"20.5L The Raintree Canopy": Algae Bloom & How it was controlled

As expected, under the high-intensity lighting, algae and fungus developed very fast during the first week. Fungus also covered all over the driftwoods. I was not so worried about fungus because it will naturally disappear when tank matures and also it is easy to clean the fungus using algae eaters such as Otocinclus/Shrimps or Horned Nerite Snails.

Blue Green Algae was also seen on every branch and covered the mini fissidens. It might due to the water circulation since the canopy is quite big which probally on the way of the flow direction. 

Blue Green Algae

"20.5L The Raintree Canopy": Aquascaping Setup

It might be the time to put up the summary for the tank specifications:

Tank Size:	36cm x 22cm x 26cm (High Clarity / Low Iron Glass)
Gross Tank Volume:	20.59L
Substrate:	ADA Aquasoil New Amazonia (<3L)
Filter System:	Eheim Classic 150 (2211)  + 13mm GUSH inflow/out flow Lily Pipe
Filter Media:	Bio Media Filter
Temperature:	28-29°C (Day) / 27-28°C (Night)
Lighting:	Twinstars 360E, Temp: 7050K, 17W, 1100 Lumen,  Full spectrum LEDs for optimum color reproduction
Light Duration:	6 hours (0800hrs- 1100hrs, 1800hrs-2100hrs)
Pressurized Co2:	OceanFree Co2 System + CO2 diffussers
Co2 Duration:	6 hours (0700hrs- 1000hrs, 1700hrs-2200hrs)
Carbon Supplement:	Seachem Excel: 0.5ml daily
Fertilizer:	Seachem Florish: 1.0ml weekly
	Seachem Iron: 1.0ml every other day
	Seachem Potassium: 2.0ml every 2 days
Other additives:	Seachem Prime
Fan/Chiller:	None
Water Change Regimen:	50% weekly
Water Parameters (Cycled):
Tested using API Test Kits
pH = 7.0
Ammonia = 0 ppm
Nitrite = 0 ppm
Nitrate = 5-10 ppm
Flora:	Rotala Rotundifolia
	Anubias nana 'petite'
	Fissidens Splachnobryoide
Fauna:	Neocaridina Davidi
	Caridina multidentata
	Otocinclus affinis

Step-by-Step setting up the tank was summarized as below: ^^

Leveling of the cabinet and tank were carried out before water flooding. 

The tank was cleaned properly before placed in the position.

Plastic mesh was placed at the bottom so that the force would spread around and the rocks would not damage the tank. Pagoda rocks were chosen in this setup. This type of rocks can be found quite easily at any LFS in Singapore. As can be seen, an island was created at the corner of the tank.

Lava stones were placed at the bottom of the "island" to create the height for a better sense of depth and also to create a good environment for beneficial bacteria in the future. 

ADA Aquasoil (normal type) was put on the island after that. 

Lastly, Sudo Bottom Sand was placed in the tank. I chose Sudo Bottom Tank since it had warm colour and matched the idea of the layout i.e. warm tone. It looked quite nice at the time of setup. 

Water was introduced into the tank using traditional method. :P

Rotala Rotundifolia were planted on the island. Those beautiful stem plants grow very fast which would help to minimize algae outbreak at the beginning stage. Rotala Rotundifolia were planted quite densely at the background.

I attached Anubias nana 'petite' to small lava stones using superglue and placed them under the canopy of the tree. It would be good growing under the shady area there. 

Finally, the "tree" was placed in the tank. It fitted nicely in the tank. I feel it was a bit crowded with all equipment and stuff in the tank though. I would find the way to minimize that clutter in the future once the tank becomes more stable. 

A snap of the final product Tada! :D

I will update more on the coming days. Thanks for reading. ^_^

"20.5L The Raintree Canopy": Preparation for The Tree

A dream was about to come true. I can arrange and re-arrange again and again,  the bonsai driftwood in the tank, just to daydream about what I could create with it.

The bonsai driftwood  fit nicely in this nano tank

Fissidens Splachnobryoide (mini fissidens moss) was chosen as the "raintree's leaves". The reason was mini fissdens would grow slowly and spread over the surface rather than grow too bushy like other mosses. It stays short and hence, less maintenance in the future.

Fissidens Splachnobryoide was chosen to bring life to this driftwood

However, I have never tried to grow it before and therefore, not so sure about how it would turn out. Some say this moss is quite difficult to grow since it needs a cooling environment with good lighting. Whereas, others have also been successful growing it under a non-chilled environment in a low-tech tank. In my case, it would be mixed of those two: high-tech tank with no chiller and lean fertilizer dosing.

A tub of mini fissidens in loose form was prepared for this mission

DSM (dry-start-method) was used to start growing mini fissidens on the bonsai driftwood. I just tried to turf loose-form mini fissidens into branches of the driftwood. Thereafter, water was sprayed on it time to time during the setting up. Few centimeters of water was left in the bare tank and wrapped over by Clingwrap. To keep it moist, water was sprayed over the wood 1 to 2 times a day then the tank was wrapped back again. The tank was left outdoor (not direct sunlight) for about a week.

Spraying water on driftwoods to make it wet

Mini fissidens moss was placed on the bonsai branches

Tanks was then covered and left outdoor for about a week

After a week, the moss seemed to adapt to the new environment and I could see some new tiny leaves grown out. The tank was then brought indoor for flooding, it is the transition period for the moss to grow submerged and meanwhile, I was gathering the rest of necessary equipment. There was no CO2 injection at that time. This is a kind of low-tech tank with low lighting to minimize algae.

The tank was brought indoor and it was ready to be flooded

The tank after being flooded

The "Tree" looks quite interesting at this angle.

