FAAO - Aquascaping

And now... Changes again? Definitely!

2012-01-23T16:57:00.014Z

An aquarium when doesn't born right, it is just a question of time to something get wrong... One month after setup the problems started to happen, not with the layout but with the Discus.

This layout was made for them and not for real aquascaping, so I tried to give them more space than usual just to avoid being aggressive with each others. Till first month I didn't have a thing to complain, the plants grew and spread very fast, and the Discus were quite happy with the space provided.

Suddenly, my young Discus showed signs of disease... Everybody that have Discus knows that symptoms in Discus can mean a lot of things; they start to loose coloration and get dark, but this sign can be internal or external parasites, costia, bacterial infection, etc... or none of them, just extremely signs of stress. Observing their eyes and behavior, its possible outwit some of those symptoms. With a fast breathing, a little bit bloated and fins melting, I really thought that was a bacterial infection and I started treat him (even had several doubts that it was the cause!). Unfortunately and after 3 days was dead.... What an hell!

Usually when a fish dies I put it immediately on the garbage, but this time and due the suddenly dead, I did a "biopsy" trying to find any clue for what did happen. Using a X-Ato I opened it and once I stuck the x-ato on the stomach a lot of water or urine came from there... I couldn't believe that had obstipation, easily solved with Magnesium sulfate or salt. The young Discus died so quickly that I haven't had a 2nd chance of treat him again! But it is not all!!!

The other Discus that was recovering and was too thin, after the treatment to biological infection started to get weak day after day, and after 1 week died! What an end of year!!! :-(

Here it is a picture taken one month ago.

Both aquariums side by side:

During treatments I had to reduce the CO2 to minimum and algae appeared, but nothing that can be solved on the future... I thought!

First I broke my ELOS REA50 (CO2 reactor) during maintenance and later I get sick for a week with a laryngitis... this aquarium turned into a nightmare. The last month of 2011 was a mess for this aquarium and to be honest I cannot look to it right now...

I'm preparing minor changes on this layout, some plants will be removed and I will adjust some of the wood without cause any problem to Discus and foreground plants. I hope that 2012 bring me luck and that I can transform this layout into a beautiful Planted aquarium with discus.

I hope to bring news very soon!

Update of 60L Aquarium

2011-12-09T11:47:00.002Z

I've been doing trimmings on the plants very often to get the best shape but this will take more time to get the perfection and volume that I need. Meanwhile I let you with an updated picture of this layout and later, I will add some more pictures of it.

Aquascaping Contest ' Poland

2011-11-25T20:25:00.002Z

Elos Europe Blog: Products included in Xmas Promotion ' Marine Aquariums...

2011-11-25T15:15:00.000Z

Elos Europe Blog: Products included in Xmas Promotion ' Marine Aquariums...: System Mini Marine 1x Prima Line - 01 ALKALI 250ml 1x Prima Line - 02 ELEMENTS 250ml 1x Prima Line - 03 CARBONATES 250 ml 1x Prima Lin...

Elos Europe Blog: Products included in Xmas Promotion ' FreshWater Aquariums...

2011-11-25T15:13:00.001Z

Elos Europe Blog: Products included in ELOS Xmas Promotion ' FreshWater Aquariums...: System Mini Freshwater 1x Planta1 - Periodic Fertilizer 250ml 1x Planta2 - Water Change Fertilizer 250ml 1x Bottom Mineral - Multimix b...

Update of my 60L Aquarium ' 26 Days after setup

2011-11-23T23:07:00.004Z

After last trimming plants got volume and grew very fast, but they still don't have volume enough for what I want. This kind of layouts, when we use a lot of stem plants, we need to have patience and trim the plants very often to get the best shape; this is what I will gonna do next days, trim it again but this time with a different method.
Meanwhile, I adjusted the fertilization routine and changed a little bit the quantity of each liquid fertilizer. I have increased the dose of FASE1 and FASE2 plus 0.5ml weekly, instead of 2X0.5ml, I'm using now 1ml + 0.5ml to raise PO4 to 1ppm and provide more chelated iron + micros to balance Lighting system vs CO2 (that is now 1,5bps, instead of 1bps). More CO2 will increase plant's metabolism on high light but we cannot forget to increase also liquid fertilization, otherwise the aquarium will be unbalanced and algae will appear.

Panoramic picture of the Aquarium with 26 days after setup.

Short video of the Aquarium:

Choose 720p for better resolution.

Water analysis after 3 weeks on both Aquariums

2011-11-17T14:21:00.005Z

After 3 weeks of setup and without any water's change during this period, I did all the tests to both aquariums to know how the water is. I did also the same tests to my TAP water to get a better comparison between both tanks and see if there is any oscillation on water's parameters.

Usually I do an water change per week of 20~40% depending of the stage of each aquarium, but this time I decided to do some tests because I setup the both tanks at same time but in different methods. I waited 3 weeks to see what have changed and if the fertilization's routine is right or need to be changed. Plants are growing very fast, invertebrates and fishes are healthy and till now, no signs of algae... At first appearance, everything seems to be ok!

The 60L Aquarium was setup with new products and with a different soil, the ELOS BlackMedium. I was expecting, even using ELOS AquaUno (provide bacteria and accelerate biological process reducing the nitrogen cycle) the normal water's cycle, high levels of Nitrates and some algae, but the values were optimistic; 10~25ppm of NO3 in this Aquarium.

On 350L, no nitrogen cycle, I didn't used recycled water from previous layout; I only used the recycled filters and AquaUno. I was a little bit concerned with the fact of mixed all the soil (it was reused from previous layout) that could release some ammonia due keeping it for more than 24 months on previous layout; but no signs of it; NO3 is on minimum 1ppm, NH3/4 (Ammonia) 0~0,1 (it is nothing) and Nitrites also Zero!!! WTH!!! For an aquarium with 3 weeks without any water's change and feeding the discus with frozen food, I was not expecting such good results!

Awesome news, both soils don't release Ammonia to water's column! I already knew that ELOS Terra Brown Soil didn't do it, but I would like to see with my own eyes and through tests that BlackMedium Soil from ELOS didn't do it also!!!! Both soils are Ammonia FREE!

Here they are the results of all tests that have done to both Aquariums and a comparison to my TAP water:

During these 3 weeks I'm fertilising with ELOS Expert Line Fertilisers, FASE1, FASE2, K40 and also Extra1.

Dosing of Expertline fertiliser and schedule routine:

On my small aquarium (60L) twice a week with 0,5ml of FASE2 and Fase1 in separated days, exchanging Fase1 with Extra1 and K40 once a week diluted 1/3 of the bottle in 100ml of osmosis water.

On 350L Aquarium, almost the same routine but instead of 0,5ml of each, I'm using 2ml.

Conclusion:

Both Aquariums are healthy, the plants are growing very fast, and I need urgently to do an water's change, specially on 60L to reduce NO3 levels and keep the parameters similar to 350L.

Maybe I need to increase a little bit more the dose of FASE2 on my small aquarium to balance PO4 near of 1ppm... my comfort zone ;-) I guess that 1ml + 0,5ml of FASE 2 per week will be enough, just because all the plants have fast growing, otherwise, It was just fine like it is ;-)

Special note for BlackMedium soil, what a great soil! I never had the water so crystal on my aquarium since the beginning till now... AMAZING!

Ps. All the water's test were done with ELOS WaterTest Analysis.

60L 2 weeks after setup - Trimming lessons

2011-11-11T15:07:00.003Z

I made this video to show how I trim my plants.Usually I do several different trimmings according to layout's development and plant's needs. This is the first trimming on this layout and not make any sense do some corrections on the plants to enhance the shape of general layout. Plants need to get volume and later when they get enough volume and filled the areas, I pass to adjusted trimming process.

Please accept my apologies, but this layout has not one week as mentioned in the video but 2 weeks. I mess up the setup date with the postprocessing of photos and videos. This layout was setup on 27/October, so it did yesterday (10/November) 2 weeks and not 1 week. Sorry for that!
I already edited the video on youtube to cut the first seconds, where it is mentioned 1week. As soon it will be processed, it will make sense with the title (already changed).

350L Plantado vs Discus V2011

2011-11-11T12:18:00.006Z

As I announced, this aquarium received a new layout On Friday 28/October 2011 (2 weeks ago). As usual and since my 240L Aquarium, I’m using the same soil since there. It is amazing how we can keep the ELOS Soil for long term without become into mud. Of course that we’ll loose some soil during time pass because when we place the rocks and driftwood, we press them on the soil and this will smash the grains at surface, transforming it in dust and later in mud; but reuse 98~99% of the soil is really amazing.

What I really don’t like is to clean an old layout (on my counts, with more than 24 months) where I passed more than 4h trying to clean all the roots, mostly when we have a lot of Cryptocorynes. The roots become very big and soil very compacted, that need an extra dose of patience to clean everything and I’m not sure that will appear on the layout… my experience tells me that I will have a surprise; Cryptocorynes will appear along the new layout, for sure!!
Other thing is to catch all the shrimps that multiplied on this aquarium… it is insane.

After have everything cleaned, it is time to start placing the wood and rocks (fake rocks, replicas from Unipac, UK)

When I planned this layout it wasn’t my intention to place the rocks and wood like this. I would like to have the wood more straight and use the plants to fill those areas, unfortunately it was impossible because the rocks were bigger than I thought and the wood didn’t have the right size to build that. So, it was time to adapt and improvise something to the new hardscape and adapt all the plants to the new design.

Start planting.
List of plants used on the layout: Echinodorus tenellus, Eleocharis acicularis, Hydrocotyle leucocephala, Glossostigma elantinoides, Ludwigia glandulosa, Saururus cernuus and Ceratopteris siliquosa.

2nd week after setup and with 1st trimming already done.

The discus with problem (it is quite noticeable on the picture) still resists and now starts to eat more than ever. Can this change on the layout save him? Time will tell!

11 Days after setup ' Video

2011-11-08T01:21:00.004Z

This layout has 11 days after setup and it is visible that some plants grew and have spread very well. Next days, I will trim to some plants for the first time to give more volume and start defining some areas, keeping some plants under control.
When I setup my 350L (one day after this layout), I not used all Eleocharis acicularis (3 pots), so I planted them on the front of this layout to close the empty area visible on the first video.

Please accept my apologies, but this layout has not 4 days as mentioned in the video but 11 days. I mess up the setup date with the postprocessing of photos and videos.
This layout was setup on 27/October, so if we make some counts, it will give us 11 days and not 4! Sorry for that! I already edited the video on youtube to cut the first seconds, where it is mentioned 4days. As soon it will be processed, it will make sense with the title (already changed).

Regards,
FAAO

Elos Europe Blog: Christmas Promo

2011-11-05T00:55:00.004Z

Elos Europe Blog: Christmas Promo: Elos gives you, on the purchase of a New aquarium, 6 months of products for its maintenance.

Video of my 60L ' New Layout

2011-11-03T14:13:00.001Z

ELOS BlackMediumSoil

2011-11-02T18:15:00.003Z

Most of the people knows that I'm a big fan of brown soil (ELOS Terra) and I had been using it during long, long time with excellent results. However, this time and after saw it live in Aqua2011 in Telford UK and used it to setup the paludarium, I surrender! It is absolutely amazing how the water stays crystal from the time when I start to fill the aquarium with water till is totally filled up!
With ELOS Terra brown soil usually I use some newspaper to cover the soil and plants to avoid getting cloudy water after fill the aquarium with water. In this case and to show you how different it is, I filled up the aquarium directly from TAP water without newspaper and any kind of filtration during the process... You must see to believe!!! Take 7min of your time and watch it ;-)

60L NewLayout Step by Step

2011-10-31T13:07:00.015Z

During last week (Thursday, 27/October/2011) as I promised, I changed the layout of my 60L Aquarium.
After passing some hours catching all the shrimps, fishes, plants and removed the soil, the aquarium is now empty and cleaned to receive the new layout.

