chucked in my few crypts and sag and filled her up (again), was waiting for light to arrive.

Beamswork LED. Reviews have been good, no dimming. Adjustable for different tank sizes. picked up the 5W unit for $48!

Thanks guys, will check those out

Anyone know of any decent led units good for nanos? The only ones i can find are the dymax units that hff sell. But ive read alot that they are dim substantially after 6 months. Its for a 40cm cube, will be higher end of low tech planted.

Use a small vac and just use a circular motion just above the surface - thatll loosen and suck up any debris. Works especially well for silica sand.

standard footprint of a 55g is only 1ft from front to back. Plus this IS just a grow out.

it WONT stunt in a tank this size. In my opinion it has better dimensions than the minimum recommended 55g tank size - extra depth so the fish can actually turn around. 55g's are VERY narrow.

Just buy FX5 pads? They are pretty awesome.

For upto a year, depending on growth. No powerfeeding.

With a juvenile. Not an ideal size long term, but borderline. 1250x40x35. Missus wants an oscar, so i said we will get one for a while at least seeing as though got good filtration etc

Wondering if this will be fine, will be BB also. Just looking at the tank, and from experience should be ok, just looking for other opinions. Other dimensions are adequate.

Retest. retest. retest. If still getting those readings, do a large water change. Then perhaps question the kit itself.

If you value your computer dont use a freebie such as AVG. Ive used it as an interim between proper antivirus, and was astounded at how many trojans were in my system that were detected by proper software. But +1 for microsoft security essentials.

So update... Brown algae still an issue. Getting a bit of green too. Figured theres something in the tap water. Removed 1 light bulb. Ordered some purigen to take care of the water quality issues, upped water changes to about 60% per week. Switched to a proper co2 diffuser, and got a bucket load of mini sag on the way for the foreground. Pics next week

Update. Accrued a lot more crypts, mostly wendtii, maybe a few becketti. Tank still settling in I guess, been having circulation issues - lack of. Eheim 2224 isnt quite powerful enough given the footprint of the tank. Ive tried wavemakers, and my aquaclear powerhead started sucking up stray barbs - hopefully the quick filter attachement if i can still get hold of one will solve these woes. Also brown algae is still omnipresent. Ive changed both T5 bulbs to new Life glos, cut photoperiod down to about 6 hours and ive stopped dosing liquid ferts, co2 still running. Never really had a brown algae issue before, except in a marine tank, and im assuming its the same sort of thing, and that i have to wait it out. Basically looking forward to when the algae disappears and i can get these crypts cranking - as slow as they do...

Careful with those impellers, they aint cheap... I used to strip and clean the impellor and associated areas every second clean of the filter, pays to keep them tip top - but the more handling of it, higher chance of breaking it. I dropped one once...

The light units have had recalls. Are they are coloured dots on yours?