Aquatic Art

Surface Skimmer for Lily Pipe

2012-01-24T17:34:00.010+08:00

I'm on the way back from my home town, 2 hours flight with nothing to do. So I was trying to get some inpiration for my new scape when an idea strike me. An add-on surface skimmer to lily pipe inlet. Normal surface skimmer in the market does not look nice and defeat the purpose of using lily pipe. Without surface skimmer, the surface oil can be quite thick. Me current solution is by adding couple of guppy.

Below are what I sketch during the flight..
Second version with floatable head
OK, sketch is easy, make it real is hard.

Some issue that I can think of:
1. Need a transparent tube which does not turn cloudy after long period in the water. Non tranparent will defeat the purpose of using lily pipe.
2. Secondly need to source for plastic screw, metal screw will scratch the lily pipe glass. Also need a way to create screw thread on the pipe. This screw will be used to secure the surface skimmer to the lily pipe. Need at least three.
3. Need some material for the bottom, the part that blocking partial of the inlet.

How much CO2 Amano put in his tank?

2012-01-06T18:05:00.007+08:00

I just happen to watch ADA view #86 (http://www.adana.co.jp/en/sc/news/detail/414) and saw that the bubble counter is clearly exposed (circled in red). So I just wondering how many bps of CO2 injected to this 60cm tank. Note that bps is not accurate, different brand of bubble counter give different bps for the same amount of CO2. But never mind, out of curiosity I count how many bps from the video and suprise-suprise its 3 bps same as mine. Many people in the forum was surprise when I told them I inject 3 bps on my 2ft tank.

I also try to count the bps for 90cm tank from ADA view #85 (http://www.adana.co.jp/jp/sc/news/detail/412) but it was too fast, difficult to count from the video. However. based from my visit to Niigata on 2009, it was about 7 or 8bps. It is difficult to count once it is over 5bps.

2ft - Sunrise

2011-12-23T21:17:00.007+08:00

Merry Christmas to All

To celebrate Christmas, here is my latest 2ft scape, Sunrise. Its a simple classic iwagumi scape, copy of one of many Amano works. The rocks was specially choosen by my son. Not really low tech but low maintenance, just weekly 30%-40% water change, no trimming needed.

Tank setup specification:
Light: 55W PL
Filter: Eheim 2215
CO2: 2-3 bps inline diffuser
Fertilizer: DIY
Temperature: 28-30
Substrate: ADA Amazonia

Fauna:
- Green Neon
- Malayan shrimps

Flora:
- Hemianthus callitrichoides (HC)

DIY LED Set for 2ft tank (2nd gen)

2011-12-21T15:14:00.031+08:00

From the previous design which is 6x3W LED for 2ft tank, I found that it is not bright enough. For this second generation I add another 6 LED, thus total 12x3W led. Still 2 rows but 6 LED for each row.
This time I drive both row together using off the self constant current source LED driver
LED driver manufacturing spec:
- Input voltage: AC 85-265V
- Output voltage: DC 28-45V
- Output current: 670mA

The result is quite good, brighter than 2x36W PL light, more LED mean brightness more uniform and all the plant produce bubble 30 minutes after light on. I do not have equipment to measure brightness nor PAR, so I wonder if I put too much light but never mind, will see how it goes.

Initially I was worry about the heat generated by LED. In the previous design there are only 3 LED on the 5x60 cm aluminum plate, now its double and it is not a heat sink just a plate without fins. Temperature measured just right under the LED heat sink show maximum 49.7 degree C. Not sure the Juction temperature though.

My guess probably because the LED driven at 670mA instead of 1A. I did current measurement using Tektronix current Probe and LeCroy scope, it show that maximum current is ~897mA, minimum current is ~589mA and average around ~720mA. Voltage measured at the driver output is 36.75V. Thus the LED took around 26W.

Power used by the whole light set (LED + Driver) is around 27W. LED alone take 26W, thus LED driver efficiency is not that bad, only 1W power loss.

Indonesia Aquascaping Contest (Photo Contest)

2011-12-13T14:32:00.005+08:00

1st Place:

Prizes:
Indonesian Aquascaping Contest Cup - 1st and certificate
Tetratec 2400
ADA Aquasoil AMAZONIA II powder
KeiMac 550ml
KeiMic 550ml
KeiPro 550ml
CO2 set 0,8 liter
TWEEZERS(CURVE TYPE)
TWEEZERS(STRAIGHT TYPE)
Sand scraper

2nd Place:

Prizes:
Indonesian Aquascaping Contest Cup - 2nd and certificate
Tetratec 1200
ADA Aquasoil AMAZONIA II powder
KeiMac 550ml
KeiMic 550ml
KeiPro 550ml
CO2 set 0,5 liter
Denerlle Deponit Mix 120

3rd Place:
Prizes:
Indonesian Aquascaping Contest Cup - 3rd and certificate
Tetratec 750
ADA Aquasoil AMAZONIA II powder
KeiMac 550ml
KeiMic 550ml
KeiPro 550ml
CO2 set 0,5 liter
Sera Floredepot 4,7kg

Email from Cheryl Rogers (AGA President) regarding tank size cheating issue

2011-12-02T15:36:00.007+08:00

I had received email Cheryl Rogers regarding tank size cheating issue. Below is the email but just to be sure I had requested Cheryl Rogers to share the prove that Chow Wing Ki or Dave Chow give to AGA so that who ever read this blog will know which tank size correct and close the whole thing.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The AGA International Aquascaping Contest Committee have reached Chow Wing Ki through Dave Chow, who helped him to submit the entry. We are now satisfied that his tank's measurements for the AGA contest are correct, although the lighting was initially reported to us incorrectly. Chow Wing Ki is using the Arcadia Series 3 Pendant lighting equipment containing two 150W HQI and two 30 W T8 FL, and it does overhang the edges of the tank but is suspended above the tank. Since 30 W T8 fluorescent lamps are about 36 inches long, this corresponds with the reported tank size.

The tank size measurements reported to the IAPLC were incorrect.

The AGA does not believe that there was any malicious or dishonest intent on the part of any person. We regret the errors in web site code and entry information that originally misled you.

The AGA Contest Committee and Judges unanimously agree that we stand behind the original results and ask that you publicly retract your allegation of cheating on your blog.

Regards,

Cheryl Rogers
2011 AGA Contest Committee Chair
AGA President

IAPLC 2012 New Judging System

2011-11-30T17:47:00.003+08:00

Detail of IAPLC 2012 new judging system is out (http://en.iaplc.com/about/grading.html).

Cheater at AGA 2011 competition spotted

2011-11-25T17:06:00.015+08:00

AGA International Aquascaping Contest 2011 result was anouced last week and my tank "Lost" happen to be in 2nd place in 120-200L. However to my surprise the 1st place goes to IAPLC 2011 rank #14. It is a great scape, no doubth about it but according to the tank size written on the IAPLC booklet, it is 120x55x50cm tank which is 300L or 87.177 US gallons. How could the tank of that size competing in 120-200L category? I checked the AGA entry details and it was written 100x45x40cm which is 180L or 47.551 US gallons. Someone was obviously cheating. He reduce the tank size so that he can compete on smaller category (maybe he want to be in different category as Cliff Hui) or to have better depth. Imagine 300L tank submited as 180L, reported almost half.

The holy-grail of aquascaping is to make small tank look big. What the easy way to do that? Declare big tank as small tank. Imagine what would hapeen if I declare my 90x45x45cm tank as 30x15x15cm tank? Every one will amaze ont he depth that I create on that tiny little tank.

I have reported this issue to AGA but they dont seem to be eager to disqualify it.

IAPLC rank #14 entry:
AGA 2011 entry:

DIY LED Set for 2ft tank

2011-11-10T15:35:00.033+08:00

It has been a while for me wanted to try LED light but it always been turn off due to the price as well as the fact that not all LED light set in the market can grow plant. Most of them just bright enough for us to see but not for plant to grow. It may not designed for planted tank. The one that design for planted tank cost very-very expensive. So I decided to DIY my self.

My target is to replace my 2x55W PL light set with LED. I choose to use CREE 3W led because I read from forum and some people said that those small LED does not have enough PAR. This project total cost is about S$30 for each row, my plan to make 2 rows for better coverage.

By the way, I found this light calculator to calculate PAR for different type of light. http://www.defblog.se/LightCalculator/

Material:
1. Two 62x5cm aluminum plate, used as a heat sink
2. CREE XR-E Q5 LED x6
spec:
- 3.7V typical driving voltage
- Manufacturer Rated 228 Lumens at 1000mA input current:
350mA: 107~114lm
700mA: 171.2~182.4lm
1000mA: 214 ~ 228lm
3. Two 900mA 10W Constant Curent Source LED Driver
spec:
- 10 watt high power LED driver
- Input voltage: AC 85~265V
- Output voltage: DC 9~11V
- Output current: 900mA
4. Miscelaneous items: thermal paste, screw and bolt, cable and small container

Drill some holes on the Aluminum plate to mount the LED

Drill some holes also on both edge. This is more for safety, to prevent the module from droping into the fish tank

Drill holes for LED mounting
LED is screwed to the aluminium plate
Finished module

2ft - Realm of Tranquality

2011-11-08T16:17:00.012+08:00

I'm using manten rocks for this scape. It is a nice rocks but the price also expensive, roughtly S$10 per kg. The good part for this scape is low maintenance. I just let the haigrass grow wild, no trimming what so ever, just enjoy it grow.