In this setup, I used a different soil from ELOS, the New Medium Black Soil. I had used it before in Telford (AQUA2011) when I setup the ELOS Paludarium; What a great soil!!!
As you know I'm a big fan of the brown soil (ELOS Terra) because of its own properties that leaves the water crystal clear after a few hours even that you use a small filter. About this new soil, I will not say nothing about it... I prefer to show it in a video that I did when I filled the aquarium with water!

Products used on this setup, all of them from ELOS: New BlackMediumSoil, Bottom Mineral, AquaUno and TerraZero.

Picture of AquaUno (Special bacteria/Enzymatic Complex for Freshwater), TerraZero (powder rich in elements for long keeping planted Aquariums) and Bottom Mineral (mineral soil very rich in nutrients)

New MediumBlackSoil from ELOS:

AquaUno is a very strong Enzymatic Complex for Freshwater that promotes the instalation of an adequate colony of micro-organism into the soil, filter or water, reducing the time of the introduction of fishes into the aquarium.

TerraZero, is a powder with elements that permits to keep a planted aquarium for longer without no need to increase the liquid fertilization. This will provide constant feeding to the roots of the plants for more than 18months when used together with Bottom Mineral.

Bottom Mineral, plants need rich soil to develop their roots and grow healthy. Normal soils have nutrients that keeps them fed by a short period of time, of course depending on the quantity of plants used, but normally at least 3~4 months. When used a powerfull rich soil below the based soil, it will permits constant feeding for 12months without need of extra dose of liquid fertilization.

When I was in UK to Aqua2011 @Telford, I saw some beautiful pieces of hardscape and after a chat with the owner of UNIPAC, he kindly sent me a parcel with some fake rocks to use on my layouts. It is not common to find something like that in Portugal, or in other words, I never saw it on Aquarium's market... maybe because it's a new product or shop's owner don't believe that could be a good bet! To be honest, it was love at first sight and for sure a very useful product on my workshops, seminars and home setups. Its very light and you can carry on to everywhere; they have a lot of details and if I hadn't said so, people wouldn't beleived that was fake! Major value on this pieces of hardscape is that don't change your water's parameters, so you can simply use them in any kind of aquarium vs fishes!

In this setup I used Replica Decorative Products from UNIPAC ' The Suteshi Fake stones SR/C, SR/F and SR/I.

Before placed them on the soil, I added AquaUno (3 capsules) in bottom glass spreading them on entire bottom, later TerraZero (1 package in the same way as AquaUno), Bottom Mineral (1 bag) and finally covered very well the entire bottom with BlackMediumSoil to avoid the nutrients of the products used below stay in contact with the water.

After placed the hardscape on the right position, I used more soil to fill empty zones between the rocks and give more depth to layout.

All the plants used are from Aquaflora.nl. They came well conditioned in packages of 5 pots each in a plastic box (pots of 5cm) and with great quality!!
Here it is a picture of the layout almost planted.

Before add the fishes and after fill the aquarium with water, I used 2 capsules of AquaUno directly on the water to provide some bacteria. After 15min, I added the fishes and invertebrates.

I hope that you enjoy it and news coming soon!

Cleaning and how to prepare the aquarium for New Layout

2011-10-27T19:12:00.005+01:00

Today I dismounted my layout of my 60L Aquarium and before I remove the hardscape and all the soil, I picked up all the shrimps and fishes. Then I took off the rocks and wood, and later the soil.

Some people are complaining about the quality of the soil that they are using because after several months of keeping their aquariums, the soil turns in to mud. I'm using ELOS soils since several years and I never had that problem. I don't know if people are too much complicated and cannot distinguish mud from wet soil, but in case of ELOS Soils, I never saw it turn in to mud... If we see the picture below it seems very compacted because it is very wet, and the grain of this soil is very small, around 1~2mm.

To be sure that is not a kind of mud, I've used a sheet of paper and it is visible the individual grains of the soil... so, no mud, just very wet!

I have used my son shovel to play around on the beach to remove the soil and I must say that is very useful and pratical! With that, it was possible to separate the normal soil from rich soil (ELOS Bottom mineral), of course that in one moment they were mixed, but I will use it later as rich bottom and all the normal soil to cover it ;-)

In this picture you can see the soil on the hose and in front glass and it is not mud for sure.

General view of all mess that I did on that moment...

After remove all the soil and very carefully to avoid any kind of scratches on glass, it is time to fill the aquarium with water. This will help to "unglue" and clean all the soil that was on the glass. Now just need to do the opposite situation, with the hose, remove all the water and the soil that was on the glass and it is now on the bottom of the tank. Do it 1, 2, 3 times until is clean!

It is new again and prepared to receive the new layout! Quite easy ;-)

New pictures very soon!

My Grandniece's Aquarium ' Makeover

2011-10-26T16:03:00.004+01:00

I just started to remove the plants from my both aquariums to prepare the tanks to setup the new layouts tomorrow. I'm not sure that I will take care of both layouts tomorrow, but for sure the 60L will be finished! Meanwhile I had to do something with the plants that I removed from my small aquarium; some of them I used to my niece's aquarium and the others I will see what I gonna do... maybe I'll change also my 120L aquarium.

Here they are some pictures after the makeover of my niece's aquarium with my grandniece near of the tank, very happy with the result.

More news coming soon!

Time of some changes!

2011-10-25T18:35:00.004+01:00

After more than 18 months I decided to put my hands on this aquarium and do a total makeover. It was in self maintenance for more then one month and I don't remember the last time that I trimmed those plants... Unfortunately, one of my discus died and for sure that other one will die soon. Discus are a beautiful fish but at same time is so stupid. We know that they fight for the territory and they love to exhibit for the females or males, but for a long time they were quite calm inside of this aquarium and nothing can be done when they loose their appetite. Treatment after treatment, they insist in not eat, and when they do, it seems that don't like the food... I tried everything and I lost hope in save my oldest Disco.

I will let you with a final shot of this aquarium and as soon I get the new plants, I will share here some videos and step by step pictures of the new layout.

ELOS Paludarium Step by Step ' Slideshow

2011-10-13T23:46:00.000+01:00

Elos Europe Blog: ELOS Paludarium Step by Step ' Slideshow: We will let you with a simple slideshow of all the phases that paludarium passed through during the setup. Later we will explain all the ste...

Elos Europe Blog: Overall view of the Aquariums @Aqua2011

2011-10-08T12:24:00.000+01:00

http://eloseurope.blogspot.com/2011/10/overall-view-of-aquariums-aqua2011.html?spref=bl: ELOS MidiMarine with Aquatop, EVision on the middle, MiniForest with E-Lite 1st Day after setup 2nd Day after setup and ready to Aqua2...

Elos Europe Blog: Preparing the booth - The 1st day @Aqua2011

2011-10-08T12:23:00.000+01:00

http://eloseurope.blogspot.com/2011/10/preparing-booth-1st-day-aqua2011.html?spref=bl: N. Gandini, FAAO and Peter (UK distributor) @Aqua2011 Telford UK Lot of work to do...

Video of ELOS Paludarium ' MiniForest of AQUA2011

2011-10-08T02:00:00.002+01:00

During last week I've been in UK for AQUA2011 and I setup this beatiful paludarium of ELOS. Here it is the video, I hope that you enjoy it!

ELOS AquaForest Paludarium
by Filipe Oliveira
AQUA2011@Telford UK
www.elos.eu
pr@elos.eu

Can be seen in:
H2O Aquatics
13-15 Ongar Road Brentwood
Essex CM15 9AU
T:0845 4905052
E:Jon@h2oaquatics.co.uk
W: www.h20aquatics.co.uk

Elos Europe Blog: ELOS@AQUA2011 Exhibition in Telford UK

2011-10-08T01:22:00.000+01:00

Elos Europe Blog: ELOS@AQUA2011 Exhibition in Telford UK: During next days we will show videos and pictures about AQUA2011 in Telford UK. For the moment, we will let you with a closeup of our Paluda...

Elos Europe Blog: Prima Line or Expert Line Fertiliser?

2011-09-22T13:31:00.000+01:00

Elos Europe Blog: Prima Line or Expert Line Fertiliser?: Prima Line Fertiliser as the name refers is the first line or based entry of liquid fertiliser provided by ELOS. It’s composed by two ferti...

Elos Europe Blog: E-Tempo and LedDimmerBox - Review by Danilo Ronchi...

2011-09-16T11:06:00.000+01:00

Elos Europe Blog: E-Tempo and LedDimmerBox - Review by Danilo Ronchi...: Danilo Ronchi, writer and owner of the blog " www.Danireef.com " did a review of our E-Tempo and LedDimmerBox to control the Elite-XP. Pleas...

Elos Europe Blog: How to install E-Lite lighting system

2011-09-16T11:04:00.001+01:00

Elos Europe Blog: How to install E-Lite lighting system: ELOS presents a new video manual of how to install E-Lite Lighting system using the suspension kit and bracket. It is possible to see how c...

Elos Europe Blog: Elos temporarily suspend the sale of Terra SMALL

2011-09-16T11:02:00.001+01:00

Elos Europe Blog: Elos temporarily suspend the sale of Terra SMALL: ELOS Terra is a Natural product that is found in nature , sterilized and then enriched with micro and macro elements that enhance its char...

Video of One Step Closer ' Final chapter

2011-08-26T20:22:00.005+01:00

One Step Closer 60L - Final Chapter

2011-08-26T15:37:00.003+01:00

Those will be the last pictures of this layout, but not the last time that you'll see it... I'm preparing a video and as soon it's done, I will publish it here.

Picture taken with wide angle lens:

Picture taken with 50mm f/1.8 prime:

New layout and different vision coming soon!

Calcium Reactor Elos REA 120 Plus – the complete review

2011-08-22T22:39:00.000+01:00

After writing in the last month of two calcium reactors Korallin C-1501 and C-3001, I am going to review another calcium reactor, the Elos REA120 Plus. With this reactor, I have replaced the previous largest Korallin and I used it on my 400 liter tank filled with hard corals, and I’ve tried using both arm and natural CaCO3 media.

The photo shows the REA120 Plus just busted by the usual Elos pack, shown on the right. As usual the Elos packaging is fully accurate. The reactor is large and it is beautiful to see thanks to construction made of plexiglass and the many pieces turned from a solid, although it is obvious that to many aquarists the construction materials and care often are only marginally relevant.

Technically, the reactor operates with a single pump, a generous Eheim 1260, which deals with both taking tank water and recirculating inside, thanks to the generous flow values and head (2,400 liters / hour, 3.7 meters ).

Inside the packaging there is the calcium reactor, the pump, a small booklet of use, a glass bubble counter, a special plastic check valve completely dismantled, and all necessary silicone connections for the efficient reactor operation.

Caratteristiche tecniche:

	Elos REA 120 Plus
Reactor height	620 mm
External pipe diameter	125 mm
Internal pipe diameter	90 mm
Pump	Eheim 1260
Height free to fill	~ 42 cm
Capacity	2,7 litri
Street Price (Italy Store)	865 euro

The reactor was used, like the Koralline C-3001, for my tank which (you can see one picture) and was able to maintain a stable calcium level between 400 and 450 ppm for several months.

