Finally started 20G all in one tank

[Martin in China]

I will re-arrange my filter....get some Chaeto

 

[homer1475]

In a typical AIO setup, the water enters the first chamber then up and over the first chamber into the second chamber, where your media rack is and the water goes down the rack into the third chamber. as opposed to down and under the first chamber and forcing up the rack like you have it setup. I don't see any issues with the way you have it, just an odd setup.

 

[Martin in China]

In a typical AIO setup, the water enters the first chamber then up and over the first chamber into the second chamber, where your media rack is and the water goes down the rack into the third chamber. as opposed to down and under the first chamber and forcing up the rack like you have it setup. I don't see any issues with the way you have it, just an odd setup.

the water is going down the first chamber forced up through the media in the second chamber than down again to the last chamber....

I am replacing the media for Chaeto but leave the Clear FX Pro and Purigen for now at the end for now.

 

[lhof]

Finally started 20G all in one tank

What if you just swapped the contents of chamber 1 & 2? Is that a possibility. It looks like the skimmer would fit. You may need to re configure the media rack since 1 looks a little narrower than 2.

+1 on using the Purigen in the baffle. Interesting placement and I think it works.

As for chaeto, I recommend keeping it somewhat contained. I used to have it in a diy media rack and small pieces always ended up in the tank. Just something to think about when considering using something new.

 

[Martin in China]

The Purigen is placed in the baffle now and a bag with Clear FX Pro on top, this would prevent Chaeto from going into the tank (I hope).

 

[Martin in China]

My red debelius shrimp keeps hiding in his cave, which he is sharing with the urchin. Will he ever come out to show himself? I have been reading that they only come out at night, such a shame for such a beautiful shrimp.

 

[homer1475]

I would also dump those ceramic rings(really that whole media rack setup is backwards with the way your water goes through the chambers) and look into seachem bio matrix media. Its basically a super porous rubble rock you put in a large media bag and place anywhere in the back chamber. It can and will replace some LR if you don't want that much in your DT.

Not sure what the clear FX stuff is as I've never heard of it nor used it, but I would simple place the purigen and some carbon between the baffles and run chaeto in the middle chamber with some seachem bio matrix media.

 

[dmw913]

Can you get some floss placed right at the entrance of the overflow so that you knock down those large particles and you can change it very frequently to export that stuff asap? Folks tend to change their floss at least a couple of times every week. (I do mine every couple of days.)

 

[Martin in China]

@ Homer; Clear FX Pro is a mix of GFO with Carbon.

@ dmw913; I'm trying to see how I can place some kind of floss or other at the overflow...not much space there, but just a little bit floss would be enough, just change every day.

 

[Martin in China]

After pulling out that media rack my Phosphates and Nitrates already went down, I hope to get it down even more.

 

[antwang]

Looks nice!

 

[Martin in China]

Thanks antwang

 

[Martin in China]

My tank seems to be doing OK as far as I can tell, algae are turning brown and seem to have stopped growing.
I want to take some pictures, but don't have a fancy camera, does anyone know how to take a decent picture with a cell or my Sony Cybershot? Probably need to turn of those blue lights.....

 

[rjkrejci]

Sounds like you're getting in control of your algae nutrients...great!

For cell pics, the more light the better. And blue/fluorescence is pretty difficult to represent well on cheaper cameras without a lot of white balance control or dynamic range or RAW shooting. But you can still get some great shots with a cell phone camera.

 

[Martin in China]

My scarlet shrimp died, I think he got bullied by the dotty back while molding as they lived on (or should I say "in") the same rock pile.

It's still difficult to get any CUC here, I hope I will be able to find some somewhere.

 

[Martin in China]

Installed a chiller (Hailea 100-A) cause I don't think I can keep the temperature low enough now the days are really heating up (already 30 celcius and above).

Made some pictures too.

The filter as it is now (floss looking thicker than it is, it's been folded up around the edges), Chaeto has already doubled in size after 10 days).

My wife calls this "bald man's head", as this was how it looked like when I got it the first day.

A Dutch without some orange wouldn't be a real Dutch. )

Simply love the green of this one (picture doesn't do it justice).

 

[rjkrejci]

What light are you using for the Chaeto? Are you running 24/7?

 

[Martin in China]

What light are you using for the Chaeto? Are you running 24/7?

It's a cheap LED light (as seen on photo) running from 12 o'clock at night until 2pm (14 hours of light)

 

[Martin in China]

maybe it's useful to mention that those LED's are 10X0.5 Watt, 8000 Kelvin.

 

[Martin in China]

My tank's pH, KH Ca and Mg are a bit on the low side I am thinking of dosing kalkwasser, here a my tank water parameters;

PO4 0.1
NO3 5
NO2 0
NH4 0

Mg 1290
Ca 400
KH 7.7
pH 8.0 (midday lights)
s.g. 1.024
temp. 25 celcius