Tank size: 60x30x25cm
Light: 2x55W
CO2: 3bps with Up inline diffuser
Sunstrate: ADA Amazonia
Filter: Eheim 2215 (620 l/h)
Flora: Eleocharis parvula

Fauna:
- Neocaridina heteropoda var. "red"
- Caridina cantonensis sp. "red"
- Paracheirodon simulans (green neon tetra)

Here the hardscape before planting, the 2 small rocks at center was removed
Final scape photo

My IAPLC 2011 rank #20

2011-10-12T23:23:00.008+08:00

Finally ADA released tank picture of the top 27. You can download the high res picture from the link below.

http://acuariorosa.com/2011/08/02/the-international-aquatic-plants-layout-contest-2011/

This is my tank picture, rank 20 title "Lost". I'm glad ADA did some color adjustment on my submited picture, it look nicer.

My present from ADA

2011-10-04T21:55:00.013+08:00

Today I received my early birthday gift from ADA ...

... ta-da ... my IAPLC rank 20 stainless steel certificate and $$$ prize

IAPLC 2012 Judging Method

2011-09-19T17:59:00.017+08:00

IAPLC steering team was just announce new judging method during live broadcast on Saturday (17 September) and since then many discussion around it through out Aquascaping community. Some are welcome to the change and some are not. My take is the new method is wide open for abuse and votes fairness is in question due to nationalism/patriotism.

You can read some of their view from the link below

ASW: http://www.aquascapingworld.com/forum/announcements/5409-live-stream-iaplc-party-new-ada-award-public-voting-3.html

MAC: http://www.my-mac.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=16271

The issue was started in Round 2 where the top 100 are determine by votes from contestant, fish shop owner and magazine publisher. This mean that country with more contestants and more shop owners will have advantage. What happen to the fish shop who own by old Uncle and Aunty who do not even know how to use computer? This round also open to abuse where contestant can create multiple fake entry, thus he/she will have multiple vote right under his/her control. He/she can even sell the votes in the even his/hers scape unable to enter top 200.

Round 3 (IAPLC jurries and party participants votes will decide the top 7) and Final Round (Grand prize winner will be decided by party participants) will have simmilar issue. This will give adavantage to home country. Which country do you think will have the most NA party participants?

Lets face it, it is just like sport event, people will support their home country team eventhough there no chance of winning.

There are still couple of months before IAPLC 2012 start, lets just wait and see how ADA going to prevent the above possibilities. I just wish there will be tank size category on the next IAPLC. Small tank have slim chance to beat those big tank.

2011 NA party live broadcast

2011-09-17T19:21:00.041+08:00

Some of the pictures captured during the live broadcast

IAPLC 2011 result is out

2011-07-29T07:43:00.019+08:00

Here are the top 27:
1. Long Tran Hoang VIETNAM
2. Xue Hai TAIWAN
3. Dmitriy Parshin RUSSIA
4. Cliff Hui HONG KONG
5. Fa Loy Lee MALAYSIA
6. Koji Kogure JAPAN
7. Chow Wai Sun HONG KONG
8. Yuji Yoshinaga JAPAN
9. Wai Hung Tony Wong HONG KONG
10. Eriko Kanno JAPAN
11. Hidekazu Tsukiji JAPAN
12. May Kwan HONG KONG
13. Takayuki Fukada JAPAN
14. Chow Wing Ki HONG KONG
15. Wang Chao CHINA
16. Timucin Sagel TURKEY
17. K.P. Wong HONG KONG
18. Luis Carlos Galarraga BRAZIL
19. Toshifumi Watanabe JAPAN
20. Robert Oei SINGAPORE <<<<< me?
21. Johs Sim MALAYSIA
22. Pasquale Buonpane ITALY
23. Wei Cheong Chung MALAYSIA
24. Zhang Jian Feng MACAU
25. Abdullah Tezer TURKEY
26. Truo Thinh Ngo VIETNAM
27. Ng Wai Kwong HONG KONG

Full result can be downloaded in pdf format from the link below

English: http://en.iaplc.com/results11/pdf/ranking2011e.pdf

Japanese/Chinese: http://en.iaplc.com/results11/pdf/ranking2011j.pdf

AGA 2011 (free entry, don't miss it)

2011-07-11T10:23:00.015+08:00

Cut and Paste from the web site:

The Aquatic Gardeners Association is proud to announce our 12th International Aquascaping Contest!! This event is an opportunity for all aquascapers, from the beginner hobbyist to the professional, to display and share their art with others around the world.

New this year: In an effort to stimulate worldwide economic recovery, there will be NO ENTRY FEE for 2011!

All that is required are 1 - 5 photos of your aquarium, a simple entry form, and a signed photo release. You can enter entirely online. We will display all entries permanently on the AGA's web site. You can also choose to have your tank entered in the 2012 Aqua Design Amano contest at the same time.

Winners will receive ribbons and cash awards.
Closing date for entries: September 25
Winners announced: November 18
This contest just keeps growing and growing and growing! So fluff the plants, snap those photos, and enter your aquascape in the AGA contest to share with aquatic gardeners and artists around the world!

We'd like to thank Jen Williams for the beautiful graphics and the advertisement for The Aquatic Gardener.

We are recruiting volunteers to help with online promotion of the contest. If you regularly visit forums or aquarium-related Facebook pages, and can spend an hour posting online, please contact cheryl @ dustyuniverse.com. Also, if you have a blog or web site, please download a web banner and link. This contest cannot be a success without folks who contribute a little of their time and effort.

Also, if you or your company is interested in sponsoring the AGA aquascaping contest, we would be grateful for donations to offset the cost of the cash awards, which are numerous. Sponsors have their company logo and web site link printed in The Aquatic Gardener and featured prominently on the AGA showcase web site.

Please e-mail us if you need more information. Contest Technical Coordinator Erik Olson (erik @ thekrib.com) is happy to answer any questions about the web site or electronic entry process. For general questions, please contact Cheryl @ dustyuniverse.com.

Good Luck and Happy 'Scaping!

Cheryl Rogers
AGA Contest Chair

source: http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2011.cgi

Aquarama 2011 nano tank category

2011-05-30T18:15:00.013+08:00

I'm lucky to have won both 1st and 2nd place for nano tank competition.

1st place winner, tank number 2
2nd place winner, tank number 3
3rd place winner, tank number 5
Tank number 1
Tank number 4
Tank number 6
Tank number 7
Tank number 8
Tank number 9
Tank number 10

Aquarama 2011 planted tank category

2011-05-30T18:01:00.016+08:00

Aquarama 2011 has ended yesterday. Below are the winner for planted tank category. Congratulation to all the winner.

1st place winner, tank nunber 5

2nd place winner, tank number 6

3rd place winner, tank number 2

Tank number 1

Tank number 3

Tank number 4

DIY CO2

2011-03-29T12:23:00.041+08:00

I decided to use DIY CO2 for this setup to speed up my plants growth. Both non CO2 and daily Excel dosing does not give enough grow rate.

My DIY CO2 setup is pretty simple:
- 2 bottles of 1.5L soft drink (empty)
- 2 bubble counter
- 2 check valve
- Airstone
- CO2 hose

I did not use diffuser since it may not generate enough pressure to push CO2 through but I put airstone under filter inlets. That way most of the CO2 will be suck in by filter but it may cause airlock in some filter if lots of CO2 is created. Buble counter function as an indicator which bottle need to change. The check valve is to prevent CO2 from leaking out when one of the bottle being replace. I did not premix the solution together at the same time.

Simple sketch

I've been researching through out the net about DIY CO2 recipe and found that wine yeast suppose to be used instead of normal bread yeast. Apparently alcohol is toxic to yeast and alcohol is by product when yeast consume Glucose to generate energy in Anaerobic condition. Wine yeast on the other hand can tolerate highest level of alcohol and acidity. Thus in theory wine yeast will give you longer CO2 generator

Aerobic condition:

Glucose + O2 --> CO2 + H2O + Energy

Anaerobic condition:

Glucose --> CO2 + Alcohol + Energy

Searching around for wine yeast and found out that it cost 10 times more than normal yeast from supermarket. So forget about the idea of using wine yeast and use instant yeast instead (Saccharomyces Cerevisiae) from Bake King

My recipe:

- 2 cup of sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon of yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1000 ml of water

Honestly it really not bad. I was haunted by post on forums, people was saying that DIY CO2 have unstable output. On contrary, I was able to get good stable output at least 0.5 bps for a month.

Update (12 October 2011)
BPS output from 1 bottle through out 37 days.

2011-03-24T18:13:00.002+08:00

Some photos update, with proper camera this time.

2ft - Miracle

2011-03-21T17:39:00.017+08:00

My new scape, I called it miracle. Why? Because I'm growing HC without CO2, it will be really a miracle if it is grow. Not that I'm doing it on purpose, recent safety regulation in my office does not allow pressurize gas tank inside office. One thing in mind, if the HC does not grow I will just take it out and replace it with lapis sand.

The scape was begin on early January 2011, just right after new year holiday. Just nice to start new year with new scape. Nothing special in mind, just typical NA style with some variation of using tree like drift wood.

The photo below was taken about 2 weeks after setup. Without CO2 the plants grow are terribly slow but HC does not show sign of melting which is a good sign. Sorry about the quality, it was taken using point and shoot camera.

I decided to dose excel regularly, to boost the plants grow rate to meet ADA competition date line.The photo below was taken end of February which is about a month after the first picture. Plants grow is very slow despite the daily excel dose. Interesting part is the hairgrass grow shorter. The hairgrass was re-plant from my previous scape, so it already with submerse leaf. I guess it try to adapt to new environtment, by shedding the long old leaf and grow new shorter leaf.

The HC grow is ok although it should be able to grow faster. Moss is growing skinny despide 24C water temperature, something that you normally see at high temp. The way it is now, it wont meet the May dateline. It make me think of doing DIY CO2.