Constructively Elos REA 120 Plus has a hole for one probe over its top for being controlled by controller, and the upper cap can be easily unscrewed to allow us to manage the reactor filling material.

Inside, there are sponges that prevent fill material must to be in contact with the pump.

The structure of the reactor is different from what we usually see, this is because the outer chamber serves as a recirculate circuit for water filled by CO2 to increase its final yield.

How it can be used

The reactor can operate in two different ways depending on how you choose to connect the two pipes present, thanks to the double inner chamber which is fitted. The filling material is inserted into the inner chamber and if you choose the mode “in pressure”, the CO2 is fed into the outer chamber where it comes into contact with water and mixed with it through the powerful Eheim 1260. In the inner chamber, the filling material will therefore always be in contact with water very acidic, and dissolves slowly releasing calcium into the water.

Thanks to a dual chamber, the CO2 which has not been completely mixed will be taken up by the pump and injected back into the outer chamber of the reactor, working as a highly efficient system for recycling of CO2. In this way the yield of the reactor is up and you get the most from CO2 consumed. The importance of high pressure in the outer chamber leads to a perfect blend between CO2 and water, avoiding contact with the water free of CO2 aquarium, so all the CO2 is used for the dissolution of calcareous material.

Otherwise you can connect the reactor in an opposite way, by including water and CO2 into the inner chamber as a normal gravitational reactor, in this way, though the yield decreases, the reactor is more easily controlled in the case of aquariums not particularly full of hard corals, and that do not need a high yield.

Setting up

The reactor is fairly simple to assemble, although the possibility of connection in two different ways, in pressure and gravity, can confuse inexperienced aquarist. There are sponges for the bottom and the top of the reactor to prevent the filling material comes in contact with the pump, among which must obviously include the material of choice. Then you must connect the pump through the two silicone tubes supplied. At the head of this pump is a T-fitting is used to draw water from the aquarium, while the silicone tube connected directly to the upper body of the pump will push the water pressure inside the reactor.

As we have seen before you can connect the two tubes in one direction (the pump that pushes into the inner chamber – a gravity method) or another (pump that pushes the outer chamber – pressure method), then you need to connect the various superior silicone pipes in accordance with instructions. A tube will act as a bypass between the inner and outer chamber, a tube directly over the top will be used to put the water from reactor to sump, while the last tube will be connected with the CO2.

The quality of the plexiglass and the bonding is clearly exciting, it’s a pity to put such an object in the sump, only considering the construction materials used and the care used.

As seen in photos all the pipes are connected by simple pressure, there are no parts to be screwed if we exclude the center cap and the hole for the probe is also useful to make a degassing of the interior of the reactor in case if the need arises.

The reactor could also be mounted outside the sump, but from personal experience in this case I would tend to add a sump pump that pushes the water inside the reactor, or I’d use a deviation from the return pump, otherwise the large Eheim will tend to maintain recirculation in the reactor and will fail to suck water from the sump.

The upper cap is screwed to the main body from which it is sealed by a large O-ring, thus making it very easy operation of filling and refilling, for emptying is obviously still need to extract the reactor from sump and turn it over elsewhere. As there are no metal pieces then the reactor is perfectly safe in its placement within the sump.

Manual Setting

The adjustment of the reactor must be done manually by adjusting the number of bubbles of CO2 input through the pressure reduction valve balanced with drops in output from the reactor through a plastic tap.

I usually recommend starting with two bubbles of CO2 every second and a one drop per second as output. The management of CO2 will adjust the pH while management of the drops it will set the total balance. In order to properly calibrate the reactor will proceed to measure the values of Ca, Kh and Mg before entering the reactor itself, then we will proceed to assembly and setting as referred above, or in any other way, then you should wait at least a day before making the second measurement, one in a tank and one just outside the reactor, to see if the contents of Ca and Kh is sufficient.

At this point we compare the output values from the reactor in comparison with those in the tank. To get a good efficiency, the reactor should have dKh greater than 30 outgoing, so if the second measure of dKH is lesser we need to increase the bubbles of CO2 entering, without adjusting the drops in output. We will wait for a day and we will do measurement again. Once the dKh will be greater than 30 (but 35 or 40 is good), we will compare the value of Ca in the tank measured before mounting the reactor and after mounting it. If the value has dropped it we need boost output, if the value is identical it’s okay, if the value is increased too much you can slightly reduce the number of drops in output. At this point we have a little problem, because varying the outflow varies the percentage of CO2 dissolved in the reactor, as with the same amount of CO2 we will have greater or lesser amount of water. We need therefore adjust slightly bubbles of CO2 in agreement with the increase or decrease the flow. Don’t worry if your reactor will demand more CO2… with this reactor is quite normal.

We need also to consider that with time our corals will grow and will need more calcium and so you need to occasionally recalibrate the reactor, also gradually the media inside reactor will consume and so the efficiency of reactor will decrease, to avoiding this I advice you to keep the reactor full or at least 3/4 full and refill it often, also because it’s a very simple task.

To simplify the administration of calcium reactor it is possible to connect a pH probe, in order to handle the amount of CO2 into the reactor through a valve controlled by a pH meter. In this way the management is apparently simpler, but hides pitfalls. First of all you need to calibrate the pH probe very thick (about 1 time per month for best results and to replace it every 2 years) because they tend to loose their calibration, it is also necessary to include in our management one valve and one pH controller having both cost of purchase, management and time. I however have always used the two reactors manually for over two years without any problems. In any case it’s possibile also to simply put the probe inside the reactor to read the value, so you can see if the reactor is working well.

I have to say that this reactor eats a lot of CO2, maybe for pressure mode, and so it’s possible your CO2 can finish in a very small amount of time compared to other reactors on the market.

The Eheim 1260 pump included is characterized, as we anticipated, from a static head of 3.7 meters, a flow of 2,400 liters / hour and a consumption rating of 65 watts. That translates into an estimated annual consumption equal to 569 kWh and a cost of 142 euros per year (counting EUR 0.25 per kWh). Consumption in any case not indifferent.

The reactor was built, however, considering the use of Ca-Pur, Elos filling media, which requires a very strong mixture, being very pure calcium carbonate with high propensity to be compacted if not properly maintained in motion. That is why I tried to use a smaller pump than the 1260. The choice is obviously fallen on a Eheim 1250 characterized by a static head of 2 meters, a capacity of 1200 liters per hour and consumes 28 watts nominal. That translates into an estimated annual consumption of 245 kwh, and a cost of 61 euros per year (counting EUR 0.25 per kWh). Consumption in this case much more accessible. In truth I would also like to try it with a pump even smaller, but so far I have not had the chance.

This reactor does not have a preferred filling material, as the pump supplied can work with any type of equipment, among others with the ability to use a smaller pump in case of using natural CaCO3 or Arm, materials that not require excessive fluidity, as I am doing.

My use of this reactor has not revealed any problems whatsoever, never blocking, apart the possibility of a block of output due to the deposit of calcium carbonate, probably amplified by not using a pump which maintains the entrance of the reactor under pressure, in this case you must open the clamp and drain the water rich in calcium excess.

The only problem of this reactor is in fact the consumption of CO2 is very high at least in a tank filled with corals like mine.

Conclusion

I believe the calcium reactor Elos REA120 an excellent all-purpose reactor. Complete with all equipment possible, capable of operating in two different modes to suit any use, ready to use a pH probe and built extremely well.

There is one characteristic that can not leave indifferent, the price is high, there are ways of getting around, you can buy a reactor from similar services by spending less than half what is required by Elos, a feature which then poses a often insurmountable barrier to its purchase. If we want to talk about value for money, unfortunately we did not, the reactor is too expensive. So why buy it? Because it is done well, because it is objectively beautiful and because it works well, last but not least because it is an exclusive product, and as such may represent the desire for someone.

For my personal experience I think the REA120 Plus suitable for tanks of hard corals up to 500 liters and when used in tanks with mixed corals or only soft coral it can handle double the capacity without major problems, in fact, adapting well to the requested range, thanks to its possibility to management by pressure or by gravity as we have seen.

The article was published on Magazine Acquaportal in the month of November:

Update and preparation for final shots

2011-08-22T20:21:00.002+01:00

During next days I will take off all equipments and do the final shots of this aquarium for portfolio... maybe I will send it for AGA Contest 2011; I'm not sure yet!

One thing is sure... New layout is coming during next month!

Anubia Nana Mini (petit) Aquaflora.nl

2011-08-02T00:42:00.003+01:00

How my 60lt tank looks like today

2011-08-01T22:23:00.003+01:00

When I setup this tank I thought the main issue was to keep Anubias nana mini out of algae but I was wrong... Hemianthus callitrichoides cuba is the main problem here!

Is not a question of light or shadow in some areas of the layout because it continues growing very well and healthy, the problem is how it grows. Since a long time without using foreground plants that grow in layers, I forgot that it need to be trimmed very often to avoid that get out from soil after some volume; and this was what really happened. Hemianthus has tiny roots and if you don't be careful in keep it lower, with time will get volume and without apparent reason will be very weak near of soil. You will notice that, when you trimmed it... it will be a question of time! Fortunately for me, I solved this problem improvising a little bit. Using a very thin plastic coated metal wire as a staple, I held the plant on the soil renewing it again as you can see on the picture below.

Maybe I will not keep this layout for much time for several reasons...

Anubias nana mini, even with small leaf is too big for what I was expecting.

It takes too much time to grow and cutting the bigger leafs will let the branches naked for long, long time.

To get the best shape it will take months trimming and trimming the Hemianthus while Anubias grow.

Conclusion: Anubias nana mini is the best choice to have a tree without maintenance for long, long time but in this case it will be better if we use Eleocharis parvula because will compact instead of growing in layers as some foreground plants like Hemianthus.

If you intend to do it on the future follow my advice ;-)

The NEW ElosEurope Website was announced!

2011-07-29T19:26:00.002+01:00

More easy to navigate, with a clean and new design, ELOS announced its new website!

At moment and during the transition the new website will be available at www.elos.eu and later on the old domain known by www.eloseurope.com. Enjoy it!

2º Meeting of Aquarium hobby in Salvaterra ' Pictures

2011-07-15T11:36:00.003+01:00

I received those pictures last week from a friend that been with me during the event on May in Salvaterra. Those pictures are from the workshop of planted aquariums realized by me with some help of the public.

The intention was to explain them how can they do it and get a good result, choosing the right hardscape. Usually I choose the wood and rocks for the layout, but in this workshop I let them choose the wood and gave my impressions about it; correcting some mistakes and guide them to a nice layout.

Special thanks to ELOS for supplied the aquarium and goods for the workshop and to Aquaflora for plants (brands distributed in Portugal by Didos Farm)

Easy Timer for easy life.

2011-06-22T00:35:00.000+01:00

Beautiful pictures of S. Miguel Island ' Azores

2011-06-21T14:19:00.001+01:00

Workshop ExpoLab in SlideShow

2011-06-21T14:17:00.000+01:00

Workshop 18 de Junho ExpoLab S.Miguel Açores

2011-06-15T00:26:00.001+01:00

E-vision: The Elos presentation

2011-06-10T18:04:00.008+01:00

Elos has just explained several new technical features of the E-vision, that we are all waiting to try after seeing it in Singapore.

The first modules available will be ElosTempo, ElosDimmer and ElosPower and that will be followed shortly by ElosClima.

