Nuthatch Posted April 17, 2016 Report Share Posted April 17, 2016 On 4/15/2016 at 6:42 PM, ibebian said: I love the Aquastyle, trying to get my hands on another. I believe it's no longer being sold here in the US for some reason. Did you find the Eheim mini-up ended up taking a lot of space? How is your bio-load with your current stock? Looking to add 2 Black Bar Endlers in mine, but I do still have the lid on (my Rocket killifish have thankfully not attempted jumping despite being known for doing so). I've seen the 9 gallon at Drs. Foster & Smith site, but not the smaller ones anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRS Fan Posted May 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2016 Well its been a while since my last update. I lost a few fish (jumpers) and got a few more shrimp. I'm down to 4 Galaxy Rasboras, 3 Kubotai Rasboras, 2 Pygmy Cories, and 24 plus Dark Blue Neos (mostly Blue Wizards). I've been also fighting BBA by spot dosing Metricide, meticulous filter maintenance, and 75% water changes every 5 days. I seem to be winning the battle. With that being said, I'll move on to some pictures as of tonight. And a video: https://vimeo.com/166158294 Best regards, Stuart Tankful in Vancouver! Mr. F 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibebian Posted May 11, 2016 Report Share Posted May 11, 2016 Yeah, I lost a CPD to jumping too, like the one time I forgot to put the cover back on.. Your tank is looking good! I dig the open space which makes a small tank look much bigger. That's quite different from mine, where I have this moss tree in the middle that is a little too large. I'm also fighting a bit of BBA due to a transition to CO2 (you can see it on the lower half of the Bacopa), but will be planting some new things tomorrow and pruning/shifting a few things around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibebian Posted May 11, 2016 Report Share Posted May 11, 2016 Btw how do you go about filter maintenance? I literally have not done that since starting this tank in January, but probably worth a quick rinse in the near future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRS Fan Posted May 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2016 Filter maintenance involves taking out the filter and rinsing/wringing out the filter media in tank water (when doing water changes). You can also pull the entire filter and light assembly off of the tank and then pry off the impeller manifold to clean out the impeller housing. I find between that and carefully siphoning near the substrate level, I am able to remove a fair bit of detritus. My tank has been overstocked from the get-go, but I'm finding the tank is becoming very stable now. Best regards, Stuart Tankful in Vancouver! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pucksr Posted May 11, 2016 Report Share Posted May 11, 2016 I notice dual light pods. Why? Sent from my Nexus 5X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibebian Posted May 11, 2016 Report Share Posted May 11, 2016 I notice dual light pods. Why? Sent from my Nexus 5X I wanted to see the effect of increased light due to co2 and light loss from glass cover and about 35% coverage of floaters. Also the moss tree is overgrown and tends to shade quite a bit. However the position of the lights being along the center doesn't seem to help much and I may switch to a finnex planted at some point since the horizontal strip will hit some areas better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pucksr Posted May 11, 2016 Report Share Posted May 11, 2016 The dual pods won't really increase your light much Sent from my Nexus 5X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibebian Posted May 11, 2016 Report Share Posted May 11, 2016 Why do you say that? Wouldn't that be a 2X increase? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibebian Posted May 11, 2016 Report Share Posted May 11, 2016 Although I would agree that it's still not quite medium light and prob on the high end of low. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pucksr Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 Why do you say that? Wouldn't that be a 2X increase? Unfortunately, no. The wall plug limits the power. 2 lights, each getting 1/2 power Sent from my Nexus 5X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRS Fan Posted May 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 Another quick update.... I just got a couple Buces from a friend and I'll see how they fare over the next several weeks. Pictures to come. Best regards, Stuart Tankful in Vancouver! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pucksr Posted May 16, 2016 Report Share Posted May 16, 2016 So, I wanted to touch base again really quickly. On 5/11/2016 at 10:04 AM, ibebian said: Although I would agree that it's still not quite medium light and prob on the high end of low. The light pod does pretty well, however, you are running parallel LEDs. Parallel LEDs work in kind of a weird way. In a normal electrical circuit, parallel is the way to go. It makes sure that all lights get the exact same voltage. This is because most normal lights limit their power consumption by their resistance. LEDs do NOT. LEDs require something to limit the current for them. The old method was to install a small resistor in front of the LED. The new method is to use a "constant current device". The constant current device makes sure that only a certain amount of current is passed through to the LED. The current in the case of our eheim is .68Amps @ 12.4V. When you connect 2 light pods, you are basically forcing the 2 pods to share the same amount of current. That means that you get approximately .34Amps per pod. This isn't exact, because LEDs have no internal resistance(heat, wiring method, etc can all shift the balance slightly). However, the sum of the current cannot exceed .68 Amps. Now, LEDs are slightly more efficient at lower current. They might put out 400 lumens at .34 Amps and 800 lumens at 1A. You are probably getting a little bit more light, but not a lot more. I rewired mine to an independent power supply. Why? Because I was bored. I have about 1.1 Amps going to two pods. It works great and really grows in the medium-high range of light. I couldn't get HC to grow, but I didn't run CO2 either. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I wanted to warn you that 2 lights wasn't going to give you a better performance than 1 light. ibebian and Shrimple minded 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibebian Posted May 16, 2016 Report Share Posted May 16, 2016 Thanks for that@pucksr. Disappointing that eheim did not design for the power dynamics when the LED track is supposed to allow expansion. From a power perspective this makes sense, though I have to say that from a purely visual perspective, there seems a minimal light decrease from pod 1 and equal light output from pod 2. I suppose this is just chalked up to the human eye not being a reliable PAR meter. I'm not committed to this yet but I'm considering just moving to a 12" finnex planted plus for the wider range of light spectrum and allowing better light penetration to the sides of the tank. Anyone with the aquastyle try moving to a different LED setup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pucksr Posted May 17, 2016 Report Share Posted May 17, 2016 I was initially pretty upset that eheim wasn't forthcoming with this info, since I see so many people doing this act. My aquarium is setup in an office with $2 million of electrical power testing equipment and a brain trust of power engineers. I legitimately felt a bit silly doing a test on Eheim's cheap LM317 based power supply. Sent from my Nexus 5X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRS Fan Posted May 31, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2016 I'm going to be testing an older Vertex Illumilux Dolce Sole or Rosso on a 7.9 gallon FLUVAL Flora tank soon. I'll probably start a new thread soon. Best regards, Stuart Tankful in Vancouver! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRS Fan Posted June 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2016 Here's the link to my newest journal (http://www.shrimpspot.com/index.php?/topic/6740-fluval-flora-journal/). Best regards, Stuart Tankful in Vancouver! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRS Fan Posted June 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 Good Evening friends. Well it's been quite a while since my last update. I've made a few changes since my last update. I was able to source some Bucephalandra from a friend and have planted them in the foreground. My Moss tree has started to grow in nicely and my Micranthemum umbrosum has filled nicely on the right side. I've stopped using the Eheim Mini Up filter and am still fighting a battle with BBA. I've been spot dosing Metricide and dosing Metricide daily with no flora/fauna casualties. Here are a few pics of the tank as of tonight. Thanks for looking! Best regards, Stuart Tankful in Vancouver! fishface 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRS Fan Posted June 17, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2016 Good Afternoon fellow aquarists. My tank is still a work in progress. I've decided that the Staurogynes do not like this tank, so all the 'Porto Velho' has been pulled and the repens is mostly pulled. I've added a few new plants thanks to a couple local guys. I planted Sagitarria subulata in the left foreground and placed some Fissidens fontanus adjacent to the heater. Here are a few pics as of yesterday. Thanks for looking! Best regards, Stuart Tankful in Vancouver! Diana 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRS Fan Posted June 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2016 Good evening fellow shrimpers. Not much has changed in the tank. The dwarf sag is rooting well. I'm still aggressively dosing Metricide to combat the BBA. I've also included a couple of close-ups of some of my Blue Wizard shrimp. Not many shrimplets are making it past my fat and happy CPD's. Here are a few pics as of tonight! Shrimp Close-ups And a Few Tank Shots Thanks for looking. Best regards, Stuart Tankful in Vancouver! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat Posted July 20, 2016 Report Share Posted July 20, 2016 Nice setup! I really like your blue neos! You call them blue wizard, do you know which strain they originate from? Have you got any shrimplets from the original stock yet? I used to have an Eheim 4g with the pod light and filter that comes with it, but nothing (plants) never did very good in it! I just couldn't get it going well. I wasn't the only one though, I was the 4th owner of the tank lol! So nice job and nice plants and fauna! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted July 20, 2016 Report Share Posted July 20, 2016 Very nice setup, tank looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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