Technical spec

Size: 60x30x32(H) cm

Light: 36W

Filter: Eheim 2213

CO2: none

Substrate: ADA Aquasoil Amazonia II

Fertilizer: modified EI

Flora list

1. Eleocharis parvula

2. Eleocharis vivipara

3. Hemianthus callitrichoides

4. Microsorum pteropus

5. Fissidens fontanus

6. Mini fissiden

7. Taxiphyllum sp. (flame moss)

8. Vesicularia dubyana (Singapore moss)

Fauna list

1. Hyphessobrycon amandae (Ember tetra)

2. Caridina cf. cantonensis 'crystal red'

3. Otocinclus affinis

Drop Checker in Planted Aquarium

2011-02-25T10:33:00.010+08:00

Many hobbyists asked the same question over and over again about how to measure CO2 level in their planted aquarium. On most occasions, some hobbyists suggest using ph/kH table. It is not a wrong suggestion but unfortunately the table only work if 100% sure there is nothing in the aquarium that can alter pH or kH beside CO2. This is impossible in planted aquarium since we use wood or soil that will reduce pH. In addition, we have sand and rock in our aquarium that tends to increase kH. This is where drop checker come in handy.

pH/kH table

Drop Checker Design
Drop Checker come in many different designs. Below are the typical designs that can be found in the market.

Understanding How Drop Checker Works
The drop checker is actually pH tester but instead of measuring the pH of the aquarium water, it measures the pH of 4dkH reference solution called it indicator solution. Refer to picture below.

When CO2 is injected into the aquarium, at certain point the concentration of CO2 in the aquarium water is higher than the CO2 concentration in the drop checker. In this condition the CO2 will gas out from the aquarium water into the air pocket of the drop checker. As CO2 enters the air pocket, it will be absorbed by indicator solution. The same goes when the CO2 concentrations in the aquarium lower than CO2 concentration in the drop checker. CO2 from indicator solution will gas out and absorb by the aquarium water. This is because the gas was seeking equilibrium point between indicator solution and aquarium water.

As the CO2 absorb by the water, it will lower the water pH and this is the basic principle of drop checker. Using pH indicator solution (Bromothymol Blue) and kH reference solution (4dkH) user will be able to find out roughly the CO2 concentration in the aquarium without worry about contaminant that will change pH or kH.

The indicator will change color as follow:
- Yellow: high CO2 level (>35ppm)
- Green: proper CO2 level, this is what we suppose to aim for (25ppm - 35ppm)
- Blue: low CO2 level (<25ppm)

Drop Checker Misconception
Most if not all drop checker manual will tell you to use aquarium water. Try not to do that. Its the same reason as why not using pH/kH table, you do not know what all the contaminant that alter the water pH or kH.

For example, if you are using ADA Aquasoil, the water pH will be around 6.2 and water kH will be 0dkH. If you use this water, drop checker will always show yellow even though you never inject any CO2.

You can buy 4dkH reference solution from ebay or you can make some yourself. What you need is distilled water and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). If you have kH tester you can mix distilled water and sodium bicarbonate until you get 4dkH. Alternatively follow the following formula: dilute 6 gram of sodium bicarbonate in 1 liter of distilled water. It will give you 200dkH. Take 10ml of 40dkH solution and dilute it with 490ml of distilled water to get 500ml of 4dkH reference solution.

Some forum post remind me that some drop checker brand such as Cal Aqua Labs or Dennerle does not require to dilute it with kH = 4 solution

Drop Checker Placement
Drop checker placement can be quite tricky. First of all, it must be put under the water roughly around 10-15cm from the water surface. Be sure to put drop checker away from the flow path of CO2 enriched water. In other word do not put your drop checker near CO2 diffuser. Also do not put drop checker in front of the filter outlet if reactor or inline diffuser is being used.

Drop Checker Limitation
The drawbacks of drop checker are
1. It is not real time measurement device. It takes approximately 1 to 2 hours before you can observe the color change. Thus you might not be able to catch sudden surge of CO2 need during photosynthesis peak period.
2. It wont tell you the exact ppm, although in our intent and purpose, it is not necessary to know the exact ppm
3. Does not work well if the CO2 introduced using misting method because CO2 bubble will go into the drop checker and cause false reading.

Nevertheless drop checker is one of the most accurate and affordable CO2 measurement device available for planted aquarium.

GEX Aquarium Fan

2011-01-13T15:48:00.015+08:00

The problem with living in tropical country is the weather is hot all year round. That not really help aquascaper hobbyist since plants metabolism is increases at higher temperature. Thus their require more CO2 and Nutrient. In addition to that some plant grow differently at different water temperature. It is very obvious in moss. So I decided to get fan for my newly setup 2ft tank. I do have chiller for my 3ft tank but running 2 chiller is not pocket friendly as well as space friendly.

After some looking around I decided to get GEX mainly because space constrain, GEX have the mechanical design that allow it to be configure in 2 different ways. It also have removable nets on the air intake that make it easy to clean.

GEX fan come in 3 different sizes, this model is for 60cm tank as indicated on the box (left bottom corner).

What inside the box:

Be careful with the holder, make sure use the piece of plastic provided to prevent the screw from scratching the glass tank. You can also take out the small protrusion as shown on picture below.

One of the reason why I choose GEX is because I don't have space to get those typical aquarium fan. I have 2x55W PL light that occupy the whole top of my 2ft tank. There is only small space left in between the light where I can put the fan.

Configure the fan so that it can fit the space. By the way, there is another tank beside so I can configure the other way.

One problem with this fan is it is quite noisy. I expected it to be quieter since it is 2 or 3 time the price of normal aquarium fan. So I decided to reduce the voltage from default 12V to 9V, it reduce the noise quite a lots but you need to buy your own adapter.

Conclusion

Pros: Good mechanical design, compact and flexible design, easy to clean.

Cons: Very noisy with the default 12V. Need to reduce supply to 9V to reduce the noise

Up New Atomizer System

2011-01-03T18:31:00.012+08:00

I just get my hand on Up new Atomizer system. I can only say that it is damn good atomizer. Much better than my previous Boyu CD-01 inline diffuser. The builds are solids with safety nuts system that prevent tube to come off. It come with 3 different sizes: 8/12mm, 12/16mm and 16/22mm

Warning!! Apparently you need extra pressure to push the CO2 out. Thus it is normal that you wont see anything when you first turn ON the CO2. Just wait for couple of minutes until enough pressure build up to push out the CO2. Because of this you might want to change the bubble counter and check valve the the model that have screw lock. The pressure can make the CO2 hose come off from normal type bubble counter and check valve.

Look the different from short videos below. Both are injected with the same amounth of CO2 (same nbumber of bps)

Boyu CD-01

You should be able to see some big CO2 bubble coming out once a while.

Up New Atomizer System

Look at those tiny bubble, it is so small, much smaller than the smalest bubble produced by Boyu CD-01. So small until its look just like smoke coming out from lily pipe.

Aquascaping World 2010 Competition

2010-12-12T05:29:00.004+08:00

Detail of the competition can be find from here

Aquafair 2010 Amano Aquascaping Seminar

2010-12-03T12:48:00.013+08:00

Some photos from Amano Seminar during Aquafair 2010 at Kuala Lumpur Convention Center

Full house audience

Look at the quantity of plants being use for standart 3ft tank

Beautifull driftwood that you can not find it anywhere in Singapore

Voluter from KL LFS setting up the tank for demo

Amano chit-chat while waiting for the tank

Amano showing how to tie moss

Some part of wood not nice and Amano cut it off

Filling up the water

Some touch up

Tank ready for viewing

Authographs time

Front few of the tank

Top-right view

Back view

Aquafair 2010 Aquascaping Competition

2010-12-02T17:04:00.005+08:00

Aquafair 2010 Aquascaping Competition result:

1st place: Stan Chung

2nd place: Kevin Teoh (Katana07)

3rd place: Mr Yee

4th Place: Calvin Chung

5th place: Nasir (Nasfish)

6th place: Mazlan

7th place: Soo Yoon

8th place: Mohd Irwan

9th place: JC Wong

10th place: Kimson Ng

Aquafair 2010

2010-11-30T14:04:00.012+08:00

Some photos from Aquafair 2010, held at Kuala Lumpur Convention Center

IAPLC 2011 poster is out

2010-11-22T11:06:00.004+08:00

Planted Aquarium Lecture in Malaysia by Amano

2010-09-04T23:56:00.012+08:00

It is once in a lifetime to meet Mr. Takashi Amano in Malaysia.

The 4 hour Planted Aquarium Lecture is expected to attract hobbyist not only from Malaysia but Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, or even Japan.

As seats are limited, the organizer will accept application on a first come first serve basis.

Date : 27th November 2010
Time : 2.00pm -6.00pm
Venue : Exhibition Hall 4 Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre
Fee : RM150/ USD 50 per participant

Held in conjuncton with Aquafair Malaysia*LIMITED SEATS ONLY

Click here to register.

Beyond Darkness snap shots

2010-08-22T16:30:00.006+08:00

Couple of snap shots

Betond Darkness (Kurayami wo Koete)

2010-08-20T11:04:00.012+08:00

The IAPLC 2010 result is finaly out. My tank entry was ranked 218 out of 1819. I can't remember which photo I send to the competition, so the photo above may not be the one I send. I probably took thousand of photos through out the tank life.