The first three modules are in fact already available in late June to early July, we see the main features in the presentation made by Elos:
The Elos E-Vision is a broad new aquarium controller line that has a simple foundation but which can be built up into a very sophisticated aquarium & home controller.
Built on a framework of standard home automation bus, the heart of the E-Vision system are the individual controllers which include the Tempo, Clima, Orp, pH, Conductivity etc.

Here you can watch the video already published when Nicola, the owner of Elos, is able to change the brightness of the LEDs on each channel in its LiteXPColor in Verona, from Singapore, noted the response speed of the system when he acts on the slide.

The Elos Evision ControlCenter is the most attractive piece of the System. It is a touchscreen to remotely control your units (Timer, Temperature, pH etc. etc.). Its sensitive, high quality resistive touchscreen has a high pixel density and very high contrast and brightness.

Its unibody case is not just a plastic box but it is made by solid piece of acrilyc, CNC machined and then polished to excellent effect. It can be easily be stick on the door of your aquarium or, thanks to the magnet inside, it can be sticked to any metal surface.
Although the ElosTempo have simple onboard programming capability, the remote ControlCenter allows for more sophisticated programming of each Evision module through an easily navigable graphical user interface.

Sold at an introductory price of 320 Euro to final customer, we are actually planning a soft launch beginning for the coming summer and more widespread availability in September.

Easy Timer for easy life.

Easy: this was the keyword when we have though about a new controller to take the place of the BIOTOPUS II

Easy: this was the main target. We all know how lazy we are when it is the time to read a manual. We would like things to work once connected, without the need to do nothing.

This is what have inspired us on the production of our new line of Controllers.

But we also wanted them to be "connectable". What does it means?

Basic: they have to work in a "stand alone" configuration, but they can also be connected one to each other in an easy way. And once "part of a network" they will share informations to improve their performances like, for example: once on the network you connect the Tempo and the Clima controllers, an over- temperature detected by the temperature controller (Clima), will shut off the lights connected to the timer (Tempo).

But this is not all: we wanted it to be easily programmable, so we have created a "sensual" touch screen to easily acces to "hidden" functionalities like dosing timer, separate light timers etc. etc..

The WEB server is on board: but we wanted also to have it controllable by computer, with a "cloud type" interface so we have included the possibility to add a Web Server interface with a GPRS modem and a TCP/IP port to make it accessible by any browser, from any computer.

Robust: we wanted it to be based on an "industrial" standard". We have housed each module inside a DIN- TYPE box that allow their installation inside industrial rack permitting their integration to the household electrical system.

And much much more to come...

In the meantime you can dowload the manual directly from here: ElosTempo Manual

Actually available:
ElosTempo: DIN-Style Timer
Dimmer 3 pins: to control the Elos AquaTop
Dimmer 5 pins: to control the Elos E-liteXP and Elos E-liteXP Color
PowerBox: to control Metal Halide Lamp

You can download this presentation by clicking here: ElosNews

Returning then to us ... that mean? For many things I notice a certain similarity, certainly desired, between the Apple world and the Elos world, exclusive products, words such as unibody and more, it seems to me to go in the same direction ... Evision will be a success? We shall see, hoping soon to have a trial ... certainly it promises well for now, we just hope not to have to wait too long that all modules will be available.

DaniReef

Nice video produced by my friend Nuno

2011-06-09T17:13:00.004+01:00

I just found this video on my friend's webpage. This is really awesome the producing and of course the discus breeding on the front glass. I hope that you enjoy it.

Postura from Nuno Almeida on Vimeo.

One picture worth than 1000 words...

2011-06-09T16:56:00.002+01:00

One Step Closer ' June 2011

2011-06-09T16:34:00.005+01:00

The layout is more or less as last update just because Anubias nana mini take too much time to grow and give the volume that I expect for the tree. This time I think that I took too much time to do the trimming on Hemianthus Callitrichoides; it is visible on one of the pictures that on the right side that HC is a little bit yellowish and their roots above the soil. The HC before trimming was with 3~5cm tall and if it isn't trimmed often the last layer will not get light enough to be in perfect conditions. I guess that in few days will be normal now that receives light enough to recover, anyway next time I need to trim it earlier to avoid this problem.

Now available through Mobile Phone

2011-06-07T03:01:00.002+01:00

Hi guys, just to inform that since now is possible to access to my blog by the mobile phone. The address still the same and the information will be visible in the correct way through any mobile device. Thanks for following my blog! Regards, FAAO

Elos unveiled the New E-Vision from Aquarama

2011-06-02T08:24:00.007+01:00

Elos has presented at international trade fairs held in Singapore Aquarama the new controller E-Vision that will replace the already gorgeous Biotopus II.

The heart of the system consists of a color touch screen module extremely sensitive to the touch. Thanks to the adoption of the modular system you can buy the complete system or any of the individual parts, without the need to buy the whole system, a revolutionary approach that probably will change the way we see computers programmed for aquariums.

The controller has a beautiful glossy finish as you can see in the picture, but the system is composed, to date, by the following modules:

Clima – temperature module

Tempo – module for managing the timed sockets

Led dimmer – dimmer for LED lamps Elos compatible

ORP – module for the management and monitoring of the redox probe

pH – module for the management and monitoring of pH probes

All modules are extremely comprehensive and can be used alone to control the part of the automation that we are interested at a price that was announced, will be very low.

The module LED dimmer will dim any lamp Elos compatible, so maybe the E-lite second series, the E-LiteXP and E-Stripe, and will be programmed directly by module itself, with a simplified programming, or you can connect it to a PC for a more complete program, then you can connect it to the touch screen E-vision and communicate with any other modules.

Elos has also developed a complete web interface, so you can always talk to the E-vision until the point of making changes to your remote aquarium. In the video we see the Elos owner, Nicola Gandini, makes a dimming of the E-LliteXP Color based on aquarium at the headquarters of Elos in Verona, through an internet terminal in Aquarama in Singapore.

On paper the new E-Vision appears to be extremely interesting, especially regarding to price, as it seems that the touch module is expected to cost about 300-400 €, and the individual modules around 200-250 €, not just the need to purchased all modules.

We hope to have soon an E-vision to try and test… because, as you all know, I am so deeply attracted from this type of toys.

At the moment, Nicola Gandini says, the available module are Tempo (timer), Led Dimmer and Power Plug, and obviously the Touch Screen

DaniReef

Elos @ Aquarama 2011

2011-06-01T11:14:00.003+01:00

Aquarama is one of the biggest fairs of Aquarium's hobby in the world and ELOS is represented there by ELOS Asia. The booth is as always well represented and as usual caught the attention of the public with the elegance, technology, quality and design of their aquariums and equipments.

I will let you with some pictures of the booth and keep you updated when I receive more news from there.

System 120XL Marine with ELOS Manta equipped with 2 E-Power and E-Light

Preparing the booth:

ELOS System Mini and Midi equipped with E-LightXP(mini) and suspended Aquatop(Midi):

ELOS System Midi equipped with suspended Aquatop(Midi):

General view of the booth:

And it is all for now... I hope that you enjoyed it!

60L Video on Vimeo.com

2011-05-28T18:05:00.003+01:00

Youtube restricted this video in some countries, so I upload it again but in a different host; in Vimeo.com. I hope that this avoid any kind of restrictions and anyone can see it. Any problem just let me know.

One Step Closer ' 40 days after Setup from FAAO on Vimeo.

Setup (15.April.2011)
Aquarium: 55x35x35 cm (L x T x W)
Lighting system: ELOS E-Lite Leds Technology
Filter: Hang on filter
Substrate: ELOS Terra Zero + ELOS Bottom Mineral + ELOS Terra (small)
CO2 System: ELOS Set-ECO with Solenoide valve 1,2bps
Plants from Aquaflora: Hemianthus callitrichoides cuba, Anubias nana mini (petit) and Eleocharis aciculares.
Fertilization: Elos Fase1, Fase2 and K40
Music by: Israel Kamakawiwo Ole - Somewere Over The Rainbow

The new DaniReef project: the Tank

2011-05-27T11:35:00.004+01:00

I thanks Filipe for the opportunity he gave me to write on his wonderful blog.

As I write mainly towards Marine Aquarium, I would like to began to write about my system, that compare with normal fresh water tank, is quite bigger.

From the problem of my previous tank that after two years had almost completely unstuck (see here), I ordered a new tank and thanks to Alessandro Falco who lent me his aquarium to keep “on holiday” my adored fish, I managed at last to take off.

The choice of measures has been to prefer a tank that would give the idea of being large, so a very wide format, despite the height. So I confirmed the length of the front window of 130 cm, while I had to settle of a width of 60 cm, and a total height of 50 cm, which might give a more wide aquascape, this also because of the layout I have in mind and you’ll see soon.

Even the furniture was finally built to measure, and I say finally especially for those who remember of the previous one… that I wanted but that I never finished, thanks to my proverbial manual skills ;-)

Forniture and tank have been ordered to Elos and I had to wait a month before the delivery order, I was actually very lucky, it is often necessary to wait up to 2 months from the order, for oversized items.

The bottom of tank is constructed by two layers of glass glued together in a staggered, as shown in next photo, which notes the characteristic bonding Elos.

The overflow, for obvious aesthetic reasons, has been placed on the far left, and is very tiny, measuring 15×11, 5 cm outside, inside is empty and has the two hoses for loading and unloading.

Into the overflow you can see the sump, that for now it’s empty

The tank will have a cycling accelerated as soon as possible to enter the fish as I said I’m managing to another aquarium, and then take two aquarium together is not the best economically. I will use very few rocks, and begin with live sand. The rocks come from an existing aquarium, and even the light will start immediately with 4 hours.

For now I leave you with pictures of the tank just in place, expect comments, criticisms, questions, and why not … ideas …

Good vision

DaniReef

About Planted Aquariums

2011-05-26T17:22:00.009+01:00

Planted Aquariums
By Filipe Oliveira

Difficult?
Of course not!
Setup a beautiful planted tank is not so difficult as people think! Choosing the right equipments, additives, soil and plants, this will help to keep a planted aquarium. Of course that when we talk about beauty this is relative, what is beautiful for a person can be ugly or indifferent for others, but is this what distinguish us as human beings.

Each planted tank is a planted tank and the most important thing is that persons do it according to their needs and the time that they have to spend daily for maintenance. In case of having some fishes in old Aquariums, the layout needs to be adjusted to their needs, maybe this can reduce the variety of plants, but it is possible to do something beautiful.

Light the source of life.
Light is so important for a planted aquarium?
Sun is our source of life in Earth, without it is impossible to keep any live plant and of course the oxygen to breath. For Aquatic plants occurs the same, each plant has different needs and having a good quantity of light in aquarium will never be a problem because you can always keep low light plants under a good amount of light but the opposite not, the plants can simply die or do not grow.

The ratio of light for a planted tank is measure by the volume of water that we have on the aquarium; is higher in small tanks (1 or 2 watts per liter) and decreasing the ratio when the aquarium gets bigger.

The first thing that needs to be chosen very carefully is the lighting system. There are too many lighting systems in the Aquarium market; some uses metal halide bulbs, T5, T8, power compact and recently the LED. My favourites are HQI (metal halide) and LED, then comes the T5 and T8; Power compact can be used because provide us a good quantity of light in a small size, but it isn’t easy to find good and quality bulbs for that system, so for that reason I prefer not use. What I like most in HQI and LED, of course when we use good LEDs and Metal Halide bulbs with high level of CRI (Colour Rendition Intensity), because they emit approximately the light from the sun. The higher is the CRI and near of 100%, better they are. Power doesn’t mean intensity, if we have 70watts of power, whatever is the intensity, we still have 70watts. T5 and T8 are a good combination for HQI, but in my humble opinion, they will be replaced very soon for LED. In case of using only T5 or T8, the better option is use different spectrums between 4.000k to 10.000k.