The bonsai driftwoods leached out lots of tannins even I already boiled it before it was used. It is a good time to soak it a little bit more.

Tannin leached out, the tank looks like a bio-top setup

 Next step will be aquascaping! :)

"20.5L The Raintree Canopy": Preparation

I always wanted to create a tree canopy underwater.

Only imagine a cold-dry driftwood that transformed to a lovely tree with wide lush green branches, fish, and shrimps enjoying themselves under the canopy would make me feel so relaxed and inspired.

So here it goes.

The Bonsai driftwood piece was bought during my trip to Vietnam

It started when I happened to get some bonsai driftwoods from an LFS in Vietnam during the visit there. The pieces of bonsai driftwoods with great canopy really made me dream about how to make them relive in the underwater world. I kept the woods for quite sometimes by putting them on my working table, where I can daydream about what I could do. J At that time, I already had three planted tanks at home and space was really limited to put just one more. The chances of having a bigger tank (i.e.3ft or 4ft) was slim due to the space limitations at home and also a “no-no” approval from “boss”. Alright, “happy wife, happy life”!  Nevertheless, I still looked for space ouside my house, along my corridor, just to have a nano tank, with minimal budget of course. Hehehe…

A blank glass canvas that I can daydream every time :)
Tank size 36cmLx22cmWx26cmH

And the right time came. I saw a very good deal from an AQ fellow hobbyist selling 36cm crystal tank and Twinstar LED Light 360E. I quickly got the tank first and did a research for a few days before getting the light. The reason was this light was quite strong and would cause a headache due to algae issue later on. However, you never try, you never know. I would like to go ahead and test it for my own experience. It was a really good deal anyway. J

Tank, checked.

Light, checked.

Testing Eheim 2211 in progress

Filter. I got an Eheim Classic 150 (2211) as a spare filter in my storage. So, it was just nice to have it for this new nano tank since the flow rate of 300l/hrs was quite good for this 20L tank.

CO2 set was top-up at NA Thomson and now ready for the new tank

CO2 set. I also had a set of CO2 cylinder and solenoid valve spared. Just need to go for top up, get a CO2 diffuser and done.

Things all came at the right time, again. When I got most of the equipment needed and looked for the place for the tank, I got another deal for a 45cm ADA Style cabinet from a carouseller. The seller was so nice that even delivered the cabinet to my block. The hinges were a bit rusty but it still can function. 

Before condition of the cabinet.

After some cleaning and touch-up

It fits perfectly in my small corner of the room
Cabinet size: 45cmLx25cmWx80cmH

And the journey begins. :)

How BBA Got Beaten Up?

I had a fight against BBA in my 2ft tank recently, and I know some of you guys might suffer the same thing. Hence, I would like to share my own experience in fighting BBA with you. It would take about 5 weeks for this treatment to complete. 

• First step is to remove/cut-off the BBA affected parts. You can try to do trimming first to see if the plants can bounce back. If still got affected by BBA, then you can remove the plants totally. You can re-plant some good portions/stems after carefully inspect to ensure to sign of BBA. I removed the whole bunch of Japonica Blyxa from my tank and choose the healthiest ones free of BBA to re-plants and it worked
• Cleaning all of the lily pipes, tubes, surface skimmer…etc. I used to rub some salt on them for disinfection, following by cleaning thoroughly under tap water. 
• Canister filter to be cleaned thoroughly as well. The white filtration pad to be replaced with the new one, bio-media filter media to be rinsed with tank water, pump impellers to be clean to maximize the filter performance. 
• To cut down the intensity of lighting that you got (if possible) or reduce the lighting time. I dim the light by 2 steps (Chihiros A series) and cut down the lighting time from 8 to 7 hours a day. This is very important to minimize the chance for BBA to dominate your tank again.
• For the first week after the above cleaning steps, do water change from  2-3 times a week, every time 50%.  
• For the next 4 weeks, water change once a week as normal, every time 50%. I used AlgExit from EasyLife after each water change (5ml for my 2ft tank, 64 litters).
• During this treatment time, just observe if you see any BBA, just remove it by cleaning the equipment or remove the affected leaves/plants.

I also bought 1-2 S.A.E. fish for BBA treatment, they really did their job very well. They keep the BBA and also other algaes in check. Very hardworking anti-algae crew. 

After 5 weeks treatment, BBA was under control in my tank.

I find that BBA in my tank spread during the time CO2 was running out, at the same time there was cetrain changes in lighting set up. So just make sure that the CO2 is always suffice and lighting don’t change drastically in intensity/duration. In this battle, less light and more CO2 would be better. For fertilizer, I just dose in everything as normal: Seachem Potassium, Iron, Flourish, Excel, Nitrate, Phosphate and Trace.

The above was written base on my observation in my tank. All the best and hope you can beat the BBA successfully! 

Weekly Tank Maintenance (Time Lapse)

Weekly maintenance tasks are fun and enjoyable and should not be considered as chores :). I usually turn on some of my favourite music and start the maintenance works to enjoy "Me time". It would take me around 45 mins to 60 mins to do some basic cleaning for my 2ft tanks and another 30-45mins for my other 2 nano tanks. Basic maintenance includes cleaning the glass walls, cutting/trimming/pruning those old leaves/plants and re-plants the stems and changing around 30-50% of water. More time would be spent if I choose to clean the filter, tubing and lily pipes. 

Overall, the rewards after maintenance session is immeasurable to me! You can really enjoy the sparkling crystal-clear tank as a slice of nature in your home sweet home for at least a week or two. 

I have recorded some time lapsed during my weekly tank maintenance. If only it could be only less than 1 minutes to clean the tank huh? Haha! Enjoy and cheers! 

Maintenance works for my 2 nano tanks

Maintenance works for my 2ft tank