Tank specification:

1. Tank size: 90x45x45cm

2. Light: 4x39W T5HO

3. CO2: 8bps injected using inline diffuser

4. Temperature: 25 degree C

5. Filter: Eheim 2217

6. Substrate: ADA Amazonia, fine river sand

7. Fertilizer: EI

Flora:

1. Echinodorus tenellus

2. Eleocharis parvula

3. Eleocharis vivipara

4. Glossostigma elatinoides

5. Microsorum pteropus

6. Taxiphyllum sp (spiky moss)

Fauna:

1. Caridina multidentata (Yamato shrimp)

2. Caridina sp. "Malaya" (Malayan shrimp)

3. Neocaridina heteropoda var. red (Cherry shrimp)

4. Hyphessobrycon megalopterus (Black Phantom tetra)

2ft - River Valley

2010-08-02T08:31:00.030+08:00

Many aquascaper have created mountain scape, so this time around I decided to try one for myself. I want to make mountain scape but I do not want it too look like another Iwagumi. Time to ask uncle Google for advice. I am browsing around internet looking for idea and the first photo that caught my attention was lake Moraine. I decided to make something similar. After few months of plants grow, I notice the scape become too borring. My team mate call it newbie tank.

I am having trouble creating large size lake just like in the photo without making it too boring. In the photo the water in the lake create ripple and reflection which make it interesting. No way to re create that with white sand. Large empty area with same material or plants always make it boring. I need to find the way to break it. Searching for alternative way, I found fantastic photo of Toad River from National Geographic. So I change the lake into small river with many branch and twist. It wasn't a great scape but at least it shouldn't be too boring.

O... by the way this tank was suppose to be experimental tank. Many people (I was one of them) believe that flame moss need cold water (around 25 degree C) to have nice flaming effect. But I was wrong this tank water temperature was hover around 28-30 degree C with the help of 24hrs fan and yet the moss give nice flame effect. On hot day, it can even go up to 32 degree C. Also if you are notice, I use only 36W PL to grow HC on 2ft or ~20 gallon tank. Again many people was think that HC require very high light but not necesary the case.

The only different is moss grow in high water temperature look skinnier as seen in 100% crop below. The moss on top is flame moss and the moss below is spiky moss. See how skinny the spiky moss is compare to the same moss on my other chilled tank.

Tank specification:
1. Tank size: 60x30x32cm
2. Light: 36W PL
3. CO2: 2bps injected using inline diffuser
4. Temperature: 28-30 degree C
5. Filter: Eheim 2215
6. Substrate: ADA Amazonia
7. Fertilizer: EI

Plants list:
1. Hemianthus callitrichoides
2. Taxiphyllum sp. (Flame moss)
3. Taxiphyllum sp. (Spiky moss)

Some photos showing where the idea come from. Photos was taken from the internet, not mine. So if you are the owner, please let me know and I will take it down.

Some snap shots of 'Reborn'

2010-07-29T00:03:00.003+08:00

Some snap shots from my 2ft tank 'Reborn'

2010 Aquafair Aquascaping Competition is ON!

2010-07-09T18:47:00.007+08:00

Venue: Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, 25th - 28th Novemeber 2010
Date:
- Bench-In: 24th Novemeber 2010, 1pm to 7pm
- Judging: 25th November 2010, TBC
- Prize Giving: TBC

Short summary of Rule and regulation:
1. Entry Fee is RM30
2. Tank Size 1.5ft to 3ft
3. Toys or plastic decorative items will be subject to mark deduction
4. Participant provide their own tanks, plants, fauna, lighting, etc
5. Organizer will privide stand and 3 plug point per tank
6. ...

detail see below link
http://www.my-mac.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=12629&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=15#p118182

or dowload pdf file
http://www.my-mac.net/forum/download/file.php?id=8002

"Power of Nature" renamed to "Reborn"

2010-07-08T23:33:00.011+08:00

I did some changes on the Power of Nature, mostly replace the Elatine triandra with Hemianthus callitrichoides and also removed Ludwigia brevipes. I also rename it to "Reborn"

It is amazing to see how simple plant change can tranform the whole look.

The Inspiration

2010-07-08T16:36:00.008+08:00

Sharing some photos of where my 2010 IAPLC tank idea coming from. Its a moss garden photo of Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavillion) Temple at Kyoto. What you see on the ground is all moss not grass. I was so amaze and decided to create something like that in aquarium. Unfortunately there are similarity with 2009 IAPLC rank #12 and 35 but can't be help. I start this tank before 2009 IAPLC result is out. By the time I have the IAPLC booklet, it is already too late to change.

This year work "Beyond Darkness" happen to win the first price of AQ + ADA Singapore Aquascaping Contest 2010. Although I have to thanks Sim (IAPLC 2009 rank #4) and Yeo (IAPLC 2009 rank #19) for not participating. Otherwise there is no chance of winning. I seen their 2010 work and my jaw just drop.

...and what did I got?
1) Cube Garden 60-P
2) Lily Pipe Outflow P-2
3) New Lily Pipe Inflow V-3
4) Garden mat

Cool huh... my first ADA tank and Lily Pipe... I never even dream of buying those with my own money.

Hopefully I can get better rank this year IAPLC.. *keep my finger cross*... will know the result end of July if not delay

The International Aquatic Plant Layout Contest 2010

2010-06-22T16:35:00.006+08:00

The IAPLC 2010 applications had close. Total 1819 participants from 55 countries. Amazingly there are 59 participants from Singapore, new record high.

The number of participants are listed below:
Japan 498
China 234
Malaysia 116
Taiwan 106
India 100
Hong Kong 95
Poland 88
Singapore 59
Brazil 49
Thailand 40
U.S.A. 39
Russia 34
Indonesia 33
Vietnam 33
Spain 30
Italy 28
Greece 18
Ukraine 18
Germany 17
Australia 16
Israel 12
Serbia 12
Hungary 11
United Kingdom 15
France 10
Korea 9
Venezuela 9
Sweden 8
Portugal 7
Turkey 7
Kazakhstan 6
Macau 5
Mexico 5
Philippines 5
Romania 5
Qatar 4
Belarus 3
Bulgaria 3
Canada 3
Croatia 3
Czech Republic 3
Latvia 3
Netherlands 3
Azerbaijan 2
Chile 2
Lithuania 2
Moldova 2
Reunion 2
Finland 1
Ireland 1
Norway 1
Slovakia 1
Slovenia 1
South Africa 1
Switzerland 1

Click here to visit the official site.

Acuavida Aquascaping Contest 2010

2010-02-19T17:27:00.008+08:00

The 2nd edition, AAC 2010 opens on March 1st and deadline on May 30th. Result out by June 21st.

Click here to visit the official site

The International Aquatic Plant Layout Contest 2010

2010-02-05T10:25:00.005+08:00

The world's largest planted tank design compeition is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Entry closing date on May 31st

Click here to visit the official site.

The Aquatic Scapers International Aquascaping Contest 2010

2010-02-05T10:23:00.004+08:00

The Aquatic Scaper International Aquascaping Contest 2010 is now open for submission. Starting date November 1st, 2009. Closing date February 15, 2010. Result will be published April 25th, 2010

Click here to visit the official site

2010 Tank of the Year Aquascape Contest!

2010-02-05T10:20:00.002+08:00

The 2010 Tank of the Year Aquascape Contest by AquaticPlanCentral.com is now open for submission.

Click here to visit the official site

Little Green Corner aquascaping website launched

2010-01-20T15:51:00.008+08:00

We are happy to announce the launch of our new website. This website was launched on the 01-01-2010 to a few close friends for initial feedback. Now we are ready to do an official annoucement to the world. This website will be focusing on Aquascape, there will be couple of articles on how to and tips but it will be less techie.

We hope to delight you with lots of exciting and interesting articles. In addition, we want our website to provide fellow aquarists a platform to share aquascaping through friendship. Let us pursue the art of aquascaping by creating innovation, sharing knowledge and expressing our ideas. We hope you will enjoy what we have put up for you.

http://www.littlegreencorner.com/

AGA 2009

2009-12-21T15:55:00.008+08:00

My latest photo which is submnited to AGA 2009 competition. This is probably the last photo, this tank will soon be hand over to other and I can start with new scape.

The AGA judges comment are:

"Pretty tank with healthy well-grown tank. The central stump (?) is little stark and overpowering however." - Karen Randall

"Nice tank! I love the use of Elatine as the foreground. It seems to work grean in this tank and the Hydrocotyl is a nice contrast to the other grasslike plants. Some additional fern growth to the left of the stump would soften up the stark vertical line pf the driftwood. Although the L. brevipes is one of my favorite plant, it use in this tank is overpowered by the driftwood. Nice tank." - Bailin Shaw

2009-12-03T21:30:00.011+08:00

My tank at Aquajournal No. 170. Unfortunately I can't read Japanese. I was asking friend friend's to translate it and this is what come out. My friend friend's is not a hobbyist, so the translated sentence may sound weird sometime but good enough.

This is about how you can show your woods or other glasses (Aquarium?) look beautiful and natural.

Checkpoint

A) The center of the wood look broken and unatural. The left wood's curve is not natural, the curve should be up not down. It is better to change the position of wood and it can be balanced.

B) The Anubias are too many in the tank so it is not nice. The white sand is difficult to keep long, because it easy to get dirty, moss and other dirty things. So it is not good to use white sand if you want to keep it long. You can find kind of white sand but it not easy to get dirty one. (white sand but not easy to get dirty, what kind of sand is that?)

C) It better to remove the stone between the woods since you have woods. It looks more deeper images if you remove it.

ADA galery visit 2009

2009-11-17T10:36:00.045+08:00

I just want to share some photo from recent trip to ADA galery. Sorry about the photo quality, too much reflection from the Aquarium light.

Waiting for Shinkansen at Tokyo station
Inside bus onthe way to ADA galeryReached ADA galery, warm welcome from ADA staff ADA galery entrance

Iwagumi (rock formation) scape

Scape with wood

Nano tank Aquascape using Wabi-Kusa

Some Wabi-Kusa photos Big tank at Amano's House

Amano comment

2009-10-23T18:50:00.016+08:00

Finally IAPLC 2009 party is over, now I can post my tank.