Decoration Sand or Natural soil?

Which is better for the plants?
If we bring this subject to Nature, we can easily see that in natural soil the terrestrial plants grow better than in sand. At home, if we want to keep plants in pots we use special soil to give to the plants nutrients on the roots for a healthy growing, but why we don’t use sand instead of soil? Plants needs soil rich in nutrients; a soil that lets the roots growing and do not struggle them, and keep some humidity.
On planted aquariums we can provide nutrients below the sand using rich substrate, but what will happens to the roots of the plants when they start growing? Some plants have difficult to spread in sand and some roots just die because the sand compact too much and struggle their growing; for this reason some brands just provide us special soil for aquatics plants, that lets plants growing like in nature and because of its porosity can keep a biological system on the soil to get a balanced Aquarium for plants and fishes.

Sand can be used to decorate some parts of the aquarium; zones that we want to give more details and contrast, and let the plants on the soil for a healthy growing!

CO2 Fertilization
Harmful for fishes and plants?
CO2 is very important for plants because they will use it for photosynthesis. If we don’t use CO2 on planted aquariums, plants will not grow as expected and algae will appear.

Only in Aquariums with good amount of light is that plants do the photosynthesis, otherwise and if we don’t have light enough the CO2 will not be absorbed and in this case will be harmful for fishes. Plants absorb CO2 during photosynthesis and release O2 to the water, so fishes will have always oxygen on the water to breathe during this process. The photosynthesis only occurs when we have light on the aquarium, so when the light turns on, the plants will start the photosynthesis process and in this moment we need to start the injection of carbon dioxide on the water.
The comfortable way to starts the injection of CO2 on the water is using a solenoid valve connected to a timer, with this we can schedule when the lights turn on and starts the injection of CO2. Solenoid valve permits to turn on and turn off the CO2; stopping the injection of CO2 on the water when the lights turn off, keeping the fishes safety of an overdose of CO2 and breathing problem, because during the time that lights are turned off we don’t need to inject CO2 on the water.

Picture of Pearling; Photosynthesis process. The plant absorbed Carbon Dioxide and is releasing Oxygen.

How to setup a planted aquarium.
What we need?
An aquarium, substrate rich in nutrients, soil, wood or rocks, aquatic plants, CO2 equipment, lighting system, filter and planting tools.

Any aquarium can be used to set up a planted tank, but if it is possible we should avoid using taller and tight measures because the layout will be out of proportion and more difficult to do. A taller aquarium needs more light and forces us to do a big slope of soil on the back to get grown plants at 1/3 of water surface. The tight aquarium (no depth) reduce the working area and when we start planting it seems that is everything so close; to give some depth to the layout is very difficult and only persons with skills can do it. Usually, I look for measures that give me some wide view, like we are seeing a 16:9 wide TV and some depth to place the rocks, woods and plants without being so close of each other.

Next step is chose the correct plants for each aquarium, but and if we don’t know what to use?
When I started in planted aquariums, I tested and studied a lot of plants and their growing, colour, volume, details, etc; but on that time there wasn't too much information on the internet. In ours days, it is possible to find a lot of information about aquatic plants and even that we don’t know their names, it is a question of visit the website of some plants wholesalers to get the right information.

Other way is to analyze the aquariums of others hobbyists and see the set up of each tank to know what they used and then start looking for the plants on web through a search engine… too easy compared to several years ago! In a planted aquarium we can divide the plants by 3 types, foreground, middle and background; if we respect that, for sure that we have half a job done; the other half, free your creativity!

The planted aquarium that I will show below came from a moment of creativity. There isn’t such thing called water bonsai… The tree was made with several pieces of wood attached to a main branch and some aquatic moss tied to the tiny branches.

This was my first attempt to recreate a tree scape on aquarium and with good results.

Some people when saw it during setup and growing process, told me that it wouldn’t be possible to keep such quantity of moss in a small piece of wood; but they were wrong! Of course that I had to have too much careful on the trimmings, but with perseverance and patient, I did it!

I will use a different layout to explain how I have done it; it was my second attempt of Tree Scape and I called him the “Pinus Pinea”.

First step: Cover the bottom of the aquarium with rich soil. I used ELOS Terra Zero and ELOS Bottom Mineral. Those products are very rich in nutrients (Micro and macro nutrients) and the plants will use it for a constant feeding, reducing the liquid fertilization on the aquarium since 1st week; Careful never let this products in contact with water column. ELOS Terra Zero is a powder and I use it for a long keeping term because plants when starts releasing their roots, they grow in direction of the bottom glass, so they will have always nutrients even after 1 year after setup. Then I covered entire bottom with ELOS Bottom mineral avoiding that the powder passes to the water column for some reason. This rich substrate can be used without Terra Zero, but depending on the quantity of the plants, it will lose some of its properties after 8~12 months. So, if you want to keep an healthy layout for a long time, I suggest the use of both products always well covered by the last layer of soil (ELOS Terra).

Second Step: Cover the entire bottom with ELOS Terra (Natural Soil) with a layer of 3~5cm on the front and 5~10cm on the back. Depending on the type of layout, we can give more depth to the layout creating a good slope of soil on the back.

Third Step: Place the wood and rocks giving a good appearance. This is the big challenge for all aquascapers or people that is just starting. It is not easy to choose the right hardscape and keeps it in proportion. Usually I take more than 1month looking for good pieces of wood and rocks to use on my layouts. If it is possible have more pieces of wood or rocks during the setup process and adapt what likes most for of each situation. In this case, I spent a lot of time preparing the wood that will simulate the tree, to be in scale and more realistic as possible. From a three pieces of Red Moor wood, I cut them and joined to give the best shape. After I tied the moss using fishing line (very thin) all over the small tiny branches and place the simulated tree on the aquarium. This will be the focal point; the first thing that people will see when look to the aquarium. Avoid centring the focal point; it should be placed on the sides but never closer to the glasses. Try to divide the aquarium in three parts and place it on 1/3 or 2/3. It was time to give more details to the layout; using small rocks we give more contrast to the foreground and delimit some areas of the aquarium.

Fourth step: Start planting. First we remove the wool from the plants (98% of the cases), separate the plant in a few parts (in case of foreground plants) and using a tweezers we plant the small pieces in order that they will be fixed and not totally covered by the soil. In case of using Hemianthus callitrichoides cuba or Utricularia graminifolia as foreground plant, they needs a special method to plant and preparation. We need to cut the wool without release the plant with 1 or 2cm, then cut the plant with the wool in several pieces and plant it with the wool. The wool will help to keep the plant in the soil and it will work like an anchor, avoid that plant release from the soil because of their tiny roots.

Final Step: Fill the aquarium with water very slowly, avoiding that the soil will be whirled around. We can cover the entire bottom with newspaper, this will help to keep the soil intact and when water gets half aquarium, the newspaper will start to float and can be removed.

6 months later and after several trimmings the result was this:

Setup:
Name: Pinus Pinea
Size: 55x35x35 ( long*wide*tall) cm
Volume: 67L
Temperature: 25ºC
pH: 6,8
Lighting: 3x24w T5 6.500k
Filter: Aquaclear 25
CO2: ELOS Set ECO + Solenoid with 1bps
Substrate: Elos bottom mineral, Elos Terra zero, Elos Terra natural soil small grain (12L)

Fertilization: Elos Fase1, Fase2, Extra1 and K40 by Elos Schedule program
Fase2 on Mon, Wed and Fri
Fase1 + K40 on Tue and Thur
Extra1 + K40 on Sat
with 0.5ml of each product

Maintenance: TPA once a week of 20%, usually I do it on Sunday.

Rocks: Schist
Wood decoration: Red Moorwood, DIY from 3 branches of wood
Plants: Eleocharis parvula, Utricularia graminifolia and Singapore moss (Vesicularia dubyana)
Fishes: Otocinclus sp, Boraras maculatus and Iriatherina werneri
Invertebrate: Neocaridina heteropoda var. red and Caridina cf. cantonensis ‘Tiger’

ELOS Black Soil coming soon!

2011-05-25T23:56:00.002+01:00

According to the brand, will be available very soon the new Black Soil Medium. New bags of 9.5L will be available instead of the atual 15L. So it will be possible to buy the 5L and 9.5L bags. As soon I receive more news about that I will share here!

Coming soon, new articles about Reef Aquariums

2011-05-25T22:59:00.004+01:00

From this point forward new articles about reef aquariums will be posted on this blog. My dear friend Danilo Ronchi of http://www.danireef.com/ accepted my invitation to be author of my blog. I want with his participation, share some good articles and turn my blog more useful for everybody. At same time I will share on his blog some articles about Aquascaping, tips and tricks. Stay tunned!!!!

Update of my 60L Aquarium with 40days after setup

2011-05-25T17:39:00.002+01:00

Enjoy it! Please change to HD for better resolution.

Liquid Fertilization PART 2/3

2011-05-24T11:49:00.009+01:00

Liquid fertilization part 2/3

This will be my first article about liquid fertilization. What I will write is according to all the tests that I have been done along these years of practice and not about what I did read over internet.

Fertilizing isn’t a scientific act that you should follow in a rigorous way; any aquarium is an aquarium and the conditions can be strictly different from one aquarium to another, even that we have used the same plants on them; light, CO2, general and carbonate hardness and soil could affect the liquid fertilization as well the way how your plants grows and consumes the nutrients.

Having a good and rich soil will reduce the doses of liquid fertilizer on water column because plants will be feed also from the roots and the availability of constant nutrients permits a good and healthy grow..

And if I didn’t use a rich soil, can I add some nutrients into the soil and renew it?

Yes, it is possible. In case of old substrate or it is possible to renew the soil adding some capsules of nutrients of ELOS TerraUno.

This will permits us to keep our planted aquarium with a small amount a liquid fertilization, quantity enough for the leaves have constant food during their photosynthesis. Plants metabolism could be normal to higher when exposed to high light and good quantity of carbon dioxide; but this subject will be explained on the 3rd part of this article.

Potassium:

The most important and complex nutrient for a planted aquarium is K (potassium). The non existence of a test for freshwater, turns this nutrient into a problem when used in a wrong way. Some problems that I have noticed using potassium, were in the past myths and related as a different source of problem.

Let’s see the case of the appearance of green dust algae.

Some people think that the problem is related to the lights; the use of bulbs dedicated to plants (pink bulbs) promotes the growing of these algae on glasses and hardscape… Are they right?! And about the lack of nutrients, could this cause this symptom? Bad or insufficient maintenance?

No, definitely not! The overdosing of Potassium is a big problem for all aquascapers and due my stubbornness, I just found the problem and how to control it.

If you dose K on the water and after 1 or 2 days you notice that your hardscape and/or glasses start getting green dust, it means that you add more potassium than plants need. In this case I suggest a water change in order to establish the balance of nutrients on water’s column and clean the glasses. The glasses will be your test for that! After, reduce the dose until the problem is solved, but try to keep it always on the water otherwise the other nutrients aren’t absorbed!

Green dust is an easy and fast way to notice that we are doing a bad liquid fertilization; if you don’t solve it and let it run like this, in a short time other algae will appear because excess of potassium will inhibit the assimilation of the other nutrients.

Phosphorous and Nitrates (NO3 and PO4):

There is a relation between both nutrients, if one doesn’t exist the other will not be assimilated by the plants; and if you don’t have K (potassium) none of both aren't absorbed!