I was lucky that Mr. Amano commented about my tank during critique session. Mr. Amano comment are:

The wood is breaking, also it would give strong impression if the woods are pointing upward

Too many nana

White sand will have tought judgement due to difficulty to maintain them.

These are 3 comments that I can still remember. The real time translator was pretty bad. I'm having hard time following it.

Top Aquascaper photos

Walking around visiting Tokyo local fish shop Photo at Mr. Amano house
Dinner party photos at Niigata

Malaysia ADA Party 2009 (27 September 2009)

2009-09-30T09:51:00.035+08:00

Photos from Malaysia ADA Party 2009. Sorry to disappoint you, there won't be any IAPLC tank photo, not until IAPLC Japan Party.

Here are all the cool present and lucky draw Photos of top 3 Malaysia aquascaper. Josh Sim KH, IAPLC 2009 rank 4

Kin Cheong Yee, IAPLC 2009 rank 12

Siak Wee Yeo, IAPLC 2009 rank 19

Price giving for Malaysia top 3 Aquascaper

Aquascaping/hardscape competition

...and the winner are...

First price

Second price

Third price

I'm ranked 122

2009-08-21T12:14:00.006+08:00

My hand been inchy wanted to update this blog with my IAPLC'09 tank photo. It is my best rank so far, although I do wish to enter the top 100. Unfortunately, ADA does not allow us to post our tank photo before the IAPLC party. I received email warning from ADA

Quote from the email:

Important Note:
Please do NOT disclose your submitted layout through any media inluding website and magazine BEFORE the release of ADA's "International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest 2009 Booklet" at Nature Aquarium Party on October 17th, 2009. In case we find such disclosure, we may cancel the contest result

Apparently this email only send to those who are in top 127.

IAPLC 2009 Result is out

2009-08-14T16:31:00.009+08:00

What we have been waiting for finally here. IAPLC 2009 result is finally out. You can get it from the link below.

World rank result in Japanese:
Rank 1-576
Rank 577-1342

World rank result in English:
Rank 1-576
Rank 577-1342

From Singapore we have 35 participants, below are their rank:

60 Adrian Ng

122 Me.. me.. me

127 William Ng

182 Robert Oei

205 Steven Hii

313 Yew Kiat Tan

360 Loh Koah Fong

527 Ghim Sia SEah

539 CM Cheong

572 Kiah Seng

593 Wu Hongtao

631 Loo Fey Shien

680 Terry Tay

692 Jervis Mun

706 William Robert

754 Lee Kum Weng, Michelle Ho

793 Eng Kiang Steven Khoo

797 Wilson Lee

848 Ng Nok Sing

874 Chan Siying

875 Chen Xiaojian Allen

902 Li Shihao

1012 Yong Qiang Venson Lee

1052 Jia Wen Lip

1062 Eden Lim

1115 Tet Fook Gary Chee

1123 Sherman Bin Kadri

1169 Echerang Anak Kerry Charles

1187 Yeo Chow Kwang

1204 Li Baosheng

1209 Wen hui Paul Ang

1222 Jack Chiah Oui Kee

1228 Isaac Tan

1280 Thong Hean Choo

1302 Zhou Xiaoli

August 8 update

2009-08-08T17:37:00.005+08:00

This is how the tank look a like after 2 months. Some work still need to be done on the left side. The crypt look kind of distracting, need to replace with other plants have not think of any plant yet though.

IAPLC 2009 Result Postpone

2009-07-27T09:45:00.005+08:00

Everyone who participate in International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest 2009 should have received email notification that the result announcement will be postpone until August 11 due to significant increase in applications.

The contest result will be send by airmail and publish on IAPLC web site

ASE Contest 2009 result is out

2009-07-13T15:33:00.009+08:00

The official result of International Aquascaping Contest 2009 organize by Aquatic Scapers Eurpoe is out. Result and gallery can be find here

Nano category:
1. Marcel Dykierek (Deutschland)
2. Timo Wunsche (German)
3. Siak Wee Yeo (Malaysia)

Standard category:
1. Michael G. W. Wong (SAR)
2. Ngo Truong Thinh (Vietnam)
3. Piotr Beczynski (Poland)

Congratulation to all winner.

a bit of update

2009-07-10T17:17:00.008+08:00

2 weeks have passed and water have clear up. I added 2 Otocinclus affinis and 3 Iriatherina werneri yesterday. All of the plants are doing well. However, I'm still looking for plant to put at the left side behind the wood. Change the idea of mixing Glossotigma elatinoides with Elatin trianda. Glosso leaf is about the same size and color as Elatin trianda, it would be difficult to differentiate both from far, thus defeat the purpose of mixing it. Instead, I'm mixing it with Hemianthus callitrichoides 'cuba' (HC) which is much smaller leaf.

AGA competition is back

2009-07-07T17:22:00.006+08:00

2009 AGA International Aquascaping Contest is back. The submission date line is September 15th, 2009. Detail information can be find here

Submission date line pospone to September 30th, 2009

2009-07-01T21:38:00.006+08:00

Finally have the time to continue this project. I'm using GEX soil green packet, mainly due to the fact that ADA soil price keep increasing thus must think of alternative. The water still cloudy or milky when I took the photo, it clear up after a week. I did not expected this, I always hearing GEX soil does not cloud the water, I guess it was not entirely true.

Current plants selection:
1. Java fern on top of the stump
2. Cryptocoryne wendtii 'brown' left side behind the stump
3. Vesicularia montagnei (Christmas Moss)
4. Elatin trianda on the foreground, thinking to mix it with glosso
5. Eleocharis parvula as a background behind the root

Acuavida Aquascaping Contest 2009 result is out

2009-06-23T13:04:00.009+08:00

Official AAC 2009 result:

Mini Aquarium (0 to 60 liters)
1. Miron Silva Araujo
2. Harald Schneider
3. Guillermo Barrientos

Medium Aquarium (61 to 250 liters)
1. Peter Szalay
2. Jordi Pelegri
3. Vojislav Milijic

Large Aquarium (over 250 liters)
1. Massimo Faberi
2. Pasquale Buonpane
3. David Williams

Congratulation to all winner.

World ranking and Gallery

35 IAPLC entries from Singapore

2009-06-17T16:01:00.017+08:00

Latest news from IAPLC web site:
Numbers of IAPLC 2009 entry hit a new high. Total 1342 applications received from 51 countries and areas. It is about 15% increase than last year contest (172). The increase mainly contributed by more applications from Asian countries like China, Vietnam and India. Ranking result will be anounce by end of July 2009.

Coutries and Areas Applications:
Country 2009 (2008) (2007)
Japan 443 (423) (404)
China 148 (27) (29)
Malaysia 86 (120) (100)
Taiwan 72 (86) (127)
Hong Kong 71 (65) (56)
India 64 (9) (1)
Poland 53 (63) (35)
Vietnam 47 (25) (4)
United States 37 (48) (48)
Singapore 35 (23) (28)
Indonesia 33 (24) (8)
Thailand 31 (28) (15)
Italy 24 (30) (37)
Australia 24 (19) (18)
Russia 19 (18) (12)
Spain 16 (10) (4)
Ukraine 15 (13) (18)
Brazil 13 (9) (7)
Germany 13 (26) (40)
France 11 (14) (30)
United Kingdom 10 (12) (3)
Serbia 7 (2) (1)
Qatar 6 (0) (0)
Mexico 5 (4) (1)
Sweden 5 (4) (3)
Portugal 5 (6) (16)
Israel 5 (1) (9)
Greece 4 (5) (7)
Belarus 4 (1) (1)
Canada 3 (7) (3)
Czech Republic 3 (3) (5)
Korea 3 (18) (3)
Bulgaria 3 (2) (5)
Turkey 3 (6) (9)
Argentina 2 (1) (0)
Croatia 2 (6) (5)
Macao 2 (0) (0)
Philippines 2 (1) (1)
Azerbaijan 1 (0) (0)
Chile 1 (1) (5)
Cyprus 1 (0) (0)
Ireland 1 (1) (1)
Kazakhstan 1 (1) (1)
Latvia 1 (1) (0)
Mauritius 1 (1) (0)
Moldova 1 (0) (0)
Slovakia 1 (0) (1)
Venezuela 1 (0) (0)
Hungary 1 (0) (0)
Netherlands 1 (0) (1)
Romania 1 (1) (2)
Belgium 0 (1) (1)
Bolivia 0 (1) (1)
Denmark 0 (1) (1)
Estonia 0 (1) (1)
Lithuania 0 (1) (0)
Austria 0 (0) (1)
Costa Rica 0 (0) (1)
Finland 0 (0) (2)
Jordan 0 (0) (1)
Switzerland 0 (0) (2)

Aquarama 2009

2009-05-31T22:52:00.019+08:00

Aquarama 2009 has ended today. It was held at Suntec Singapore from 28 to 31 May 2009. I didn't take any event photo but you can take a look other people photos at Aquatic Quotient.

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56141

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56135

I did join the plated tank competition with William and we actually won the first price. The competition requires us to scape the tank on the spot. They give us 2 days to do the job. The most difficult part is when we need to carry all the hardscape to convention hall. Imagine carrying 70kg of lapis sand and rocks which is about the same total weight as lapis sand. Of course we did not carry it in one time. Forgot to mention that all this thanks to Benny (Aquatic Quotien Admin) that sponsoring us at the same time convince the organizer for late entry. Honestly when we aware of this competition, the entry was already closed.

One thing for sure the organizer doesn’t really know about planted tank. For example the tank was filled with water when we arrive. We end up have to use pail to throw the water away before we can start scaping. They also provide us wrong info on the tank size. Initial info was 100x50x50cm but endup 88(L)x45(W)x61(H)cm. They provide us with only 2x36W PL light which kind of too low for tank this size, not to mention 2ft height. They also provide us with CO2 which kind of contradict the light wattage. No solenoid for the CO2. No timer for the light, thus light have to turn ON 24 hours for 1 week. At the end of exibishion, the plant condition is really bad, leaves are start rotting everywhere.

Me and william with big tropy but we can't keep it though. It is only for publication (photo taken by StanChung)

This is the small tropy that we can take home (photo taken by StanChung)

Detail of the tropy:

Photo of our tank (photo taken by StanChung)

Added E.vivipara and Riccia

2009-05-07T13:45:00.007+08:00

Latest update: I added E.vivipara at background and Riccia here and there around the stone. HC need major trimming but if I do now, it wont be ready for IAPLC which end on May. Curently the tank is maintain by my colleague. We have one to one exchange my tank and his new empty tank with a note that he need to return the hardscape one he bored with this scape.

AQ+ADA Singapore Party 2009

2009-05-05T12:33:00.017+08:00

This is what I won:
1. ADA Cube Garden Mini S (31x18x24cm)
2. ADA Pollen Glass Type-2
3. Customized Garden Mat (5mm)
4. Plaque

Prety cool tank with minimum glue, low iron contained glass make it supper clear without greenish color cast. This is my first and maybe only ADA tank.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to post the photo. Well actually I can but based on local ADA advice, if this is the tank that going to be submited to IAPLC 2009, it is better to refrain from publishing it until ADA Party 2009 which will be on October 2009.

AQ + ADA Aquascaping Contest 2009 Result

2009-04-24T11:00:00.008+08:00

AQ + ADA Aquascaping Contest 2009 result:

Yeo Siak Wee aka ahhuyeo (881 points)

This is me aka Shadow (799 points)...yes... I won 2nd price

Sim Kian Hong aka stormy (796 points)

Miro Silva Araugo aka miron (783 points)

Adrian Ng aka blue33 (762 points)

Jervis Mun aka Jervis (735 points)

Kuah Peng Boon aka blackBRUSHalgae (732 points)

Yeo Siak Leng aka slyeo (714 points)

William Ng aka williamng (700 points)

Aminurashed bin Ami aka acit (657 points)

Ngooi Lee Ping aka ccrs2008

Oscar Garrido Rodriguez aka Pererio

Venson Lee aka EvoluzionZ

Tan Kian Seng aka TKS7011

Chee Tet Fook aka cheetf

Hanif Ahmad aka crazyhanz

Khoo Eng Kiang Steven aka stmoo

Antonio Baena Galvez aka amedias

Ang Wen Hui aka nature beauty

Craig Underwood aka pleco4me

Lee kum Weng aka fishpoo

Pham Phung Tien aka tien13378

Isaac Tan aka JadeIceGreen

Cheong Park aka cpark188

Seah Ghim Sia aka ghim

Tang Chee Yong aka tcy81

Lip Jia Wen aka torque6

Steven hii aka hii

Willy Hermanto aka VHDL288

Yee Jenn Jet Michael aka adalatla

Tree Stump

2009-04-17T13:06:00.006+08:00

Some photos of tree stump colected around my home area:

3ft - Summer Breeze

2009-04-08T17:23:00.013+08:00

This is the time of year where Aquascaper around the world are rushing up for the most anticipate competition event in Aquascaping community, "The International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest" in short IAPLC.

This year I will be submitting my 3ft tank. In fact this is my first 3ft tank scaping. Many unexpected events happened, for example sudden attack of green water, although the tank have been stable for 6 month. Most recent event is even worst. Part of Java ferns are turning brown. It is really unexpected and nothing I can do except trimming the effected fern. I'm pretty sure it wont recovers in time for competition. Thus, I'm adding or to be precise redirect stem plant grow to cover the gap.

Unfortunately there will be no photo, until ADA party which will be held in October 17th, 2009. OK at least give a bit of hint, part of my scape idea was from photo below (photo are taken from Aquajournal vol. 150).

I'm curently need help to decidea my scape title. I short listed 4 names: Moning Sun, Summer Sun, Morning Breeze and Summer Breeze. So far Morning Breeze and Summer Breeze are the most popular. Please help and vote.

Based on vote, majority favor Summer Breeze (Morning Breeze 4 votes and Summer Breeze 9 votes).

Aquascaping Tools Pouch

2009-04-03T10:04:00.015+08:00

Too many Aquascaping tools (Sand flatenner, different type of scissors and differen type of tweezers) and wondering how too keep?

Simple, Daiso S$2 "easy work pouch". It is suppose to be for gardening purpose, thus you can get it from gardening section. What need to be done is little bit of sewing to partition the pouch into different compartment for individual tool. You can use either sewing machine or do it manually.

It is come with 2 big pouch, each pouch can be devided into 3 individual compartment. Each compartment can nicely fit one tool.

This is what my finished pouch look a like:

Me wearing aquascaping tool pouch:

Initial Sketch

2009-03-30T00:56:00.007+08:00

Time for new scape on my long abandon 2ft tank. Above is my simple sketch. The scape is about how tree still survive after the logging. It shows new braches and leaves are growing from cut area. It show how resilient nature is.

At this moment my plants selection are:

Cryptocoryne wendtii var. green

Echinodorus tenellus

Eleocharis parvula (Dwarf hairgrass)

Eleocharis vivipara

Glossostigma elatinoides

Microsorum pteropus (Java fern)

Rotala sp green

Rotala sp red

Vesicularia montagnei (X'mass moss)

I'm Curently on the process of gathering material. It may not even materialize if I cannot get the right wood, which is the main focus point. There is not much wood selection at local fish shop in this country

Boyu CD-01 inline CO2 diffuser

2009-03-29T18:44:00.011+08:00

I just bought Boyu inline CO2 diffuser. It can be use inside and outside tank. Just take out the strainer if you want to use it outside the tank. I heard it is very efficient and maintenance free. Not sure how true it is. My guess is brown algae probably will grow inside after a while.

I bought 2 of them from ebay, since none of the local fish shop carry this product. They do have similar product from ISTA but very expensive $27. It cost me S$8.60 for 2 but the delivery charges is S$11.90 which is more expensive than the product. The stamp duty on the mail is only HK$19.1 or S$3.75. Nevertheless, it is still cheaper than ISTA.

I like this product. For starter, it does not reduce the filter flow. Furthermore, I not need to worry about green spot algae. Probably because it is inside cabinet thus no light. However, after a while I can see some brown thing build up (diatome?). It is the same build up that normally hapen inside filter hose. Nothing to be worry about just use brush and clean it during regular filter maintenace. It is much easier to clean compare to green spot algae.

Spring Loaded Scissor

2009-03-26T15:12:00.022+08:00

ADA S$120 Pro-Scissors Spring

(Picture from ADA web site)

This scissor is very useful for moss trimming or other trimming that require precision. Cutting a strand of hairgrass can be achieve easily using this scissor. ADA do have similar product (Pro-Scissors Spring) but as you know with ADA products, it isn't cheap S$120. Accidetally, I found different scissor but have similar function from Daiso (2 dolars shop) for fraction of cost. It was sell as part of fishing equipment.

It may not look much, but it serve the purpose well. It is sharp to the tip. The loaded spring make accuracy possible. Normally with normal scissor, the action of opening and closing cause scissor to wobble even with short scissor. Thus it is difficult to make an accurate cutting. With spring scissor what you do to cut is just press it to close. This reduce wobble and improve accuracy. It is also handy to use for trimming at tight spaces.

Daiso S$2 spring scissor

Acuavida Aquascaping Contest

2009-03-20T09:05:00.010+08:00

Another Aquascaping competition, here the detail from the website:

The Acuavida Aquascaping Contest was born as there are more and more tankkeeping enthusiasts in Spain and in all the world.

This contest has been brought into being by the portal Acuavida.com (www.acuavida.com), with the aim of uniting all aquascaping enthusiasts of Spain and all the world in order to increase, expand and disseminate the fanastic world of aquaristics.

It is a great pleasure for us to bring hundreds of enthusiasts together who give their best in order to create unique natural environments in perfect harmony. For this we would like to invite you all to be a part of this great project and to contribute to it actively in order to promote and enrich the world-wide aquarium hobby.

Participation is totally free, and everybody can enter this contest.
We'd like to invite you and your fellow tankkeeping enthusiasts to enter the first edition of AAC and to spread the word around.

Closing date: May 30, 2009

Fertilizer Calculator

2009-03-09T19:46:00.015+08:00

I added Fertilizer Calculator on the right hand side of this blog. It is based on Chuck's Calculator although many things have been change and added. For example now you can calculate the ppm for Ca(NO3)2.4H2O and Seachem product (N, P, K and Fe).

You might notice that Chuck's Calculator result is slightly different than APC Fertilator. In my opinion APC Fertilator is more accurate than Chuck's Calculator. I based this calculator on my own calculation and the calculation result is closer to the APC Fertilator except for the Ca(NO3)2.4H2O. The Ca calculation is correct but NO3 calculation is not. I'm curently asking APC (Aquatic Plant Central) on how did they calculate the NO3 ppm for Ca(NO3)2.4H2O.

It is pretty simple to use:

Select which chemical you want to add from drop down menu

Fill in either gram, teaspoon, tablespoon or milliliter. Gram, teaspoon and tablespoon are for dry fertilizer. Milliliter is for Seachem product.

Fill in how much water you want to dilute your dry fertilizer with. Enter 0 if you want to dose directly into the tank. You also need to enter 0 if you are dosing Seachem product. Default value is 1000 ml.