How it works the NPK (it is known by Nitrate – phosphorous – Potassium)?

• Nitrates and phosphorous are assimilated if potassium is present.

• Nitrates are absorbed if phosphorous is present and vice versa.

• In case of lack or excess of Potassium, nitrates and phosphorous aren’t assimilated.

Which values of N and P shall I keep on a planted aquarium?

Most of people likes to use the proportion of 10:1ppm (NO3:PO4), but since I’m not using different compounds (powders) to fertilize my aquariums, I’m really happy with the proportion used by ELOS on FASE2 or Planta2, that is the 5:1ppm. What I like most on these fertilizers is the way how the NO3 is released on the water. The PO4 is measure in few minutes after we dose but the NO3 not. The chemical reaction of these fertilizers with the water is different of other brands, the NO3 has a very slow release and available very slowly on the water and only after some hours you can measure it. This is absolutely amazing when we have invertebrates and fishes very sensible to NO3 and in the case of nitrogen cycle, you can simply start dosing since the plants are adapted. Usually the values of phosphorous are null during nitrogen cycle and the values of Nitrates are very high, the slow release of NO3 from the fertilizer will not affect and raise the current values of NO3, but the opposite because you’re adding phosphorous in the water and the plants start growing very fast and absorbing the NO3 available on the water faster, reducing the nitrogen cycle for a half time (when used good enzymatic bacteria)… sometimes even faster. This is why I fertilize my aquariums very soon and most of people don’t understand why!

Iron and trace elements:

Iron is very important for plants because helps to fix the nitrogen and chlorophyll production. In high demanding planted aquarium, iron should been dosed regularly because the plants during their photosynthesis will absorb the nutrients very fast and metabolism works faster than normal; if there is a lack of this nutrient plants will start getting chlorosis, the new leafs born yellow and the old leafs get even worse; they will be very weak and after a short time will die.

Trace elements are always associated on Iron fertilizer because they help the plants absorbing the Iron and the other nutrients.

ELOS Fase1 is composed by chelated irons (Fe-EDDHA, Fe-DTPA, Fe-EDDCHA) and micro elements (boron, zinc, molybdenum, manganese etc.) and can be used as unique liquid fertilizer in low demanding planted aquariums.

As potassium, there isn’t available on the market Iron tests for chelated Iron, so it means that any brand that supplies iron water’s test for measuring the iron that they produces, they are selling “shitty” products and Iron is not chelated. Fertilizing with no chelated iron is the same of polluting the water, that iron will not be absorbed by the plants and if you fertilize on the same time with phosphorous, the probability of get filamentous algae is of 90%.

Along these years I have tested a lot of liquid fertilizers and most of them are a waste of time and money. Some people are really happy with them because after dosing 30ml, 50ml, 100ml daily, they say that it is an amazing fertilizer because their plants are fantastic and without any kind of algae; but they don't sit and think that they are spending money in one fertilizer with 95% of water… They are spending money in water!!!

New update of 60L Aquarium - 35 days after setup

2011-05-20T18:56:00.002+01:00

35 days after setup and the layout continues in good shape and the plants growing very well. I took this picture today after weekly maintenance and after add the fishes. I just found again the Micro rasbora and I didn't resist. I hope to have more luck this time... for sure I will smell and taste the water before any water change, just in case!!!!

2º Meeting of Aquarium hobby in Salvaterra

2011-05-19T11:59:00.004+01:00

During last weekend I have been in Salvaterra de Magos for the 2º Meeting of Aquarium hobby of Salvaterra. During that event I did an interactive planted workshop, that IMHO it did work very well. Take a look on video.

27 days after setup

2011-05-13T21:03:00.000+01:00

Liquid Fertilization PART 1/3

2011-05-11T16:09:00.002+01:00

What we should know about liquid fertilization?

Very simple... We need to divide the subject in 3 parts; measure the levels of nutrients choosing the right tests, use a good liquid fertilizer with nutrients required by plants and find the balance between nutrients vs CO2 and Lighting.

PART1: Choosing the right tests

What really makes me some confusion is when I talk with somebody about planted aquariums and maintenance, they refer that are using powders to fertilize their aquariums without knowing what are doing... They read somewhere that for keeping aquatic plants in aquarium need phosphorous, nitrates and potassium; basis nutrients as known by NPK. It is too scary listen those people saying that dose 20ml daily of each or even more, depending on the size of the aquarium... but the plants really need such quantity of liquid fertilizer? Unless the concentration of each liquid fertilizer is too small that can permits to add to the water's column what I usually call of Water's fertilizer; 98% of water with 2% of nutrients! But this is not a problem, the main problem is they are doing that without knowing the measures because they don't use tests and when they have it, don't have the right ones. Please don't make confusion with NO2 and NO3, both began with the letters "NITR", but one is Nitrites and other is Nitrates.

To keep a planted Aquarium you will need several tests like PO4 (phosphates), NO3 (nitrates), gH (general hardness), kH (carbonate hardness) and pH (acidity test).

Do we need all of them?!
If you want to keep and know what is happening with your aquarium, you should have them and not wait too long to make some tests when something really happens. Usually I compare this with insurances; people that have them are always complaining about the money that spend with them without taking any benefit, until someday when something happens, they regret for don't have it or gave up because they didn't need it.

Tests are more or less the same, we can have them for a long time without using them, but when the plants get algae, are doing meltdown or weak, some fishes start dieing... something is not right; and if you can take care of the problem as soon as possible, better for the healthy of your plants and fishes.

And what about strips tests, are they good?
The strips tests and even some drops tests aren't too good... to have an idea of the measure values they are nice but not good because most of the time give us different values even when you do it 2 or 3 times in a row.
I remember one time that I was doing a maintenance at one planted aquarium that was full of algae and the test used gave nitrates always above 25ppm. I will not reveal the brand, but I can assure that I will never use or recommend that to a friend or customer. On that tank we have done several water changes waiting that NO3 get normal values or stay near of zero without success. We tested the tap water and the values of NO3 were really high, finally we discover the problem; it was the tap water... or not, because this is not the end of the story! This situation was so strange because the plants stopped growing and all the nutrients were there; The aquarium was well equipped with CO2 and Lighting, no visible reason for that. It was when I remembered to use a different test from other brand; surprisingly the water wasn't NO3 at all!!!! Not satisfied, I used my own tests and the water of the aquarium and tap water were free of Nitrates... The plants were plenty of algae because of a lack of nutrient and not excess.

If this happened to me and I was using tests (the bad tests on the beginning), I really don't understand how people can keep a planted aquarium without them.

You can see if a test is good or not when you do several tests in short period of time; if the results are different from one test to another, those tests are nice to have an idea but not good to have precise values. Having 10ppm of nitrates is not the same of having 20ppm.

The ELOS NO3 test Kit is precise and unique on the market. You can measure the nitrates of your aquarium in a scale of 1ppm~25ppm (1-2.5-5-10-25ppm); to do the test you only need to use 5ml of water into a vial, measure spoon of 0,15ml of Reagent A and 6 drops of Reagent B; very simple and easy!

Tests of gH and kH are really needed?
Any planted aquarium that uses argyle as a soil, wood and CO2 usually the water change a little bit his own properties. It become more soft and sometimes we have big surprises.

General hardness gH is what distinguish from soft to hard water, because the results of the hardness depends of the quantity of Magnesium and calcium dissolved on the water. Aquatic plants grow faster if we have soft water around 4~8º; the availability of calcium and magnesium are enough to avoid lack of nutrients and in case of lack, we can simply add Trace elements on the water to solve the problem. When the hardness is too hard, I'm not refering to values between 8~14º but even higher, this problem can be solved using RO Water (reverse osmosis) during water changes. I have been noticed that some plants likes a little bit hardness, in some situations raise the values to 10~15º will enhance the coloration and the way how the plants grow. Stem plants will grow or expand more on horizontal and will be kept for more time below the lighting, enhancing their colouration and get more reds. Increasing the hardness will also increase the difficult on keeping the planted aquarium, because if they don't grow so fast as before, we need to control again the routine fertilization.

To raise the values of gH, I recommend the use of ELOS Rigenera because contains the right proportion of Calcium and Magnesium.

Carbonate hardness kH needs to be above 3º to have a stable aquarium, otherwise the water can be very acid and we have a big problem for plants and fishes because pH goes down very quickly and could pass from 7 to 4 without you noticed that. Some plants start doing meltdown and disappear from the aquarium; please don't make confusion with cryptocorynes. This plant can simply do a meltdown when some parameters oscillate, don't panic because in a few days (2 weeks) will born again. The general meltdown of some plants (not cryptocoryne) can result from the high acidity of the water. In case of you need to raise carbonate hardness of the water you can use Kh+ (buffer) slowly to avoid great oscillation of water's parameter.

Maintenance day - 13 days after setup

2011-04-29T00:42:00.006+01:00

Some people think that keeping a planted aquarium needs to spend a lot of time in the maintenance, but they are wrong. If we spend 5~15min every day doing small things, like add liquid fertilizer, feeding the fishes, cleaning the glasses or maybe a water change; the general maintenance is easy and fast! We just need to schedule very well all the needs and have some rules.

Even if we don't do something daily, a balanced aquarium can be easily cleaned, just see the following video:

To have an idea, I spent 45min doing this maintenance and I was worried about the camera, seeing if it was recording or not... so usually to do something like this, I spend 15~20min at most.
Some algae appeared but nothing to complain... It is quite normal in a new layout, but if you detect on time, is very easy to control and remove it. On the video above you can see the difference between before and after! No tricks and no photoshop...

Day4 - Bad fortune :-(

2011-04-20T23:22:00.006+01:00

Today unfortunately, something unexpected occurred! All my Micro Rasbora died after a water change :-(
I forgot that a maintenance company was on the building cleaning the water’s deposit; and on the afternoon during a normal maintenance to my aquariums I decided to do a water change to my small aquarium. Fortunately, I didn’t change the water of my 350L aquarium, which was scheduled for today; otherwise the problem would be more dramatic than this.
When I saw the fishes reacting differently and tremble, was too late for do something. My first reaction was went into the kitchen and fill a cup of water and taste it, the smell was very strong at chloride and when I tasted the water, I just noticed that wasn’t normal. Usually I don’t use any anti-chloride on my aquariums and even that I had some at home, the fishes died so fast that no product could save them…
I’m very pissed off because I simply forgot of the water’s maintenance and it was very difficult to find those fishes!!! I hope that nothing happen with the plants… wish me luck!

Another Video - 2nd day after setup

2011-04-19T01:57:00.001+01:00

New pictures of my new layout

2011-04-19T00:56:00.002+01:00

After planting my new layout, I was with several doubts in add the fishes so soon, but I found during a visit at one fish shop the Mosquito Rasbora as known also by Rasbora brigittae. I couldn't resist and bought a few... In order to supply the best bacteria inside of the aquarium I used ELOS AquaUno; it was the first time that I used enzymatic bacteria in my aquariums, because usually I use recycled water from my other aquariums. In this case I preferred not use the water to avoid add exceeded nutrients in so newest setup. AquaUno can be used during the setup on the bottom of subtract or inside of the filter media; and this was what I did. To avoid damage the Hemianthus Callitrichoides, I opened a few capsules of AquaUno and added inside of my Hang on filter bellow the wool. This circulated on water column for a 1h and after that, slowly I adapted the new fishes to the new water conditions.

Here they are the pictures of my new layout with some Rasbora brigittae.

Setup:

Setup date: 15 of April 2011
Aquarium: Elos custom made in optiwhite 55x35x35
Lighting system: E-Lite (Led Technology)
Filter: Hang On Filter
Temperature: 18~21º ambient temperature (no heater)
CO2 System: ELOS Set ECO with ATO-10, Bubble counter and EV2000 (Solenoid valve)

Substrate: Elos Terra Zero, ELOS Bottom Mineral and ELOS Terra Small
Fertilization: Not yet

Plants: (special thanks to http://www.aquaflora.nl/)
Hemianthus Callitrichoides and Anubias nana mini

Fishes: Rasbora brigittae

1st Day after setup

2011-04-18T00:55:00.002+01:00

Pictures of Workshop ' Arca de Noé - Viana do Castelo

2011-04-04T00:43:00.001+01:00

How to take pictures of our Aquarium by Danilo

2011-04-02T19:22:00.002+01:00

Having problems to take pictures of your Aquarium and fishes? My friend Danilo wrote two articles where explains how to do it! You must read it!

How to take picture of our aquarium: photography course part I

How to take picture of our aquarium: photography course part II – The Pictures

Dia 3 de Abril - Workshop na Arca de Noé

2011-03-28T13:19:00.001+01:00

Apareçam! Entrada gratuita.

One step closer - Step by step

2011-03-25T10:58:00.002Z

One step closer - Making off

2011-03-24T22:31:00.001Z

2nd attempt of Hardscape

2011-03-23T12:24:00.002Z

My first idea for this layout was to create a path with small schist rocks contrasting with the green foreground, starting on the right and on the floor, and once they get closer to the tree starting elevating like a curly stairs turning around the tree.

But, I will give up of the original idea... In what I was thinking!!!! It is too much difficult and I really can't do it. I will study it very well and maybe I come back to it, but for now, I will follow my improvisation and try something with what have done til now without removing any piece of hardscape.With water the layout will be completely different because you'll not see the branches coming from the top and only the end of them, like they were penetrating into the water.It isn't finished yet, maybe I will add something more. Let me watch carefully to all the details and decide if I need to improve something.

Hardscape for new Layout

2011-03-23T12:16:00.000Z

3 Layouts in Analysis - Art of Planted Aquarium

2011-03-17T11:09:00.003Z

I had been very busy last days and it was impossible to continue writing on my blog. Now that all things are settle, it is time to come back to the analysis as I promised.

More news are coming to this blog!
I’m working on a new layout and I think that on the next week I will have something to show. So, stay tuned.

I love this layout, simple and with a lot of details. Others members of the jury criticized the layout because of the use of emerged cryptocorynes; but for me it didn’t matter, because their positioning are very good and cryptocorynes are like a question mark… they can get a different size or shape depending on conditions that they are submitted, like water, light intensity… but in any case you can control them with the trimming. The unique thing that I really don’t like, is the overgrowing of the bolbitis on the background; they are too tall and not in proportion with overall composition. Maybe if the aquascaper had trimmed the bigger leafs it gave a better touch to the layout; but in any case, the layout is very good and balanced.

This layout started very well but unfortunately to the Aquascaper didn’t finish as I expected. I can say that the positioning of the rocks are good and not good enough depending on two situations. If he had planted something between the big rock and the others at the left, the layout was balanced and the rocks composition was really great; but he preferred to let that space empty, breaking the balance of overall composition. On the picture the layout is better than live because the blyxa simply hide that fail, but on live it is visible that big hole between those three rocks. If did used more Staurogyne on that side and gave more volume, like he did on the right side it was perfect IMHO.In any case, good job!

This layout, you love it or hate it! Sometimes keep it very simple makes a huge difference. It is too symmetrical IMHO but it works. Of course if the aquascaper simply extended the use of rocks and had planted more Hemianthus on the sides or on the left side, like they were mixed with the centre, it was much better. I really like it, it is simple, a few species of plants and “clean”. Congratulations.

ELOS Expert Line Fertilizers - K40

2011-03-07T12:53:00.002Z

4rd and 6th Place - Layouts in Analysis

2011-02-24T10:51:00.008Z

This layout in picture seems amazing but live is much better!!! Unbelievable work...I was walking around the aquariums to see their development and I missed this layout; I really don't know what did happen... for a single moment I was passing on the hall and just faced this huge carpet of mixed foreground! I thought to myself "What a hell, from where this came from? How did he putted this amount of plants like this?" It is possible to see on the picture all the details on the foreground and the mix of plants that gives a natural touch to the layout. The overall composition is very good, excellent focal point, great depth, but too heavy IMHO. If all mixed plants give a natural shape at same time is too distracting.

Great moss scape. The positioning of the driftwood is very good but something is missing on the left side. The layout is unbalanced because the driftwood guide us from the sides to the centre, and the use of plants on the right side, just created a focal point that let me stuck over there. IMHO, it was better if the scaper didn't used the stem plants or since he did it in one side, he should use them on the both sides.

Marcel Dykierek - 3rd Place in Analisys

2011-02-22T17:29:00.002Z

Marcel Dykierek - 3rd Place in Analisys

This was my favourite composition in all competition. The wood placement is very good and let us flow on the layout without distractions. It isn't full of plants (general volume) but you can see such great details in the wood and foreground. This was one of the layouts that let me speechless when it was finished. If I had not seen Marcel working, for sure I thought that he had brought the aquarium from home. Amazing work!

Jan Simon Knispel ' Lucky nº 5 ' 1st Place in Analisys

2011-02-12T12:48:00.004Z

Jan Simon Knispel ' Lucky nº 5 ' 1st Place in Analisys

This layout is amazing! Seeing this picture who knew that was assembled few hours before? Jan Simon did a great work in all overall composition. The use of Hemianthus callitrichoides cuba on the wood as "moss" or even to recreate the shape as focal point was really creative. Great Job!!!

Pavel Beautin - Layout in Analysis

2011-02-12T12:46:00.001Z

This is a layout with lot of details... When you look at it, you find a lot of good appointments, plants well placed and you can imagine in what will become in few months. But it isn't a finalized layout... this is the problem! This layout has the same problem of the layout of George Farmer and Dan Crawford, emmersed plants... You can have a idea in what this layout will become in a few months, but if we compare this (like it is right now) with TOP10, it doesn't has any chance.

George Farmer and Dan Crawford ' XL Competition ' Layout in Analysis

2011-02-12T12:41:00.003Z

This a great work and a kind of layout that I like to see. The Driftwood is amazing and well placed and I love all the details. The plants were chosen perfectly and planted carefully on the right zones. But the problem is if we compare this layout with some of were placed on Top10 we will see that for a contest like this, this layout needs a few months to mature and get the right shape because all plants are in emmersed form. If it was assembled at home, for sure that would be a tank for follow carefully!

Oliver Knott's Avatar XL - Competition

2011-02-09T17:10:00.003Z

If we see this layout like it is on the picture bellow, we will think "in what Oliver Knott was thinking?! Come on... only this?!"

But, all the hard work preparing the multimedia around the aquarium, did bring us a different feeling when we look at it on the end. It was a good suprise!!! The TV Screen as background passing images of sunrise to sunset... clouds... recreated a different environment to the aquarium. Well done!

This aquarium won the Special prize on this category because of his creativity and for being different from the others Layouts.

Obs. If he did used some moss or foreground plant between the rocks, it gave more contrast and natural look for entire composition.

2nd Place XL Competition in Analysis

2011-02-09T16:17:00.004Z

This layout is really good in general. The placement of the wood is very good and the scaper gave more attention to the hardscape letting free empty areas for a better observation. Observing the pieces of wood let you flow all over the aquarium without missing the details, colours and contrasts.

BUT, there is always a but and IMHO, is a bad thing that cost him a big penalization from me. Luck for him that the other judges didn't care about this kind of things; maybe I’m too rigorous on that, but I hate to see BBA Algae and the wood was filled with them! I could understand if the layout was maturated and it was in his home; but since he did bring all the wood and settled on the tank, one thing that he should do was to scratch the wood with the use of a knife or something similar. Simply cleaned it… It gave immediately a different look and not a lazy look to the layout.

Please take attention that this is only my point of view, the Jury was composed by 4 persons with different views and criteria!

My first comment goes to...

2011-02-09T14:45:00.003Z

Without any particularly order, I will start with this layout only for one reason; during the first evening when I arrived to Hannover and at dinner on the Hotel, I met Kristoffer and all Danish team. We talked about several things and Kristoffer asked me about some techniques in how could improve the depth of one layout. I remember to explain that in some layouts if we push a little bit the middle plan of the layout to the front and with a good slope of substrate on the back, it is possible to give more depth to the layout but always when we take a picture to submit for contest; sometimes the layout is much better on picture than live.

I don't know if he followed my advice on the layout below, but I'm sure about one thing... the layout is much better on the picture than live. Even without a good slope of substrate it is possible to see Eleocharis acicularis on the back and when it grow a bit more, will give a very nice touch to the layout. Unfortunately for him, this contest is not based on pictures but in what you see, so the layout lost the first impression and received some penalizations.

Obs. The layout is too symmetrical and the use of emerged plants cost him some penalizations.

Please take attention that this is only my point of view, the Jury was composed by 4 persons with different views and criteria!

Attending to some requests!

2011-02-09T13:20:00.003Z

Attending to some requests, I will start posting on my blog my comments about each layout from the Art of the Planted Aquarium contest. I will not intend to post all comments at same time, so you need to be patiente... Maybe one or two layouts per day! Better than nothing, isn't it?

Jury of the Event: Filipe Oliveira, Prof. Dr. Ole Pedersen, Roland Stößner and Bartlomiej Lipczynski (from the left to right)

Picture: Jørgen Fischer Ravn

Meanwhile, I will continue posting more pictures of the event and maybe some videos that I received on my email.

TOP10 - XL Competition @ Art of the Planted Aquarium 2011

2011-02-08T16:24:00.002Z

From the following order, 1st to 10th place.

More pictures coming soon!

The Art of the Planted Aquarium ' 1st Day of the Event

2011-02-07T14:54:00.006Z

It was everything prepared and it was time to open the doors of the fair to public and to all participants of the contest.

Another view from the fair.

DasAquarium, Shop of Harald; person that organized the event "Art of the Planted Aquarium".

Now, it was time to Scaping...

All participants came with equipments, boxes of plants and hardscape. It was time to create the layouts... time was counting and they needed to finish the layouts until 13h of next day (Saturday), to give to the judges time to analyse and choose the best ones; to have the 1st of several meetings before announce the results on Aquascaping Party.

Polish team assembling all pieces of moss that they had brought from Poland. Nice Scape!

Kristoffer from Denmark. Great guy as all Denmark team!

George Farmer from http://www.ukaps.org/ (making team with Dan Crawford)

Working team from http://www.just-aquascaping.de/

Great scape from Marcel. IMHO one of the best layouts from the contest.

Tobias studying the rocks positioning.

Great Scape!!! Very original and a truly Danish style :-)

Plants and more plants...

Oliver Knott preparing the background for his multimedia aquarium "Avatar"

More pictures coming soon!

The Art of the Planted Aquarium ' Exhibition Centre

2011-02-06T21:51:00.013Z

During 27 to 31 of January I was on Hannover for contest of the Art of the Planted Aquarium and I only have on word to describe what I saw... FANTASTIC! I was very pleased and honoured to be part of the Jury (Prof. Dr Ole Pederson, Bartlomiej Lipczynski and Roland Stößner) this year and of course, after I saw last year pictures and videos from the event, I knew that this year, it would be more difficult to judge... and I was right!
It wasn't the first time that I was part of the jury team of a contest and I'm used to judge great layouts; but only in a screen of a computer through pictures, nothing compared to this event. If I came to the fair on 29, I didn't believe that was possible to do what these participants did. Some aquariums seemed that they brought from home because of their quality and maturity!!