Enter your tank size. Default is 50 gallons (US) or 189.27 liters

Move cursor away and click anything outside the calculator area, It will calculate ppm for every 1ml of solution dose into the tank. For dry fertilizer and seachem products, it will calculate how many ppm in the tank.

APC have reply my question and yes NO3 calculation for Ca(NO3)2.4H2O not correct

Iwagumi Layout Workshop

2009-02-18T15:29:00.004+08:00

Very useful workshop, not to mention the S$5 Aquajournal. The workshop is mainly sharing session, sharing what the ADA Singapore learn from Amano seminar during the IAPLC party last year (2008). Very insightful, how to place the main rock and supporting rock, how big the main rock compare to the supporting rock, plant selection for Iwagumi, etc. The worst part would be it make me want to rescape my previous Iwagumi tank...have to resist the temptation...

The Plants Talk seminar by Dennerle

2009-02-17T17:20:00.008+08:00

In my personal opinion, the seminar was disappointing. It is more toward new product launch rather than plant related talk as the title describe. There are no talk about Difference between emmerse and submerse plants, New plant and their requirement, nor Nano plants.

The entire seminar was promoting the Dennerle product and 7 golden rules. However, there are couples of interesting points:

Heating cable, my understanding from other hobbyist experiment across the world that there is no significant growth different between with or without heating cable. Heating cable suppose to circulate the water in the substrate as warm water will move up. This might be the reason Dennerle do not dose macro fertilizer.

Dennerle system relied heavily on substrate no water column macro fertilizer dosing.

Dennerle reduced the blue spectrum from their light bulb. This is the opposite of ADA light bulb. Who is correct?

It was mention that plant is taking a break during photo period. Thus Dennerle suggest of siesta (5 ON – 4 OFF – 5 ON). Did plant take a break?

Rule of thumb for CO2 injection is (tank volume in liter)/10 = bubble per minute. Just imagine for 3ftx1.5ftx1.5ft tank about 180 liters so according the formula 180/10 = 18 bubble per minutes. There is no way you can get 25 – 30 ppm with this amount of CO2 unless he is talking about big giant bubble.

AQ + ADA Aquascaping Contest 2009

2009-02-09T16:00:00.011+08:00

Another Aquascaping competition is on the way. This time it was organize by Aquatic Quotient (AQ) and ADA Singapore. Detail information can be find here. Only AQ member can participate, so hurry and join AQ.

Closing date April 15, 2009.

Aquatic Scapers Europe - International Aquascaping Contest 2009

2009-02-05T09:43:00.010+08:00

The Aquatic Scapers Europe - International Aquascaping Contest 2009 is an exclusive freshwater planted aquarium contest with two categories. One category the nano competition, will be for aquariums up to 40 liters and the other competition is designated for all aquariums above that size.

The closing date for this year’s contest (May 01, 2009) is a little bit short noticed and very close to the IAPLC. Therefore the application for the next year’s contest will start at the end of 2009 (around October or November). For more information regarding the contest please visit Aquatic Scapers Europe.

P.S. cut and paste from Aquascaping World Forum

DIY Light Pendant

2009-01-31T19:30:00.017+08:00

My 3ft tank is powered by Metal Halide (MH). It is very basic type, only MH and control gear no Fluorescent lamp and night LED light. Problem is It harsh to the eye. For that I wash thinking to add PL light t soften the view. Unfortunately adding those 3ft T5 light would end-up blocking some of the light. The only way is to hang light bulb on left, right and at the same height as MH. Searching light pendant at light shop doesn't seem to be fruitful. All the pendant that they have either too wide, too tall or too narrow, not to mention expensive. I guess it is time for DIY.

Parts are shown below:

Part list:

Disposable aluminum pan, 2 for S$2.70

Clip on light fixture S$2.80

Light bulb, price depend on the wattage

Double sided tape, and sticky tape

Total around S$4.15 (excluding light bulb)

First cut the aluminum pan from the edge to the center as shown on the picture (left) below. Bend it so that it create a cone shape. Use double sided tape, glue or other mean to keep the cone in shape.

After that use the light bulb holder and mark it on the cone. Cut the aluminium foil as shown in figure below (middle), insert the light bulb holder and secure it using sticky tape.

DIY pendant hang together with MH. It may not pretty but serve its purpose well.

Serenity

2009-01-17T12:42:00.023+08:00

Finally got the chance to make a proper photograph, no fish, will put back the fish soon. The Eleocharis parvula has just start to grow, it suppose to fill the gap between rock as well as behind rock. It is not a final scape yet, still have some idea to improve or maybe end-up make it even worst.

Title: Serenity

Tank Dimension (LxWxH): 60x30x36 (cm)

Lighting: 110 Watts

CO2: 3-4 bps with inline diffuser

Substrate: ADA Aquasoil Amazonia

Flora: Hemianthus callitrichoides 'cuba', Eleocharis parvula

Fauna: Caridina multidentata, Neocaridina heteropoda var. red

Plant Deficiencies

2009-01-12T14:03:00.014+08:00

The following info was taken from various website:
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/nutrient-deficiency.html
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/deficiencies.htm

Boron (B)
Effecting new leaves
Symptom: Dead shoot tips and side shoots, brittle stems, similar to calcium deficiency.

Calcium (Ca)
Effecting new leaves
Symptom: Distorted leaf growth, cupped leaves, twisted and bend leaves, twisted and short roots, damage and die off of growing points, yeloow leaf edges

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
Effecting new leaves
Symptom: Slow growth, Distorted leaf growth, possible calcium deposits on leaves

Copper (Cu)
Effecting new leaves
Symptom: Dead leaf tips and withered edges

Iron (Fe)
Effecting new leaves
Symptom: Pale growwth of new leaves, yellowing of leaves, Greenish nerves enclosing yellow leaf tissue

Magnesium (Mg)
Effecting old leaves
Symptom: Yellow spot, Similar to iron as it prevents plant from absorbing iron, yellowing of old leaves starting from edges while major veins remain green, the plants may also become reddish from the presence of the red pigment anthocyanin.

Manganese (Mn)
Effecting new leaves
Symptom: Dead yellowish tissue between leaf nerves

Molybdenum (Mo)
Effecting old leaves
Symptom: Yellow spots between leaf nerves, brown edges, inhibited flowering

Nitrogen (N)
Effecting old leaves
Symptom: Stunted growth, leaves turn yellow and die off, the plants may also become reddish from the presence of the red pigment anthocyanin.

Phosphorus (P)
Effecting old leaves
Symptom: Stunted growth, sometimes leaves become darker green, poor root growth, symptoms can be similar to nitrogen deficiency

Potassium (K)
Effecting old leaves
Symptom: Pinholes appear in older leaves which slowly enlarge, yellow patches, curling leaves, stunted growth, withering of leaf edges and tips

Sulphur (S)
Effecting new leaves
Symptom: Leaves turn yellow and die off, similar to nitrogen deficiency

Zinc (Zn)
Effecting old leaves
Symptom: Yellowish areas between nerves starting at tip and edges

2 Weeks After Flood The Tank

2008-12-30T09:14:00.011+08:00

It has been more than 2 weeks since I flood the tank. What do you know, growing HC emerse does work. I did see some of the leaves are turning yellow and rot but most of them are not. In my previous 2 attempts, HC was totally melt within a week. This time I can see new leaves are forming.

What did I do differently? This time around I use 110W light over 2ft x 1ft x 1.2ft (~18 gallons) tank, way above 3W per gallon. Also I inject CO2 as much as I can. Drop checker shows yellow color. There is no fauna inside at the moment, so it should be ok. Previous attempt I'm using 18W light over 30cm x 18cm x 18cm (~2 gallons) tank. Since it is a small tank, I use Seachem Excell instead of CO2 injection.

This time around I try siesta, 4 hours ON + 2 hours OFF + 4 hours ON. I was reading from Dernele website, it suppose to help preventing algae but it doesn't. It does not work at all. Algae still growing, not sure what algae, it is fine strand and green in color. It is different than hair algae that I normally see, the strand is much finer. Either way nothing to be worry about, I use tooth brush and put Yamato shrimps, it clear over night. Someone on forum sugesting 4 hours OFF recently but too late, no more algae, Yamato did a good job.

Time to Fill in Water

2008-12-17T16:56:00.012+08:00

I did some slight rescape on the left side. Replace the left rock mounth with new rock. Also, I added hairgrass in between the rock. Unfortunately the photo isn't that clear, that what happen when you use free digital camera.

Now switching to auto mode and wait until hairgrass grow covering the rock base.

View from Left:

View from right:

International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest 2009

2008-12-01T12:28:00.010+08:00

ADA has anounce 2009 IAPLC contest recently. They also anounce new IAPLC website http://www.iaplc.com/ where you can get latest news of the contest as well as other info such as grading guidelines, judges, previous grand prize winners and online application.

Online application is only available around end of January 2009, application closing date May 31 2009.

You can also download the contest form from here

Venture to Iwagumi Scape

2008-11-27T15:04:00.032+08:00

I started my 2ft office Iwagumi scape around end of October 2008. The plan was to use Hemianthus callitrichoides (HC) as foreground, Eleocharis parvula as midground (in between rocks) and Eleocharis vivipara as background. I planned to grow HC emmerse.

Advantage of growing emerse:
- Not need to worry about CO2
- Can out as much as light to speed up growth
- No need to worry about algae.

I’m curently using 2 x 55W PL light. The important thing is to keep it wet. I'm using cling wrap to cover the tank top and trap the moisture inside. Initially I do not use cling wrap and all HC dried up over the weekend.

It has been a month and Hemianthus callitrichoides (HC) have grown nicely, almost cover the whole foreground.

Initial setup:

After 1 month:

Next update would be after fill in the water, at the current growth rate, it wont be long...