During those days, I met personally a lot of persons and of course really great Aquascapers that usually we only meet on internet, forums, blogs and social networks… and talk with them, see different points of view and to share some knowledge was really fantastic.
Aquascapers all over the world came to this contest not only with a mission of win, but for party; of course if they have the possibility of win, they will try because the prize is very good, but the feeling of be there, talk, drink some beers and be with all participants it is always a feeling of victory and friendship!

When I arrived (27 of January), the organization was preparing all the aquariums for the contest and I, with nothing to do... I went for a walk on the exhibition centre to take some pictures; the weather was nice but too much cold for a guy from Portugal, quite normal for this kind of season!!!

More pictures of the layouts and the event very soon.

Feeding my fishes with ELOS Food - Video

2011-01-20T00:43:00.003Z

How my fishes react to ELOS Food?

For better video resolution, change it to HD on the bottom right.

Difference between a real fish food and junk.

2011-01-17T10:49:00.003Z

Most of people choose the fish food by price or size, forgetting the composition and if it’s good or not for the fishes.
Without polyphosphates, ELOS provides us a fish food rich in vitamins as a conserving and through the packaging in aluminium, permits to keep the food for a long time without lose the properties. Vitamins enhances the colour of your fishes and keeps them healthy, so there is no reason to supply extra vitamin on the aquarium during the night, because if you add them during the day, it will lose immediately its own properties; it will be the same of supplying water through water… it will not be absorbed by the fishes. In this case, the vitamins are supplied on the food what will be absorbed by your fishes immediately in order to get the best results.
When you feed your fishes in a planted aquarium, even that you feed them with junk, the polyphosphates can be easily assimilated for the plants, but in marine or low demanding planted aquarium sometimes we need to use resins to remove phosphates from the water to get a balanced aquarium and to avoid algae.
Rich in proteins and Vitamins as a conserving is no longer needs the use of resins or extra vitamins for your fishes; instead of giving a lot of food, a small amount of ELOS Fish food (1/5) is enough to feed your fishes!

The video below is a review of ELOS Fish food from BulkReefSupplyCom, you must see it!!

Some pictures of ELOS System120 - Jardiland

2010-12-31T11:59:00.006Z

2nd Week ' Update of Planted Aquariums

2010-11-26T21:18:00.002Z

Hasemania nana

2010-11-25T17:21:00.003Z

Red Alenquer ' Discus

2010-11-25T17:08:00.003Z

First update of Planted Aquariums from Seminar

2010-11-19T20:19:00.002Z

1 week later from the Seminar in Moscow and here it is some updates! Enjoy it!

Moscow Seminar 3rd and 4th Day

2010-11-18T01:01:00.005Z

During my speeches and slideshow presentation, they saw my tree scapes and even that I tried to persuade them to not do it, they decided to go on and try.

3rd and 4th day of Seminar was almost practice for the participants, so they spent all most of the time planting and tie the moss to the wood.

During this process I teach them some secrets about how can they tie the moss, give more details to the wood and how they need to trim to give the correct shape to the top of the "tree".

Guys, if you are reading this, do not reveal the secret :-)

On this kind of layout the most important is a good hardscape and keep all the things in proportion to the size of the tank. This layout was setup with what we had available at the moment, so even that we wanted to do it better, it wasn't possible. The wood used for trees needed to be worked and improvised to get the best shape for the layout. Usually I take 1 or 2 months to prepare one scape like this, but we hadn't time, so for such short time and wood available, the layout was very nice... IMHO of course!

After they tie the moss and placed the wood on the right position, it was time to start planting the foreground plants (Eleocharis parvula and Cryptocoryne parva).

The layout was done, it was time to fill the aquarium with water! With careful, we used newspaper to cover entire bottom to prevent mix the soil and cloudy water.

Aquarium filled with water and with ELOS Rea30 working.

Picture of the TEAM:

From the left to the right: Michael, Dimitriy, Sergey, Varvara, Sergey (2), Sara, Tanya, Jazgool, Goolya, Maxim and Maxim (2)... and me on the middle.

Moscow Seminar 1st and 2nd Day

2010-11-16T11:36:00.005Z

Moscow Aquarium has the most beautiful Marine aquariums that I ever saw in my life, but something was missing there… where were the planted aquariums? A new trend needs to be settle to complete the aquarium exhibition and this was the reason of my visit; to teach all the team how to setup planted tanks, tips and tricks and how to use ELOS products. The seminar was organized by subject for a better understanding of all participants. During the mornings, I did a several speeches where I showed with slideshow presentation, some of my layouts, how I started in planted tanks and after that some pratice.

1st Day, after talking about planted tanks in general, it was time to show how I usually prepare the planted tanks. The hardscape was prepared in two aquariums according with kind of layout to make. The System 120x50x50 was prepared only with rocks and System 160x60x60 only with driftwood.

2nd Day, some changes needed to be done on System 160x60x60. The hardscape of this aquarium wasn’t good enough, so I just added more wood to the hardscape and explained that is possible to improve without remove the main driftwood.

Using plastic ties and some small rocks, I placed more driftwood wood near of main driftwood, the composition was now more balanced and with more details. After that, it was time to do another speech about aquatic plants, how to use it, trimming and general position inside of the tank, before start planting.

Those are the results of the aquariums, after planted!

More pictures of seminar very soon!

First pictures of Moscow Aquarium ' Seminar 11/2010

2010-11-15T23:45:00.006Z

My fellow friends, for a better understanding of some articles and international posts, I will start to write them in a language that can be readable for all; so, this will be my first post in English on this Blog. I know that my English is not perfect, but I think that is much better than an online Translation from google.

To the Portuguese community, please accept my apologies for doing it in a different language.

Returning to the Seminar, I arrived to Moscow on Monday evening (08/11/2010) and after 1h of traffic; I just arrived to Moscow Aquarium for first impressions. It was a greatest surprise for me what I just saw, in one simple word... unbelievable!!!! In all these years of aquarium hobby, I never saw something like that… my eyes simply began to shine with such beauty!

I will let you with some pictures of Marine Aquariums and hoping that you enjoy it!!!

More pictures coming soon!

Improviso 14.11.2010

2010-11-14T16:45:00.002Z

Durante a semana passada estive em Moscovo e deixei os aquários ao cuidado da minha esposa. Como ela não gosta muito de mexer no que não sabe, apenas lhe pedi que acrescentasse água e alimentasse os peixes. Pensei que ia chegar a casa e ver tudo num estado caótico, mas não; os aquários estavam impecáveis sem qualquer fertilização e limpeza.

Deixo-vos uma foto do estado actual do aquário de 60L:

AGA 2010 Aquascaping Contest

2010-11-14T16:11:00.000Z

Este ano não fui além do 3º lugar na categoria small de Aquários plantados no Concurso AGA 2010. Estava à espera de uma posição melhor, mas no entanto considerando que esta categoria é a mais difícil e concorrida no concurso, não deixa de ser uma boa classificação! Para o ano há mais :-)

Voo para Moscovo em 08.11.2010

2010-11-14T16:04:00.008Z

E foi assim que tudo começou...

Saí de Portugal dia 8 de Novembro para dar um Seminário em Moscovo no "Moscow Aquarium" sobre aquários plantados. Para já deixo-vos algumas fotos tiradas do avião na manhã de Segunda-feira, destino Frankfurt onde fiz escala para Moscovo.

Vista aérea sobre Alemanha.
Aproveitei para tirar algumas fotos sempre que possível e quando o tempo permitia. Havia muitas nuvens e qualquer aberta, era um bom motivo para fotografar.

Mais fotos para breve dos aquários de exposição e do Seminário.

ELOS AQUATOP

2010-10-16T22:14:00.002+01:00

A ELOS disponibilizou recentemente no Youtube 3 vídeos sobre a AquaTop que passo a partilhar com vocês.

A AquaTop permite ligar 4 E-Stripes de 9 ou 15 leds (cada). A AquaTop de 60cm vem equipada com 2 E-Stripes de 9 Leds cada (total de 54W de luz) em Leds de alto rendimento, muito diferente dos vulgares leds que se encontram no mercado. No entanto se achar que a iluminação não é suficiente para o seu aquário, pode muito bem fazer um upgrade para 4 E-Stripes. Para tal apenas necessita de adquirir mais 2 E-Stripes ficando com o total de 108watts de luz como é exemplificado neste vídeo:

A Aquatop foi desenvolvida para os System Midi da ELOS, mas isto não significa que não a possa usar no seu aquário! A calha tem apoios laterais para que possa ser usada em qualquer aquário de 60cm, embora a aplicação dos vidros curvos e sistema de desembaciamento não funcionará correctamente se não for utilizado no System Midi. Neste caso a ELOS recomenda que a calha seja aplicada sobre o aquário através dos suportes laterais ou então suspensa através do Kit de suspensão fornecido.
Vejam o vídeo seguinte que explica como podem suspender a Aquatop:

Se mesmo assim achar que não tem potência de luz suficiente, pode suspender 2 Aquatop com 4 E-Stripes de 9 Leds (cada), fazendo um total de 216 watts em apenas 60cm com tecnologia LED! Vejam o vídeo seguinte:

Existe ainda a versão de 120cm com 15Leds por E-Stripe!

Symphysodon aequifasciatus HD1080p

2010-10-07T21:14:00.003+01:00

Actualização do Aquário do Workshop na Aquahobby

2010-10-07T12:31:00.002+01:00

Este layout está a desenvolver muito bem e brevemente precisará de levar a primeira poda.

Assim que a Eleocharis for podada, alguns dos detalhes irão aparecer e dar mais contraste á composição em geral, pois da forma como está no momento a Eleocharis tapa por completo os inertos colocados na frente dos troncos.

Improviso 2010.10.01

2010-10-01T23:09:00.002+01:00

Este layout ainda precisa de algum trabalho na zona traseira. Apesar de andar a podar constantemente as rotalas e a plantar as mudas, ainda não consegui o volume desejado.
As rotalas que são podadas e estão já enraizadas, facilmente crescem e dão o volume que necessito, o problema está nos pés que planto junto porque crescem em altura e necessitam de ser podados novamente. Com esta tarefa ainda não consegui que todas as rotalas tivessem o mesmo ritmo de crescimento, mas assim que a zona traseira estiver toda preenchida, necessito de as deixar crescer o suficiente para que sejam podadas todas á mesma altura. Só assim conseguirei o volume necessário bem como o efeito desejado.
Um dos problemas que também não consigo evitar é o crescimento do musgo. Já foi podado imensas vezes e ficam sempre pequenas partes de musgo no meio da Eleocharis e areia, o que faz com que o musgo se agarre por todo o lado e depois tenha de andar a retirá-lo.
Quando criei este layout a finalidade era apenas manter algo minimamente apresentável enquanto o novo áqua não chegasse, agora até lhe acho alguma piada e um desafio interessante.
Vou tentar fazer deste layout que aparentemente é fraquito em algo que possa até surpreender os mais cépticos... vamos ver o que consigo fazer!

Ainda tenho muito trabalho pela frente...
Mais fotos para breve!

Dance of Iriatherina Werneri 1080p HD Video

2010-09-30T22:07:00.002+01:00