Plants Photosynthesis Process

2008-11-14T14:09:00.025+08:00

I was interested by the question on "Rate of O2 generation vs CO2 consumption on plants". Did some search on the internet, unfortunately unable to find the answer but I found more interesting info on photosynthesis. The O2 production in photosynthesis does not require CO2, well at least not directly.

This is different than what we learn in high school. We learn the simplified form.
6 CO2(g) + 12 H2O(l) + photons → C6H12O6(aq) + 6 O2(g) + 6 H2O(l)

Photosynthesis occur in 2 stages, light dependent reaction (Light reactions) and light independent reaction (Calvin-Benson Cycle/Dark reaction). Infact O2 is procuded during light reactions without CO2 as its ingredient.

Light dependent reaction in green plants:
2 H2O + 2 NADP+ + 2 ADP + 2 Pi + light → 2 NADPH + 2 H+ + 2 ATP + O2

Then I question myself, why in my tank plants need CO2 injection before you can see O2 bubble being produced? From the equation above, what I need is light and water to produce O2.

It is more complex than that. The light reaction in plants require NADP+, ADP and Pi. NADP+, ADP and Pi are produced during the Calvin-Benson Cycle. Calvin-Benson Cycle consumes NADPH from lightreaction, ATP and CO2. Without CO2, no Calvin Cycle. Without the Calvin cycle, There will be no NADP+ and plant won't be able to keep the light reaction going. Now you can see the relation.

Light independent reaction (Dark reaction/Carbon fixation/Carbon reduction):
3 CO2 + 9 ATP + 6 NADPH + 6 H+ → C3H6O3-phosphate + 9 ADP + 8 Pi + 6 NADP+ + 3 H2O

Full article can be read from Wiki

Simple Way to Measure Water Flowrate

2008-11-04T10:44:00.025+08:00

Wondering how to measure filter flow rate? This is how I do it.

Equipment used:
1) Bucket
2) Measurement cup/beaker
3) Stopwatch
4) Valve (some filter have this build in)

First of all, close the valve and disconect filter outflow from the tank. Turn on the filter while the valve still close. Press stopwatch start button and at the same time open the valve. Wait until 10 second and turn off the valve. Measure the water in the bucket. Multiply whatever liter you have in the bucket by 360 and you get l/h. It may not be the most accurate measurement method, but it close enough for our purpose.

I did tested with my Eheim 2217 without media and I got 3L/10 second. Multiply by 360, I got 1080L/h. It is prety close to the spec 1000L/h

Latest update November 1st, 2008

2008-11-02T14:15:00.008+08:00

The scape is almost done, big come back after failure in growing Utricularia graminifolia. Maybe be I need to change the name, no longer look grassy.

Need little bit more work on the moss, trim here and there to shape it. Need to wait few more weeks until forground cover by Glossostigma elatinoides.

Some how it is look empty, although I have 15 Celestial Pearl Danio and 10 yamato shrimps.

Install External Sensor on Resul CL-280

2008-10-19T11:26:00.054+08:00

I have been wondering for a while whether low temperature help the plants a lot or not. Many peoples in forum seems to agree that low temperature improve the plants grow. So I decided to add Resun CL-280 chiller to my 3ft tank (October 11th), to see whether it is great improvement or just marginal. The average air temperature is around 30 degree C, target water temperature is around 25 degree C. Tank size is 200 liters, minus rocks, substrate, wood and plant mass, probably left about 150 liters. The setup is "Tank -> Eheim 2217 -> Chiller -> CO2 reactor -> Tank"

Resul CL-280 spec:
- Power: 280W (1/10 hp)

- Rec Pump: > 900 l/h

- Max tank size: 300L (8 degree below air temp) and 200L (15 degree below air temp)

It took about hour pluss to chill from 28 degree C to 25 degree C. After that, chiller will go to stand by mode and turn on every 5 minutes for about 2 minutes. It is stop when the temperature at 25 degree C and on when temperature is rise to about 27 degree C. This is not what I expected, water temperature should not fluctuate than much for short period of time. It was tested at night with light off, the only heat generator are filter pump and chiller it self. Furthermore the thermometer inside the tank show constand 25 degree C. To confirm this, I bought couple of digital thermometer and place in different area of the tank. To my surprise all of them show around 25.7 degree C when the chiller start turn on.

Did some research on the net and found the following:

If the water flowrate is too slow, the thermostat will read false reading and cause the chiller to start and stop regularly in short period of time. The reason is because water does not leave the heat exchager fast enough before reaching targeted temperature threshold. As a result chiller with shutting down the compressor. When the warm water from the tank gradually replaces the water inside the chamber, the chiller will start the compressor again.

There are few ways to fix my start/stop problem:

1. Change to more powerful filter or use independent pump.

I don't really like the idea, I felt that my fishes are already struggling with current 1000l/h filter. Other reason is money, new filter is not cheap. Also, I do not like extra pipe.

2. Add external thermostat

I should be able to get external thermocoupler, hook it up and put the sensor inside the tank. That should give better accuracy.

3. Use external temperature controller

Currently doing DIY temperature controller, will post once it ready.

I decided on second solution, adding external thermostat. I open up the chiller, wirring is prety staright forward, you can easily find which connector is for sensor.

The sensor is located inside small box with thin silver insulator around it, wonder if the insulator really effective. If not, the heat from the radiator might effecting the sensor reading. The tank water just enter and exit the box, no compartment to direct the water flow. It is just a simple box with coil for heat exchanger.

The sensor is normal resistive thermocoupler, inside the plastic chasing. Plastic is an insulator, I wonder is the sensor response effected because of this.

I went to Sim Lim (Electronic component shopping center) to get external thermostat and what do you know, it is not as expensive as local fish shop quote me. The fish shop quote me for S$150 but it is only S$15 at Sim Lim (Acez Instrument Pte Ltd, #B1-38). Actually, it was spare part from Fox temperature controller. By the way, Fox temperature controller is only S$65 (There goes my Temperature Controller project, total cost of DIY might not be much different than from the shop). I also manage to get the same connector use on the chiller for only S$0.80. There is slight drawback, the resistance of new sensor is slightly lower than original sensor, measuring at same temperature. It was about 600 ohm lower. Thinking of adding fix resistor to compensate but on second though, my chiller temperature control display is only 2 digit. 0.3 or 0.4 degree will not make any much different.

This is what the external sensor look a like, it made from metal or maybe encapsulate inside metal. The cable is quite long. Either way response should be faster compare to the original plastic thermostat.

After adding the external sensor, the Chiller kick in every 2 and a half hours, prety good. There is still slight problem though, by default the chiller will turn on the compressor when the temperature reading 2 degree above the set value. I wonder if this will stress the fauna? I guess DIY temperature controller were I can set the maximum and minimum threshold still good idea.

I measurement chiller power ussage using device similar to Kill-a-Watt over 24 hours. The chiller used 1.17kWh over 24 hours, with the rate of 0.3045 per kWh, 1 day equal to S$0.356, 1 month = S$10.688. Additional ~S$10 per month isn't that bad, I can leave with it.

Counterfeit Chlorine/Chloramines solution

2008-10-17T17:07:00.017+08:00

Bought 2 bottles of Genesis anti Chlorine/Chloramines solution at C328 and found out from the owner than one of them is fake. He did offer me to replace the fake one which I reject. I want to take photo of both bottles and share with others on how to differentiate between original and fake. By the way I used about half of the fake one before taking the photo.

Front: fake label is little bit grey, darker blue and darker yellow font.

Back: barcode at the fake bottle is smaller and the recycle logo is only outline

Bottle cap: original have some ring at the top

I'm not 100% sure whether it is really fake or just new packaging. I just take fish shop owner word for it. By the way, the fake one is $1 cheaper. I will try to email the company for further info.

Confuse on Fertilizer Dossing? Try EI

2008-10-13T17:29:00.037+08:00

Been wondering how much fertilizer should be dose in the tank? Try Estimative Index.

It was developed by Tom Barr (if not mistaken), basically it simply provide the plants with excess amount of nutrients throughout the week. With this method you do not need measuring equipment or test kits. It was mention that based on the experiment excess nutrients does not cause algae issues (except for Amonium/NH4+). Algae issue mostly due to plant deficiencies. Most algae issue face by aquarists are due to CO2 and water flow (water flow carry CO2 around).

Primary fertilizer are Macro nutrients (N, P and K), Micro nutrients (trace elements) and Iron (if necessary). 50% water change at the end of the week is necessary to remove excess nutrients and reset water parameter.

The weekly target ranges are:
NO3 range 10-30 ppm
K+ range 10-30 ppm
PO4 range 1-2 ppm
Fe range 0.2-0.5 ppm or higher

General dossing for 40-60 gallon, high light (>3w/gal), 25-35ppm of CO2 and well planted aquarium:
+/- 1/2 tsp KN03 3x a week
+/- 1/8 tsp KH2P04 3x a week
+/- 3/4 tsp GH booster once a week (water change only)
+/- 1/8 (10ml) Trace Elements 3x a week
50% weekly water change

My fertilizer mix formula:

30 teaspoon or 10 tablespoon of KNO3 mix with 1000 ml of water

5 teaspoon of KH2PO4 mix with 1000 ml of water

Dossing example for my 1ft, 1.5ft, 2ft and 3ft, 30 ppm CO2 and high light:

WARNING!!! it may not suitable for shrimps tank

Full Estimate Index article can be found here

Usefull fetilizer calculator can be find from Fertilator, FertFriend, Chuck's Calculator and recently I add calculator on this blog as well

Lighting for Aquatic Plants

2008-10-07T17:54:00.015+08:00

I was just reading interesting article from ADA web site regarding their product NA light bulb spectrum. I realize that I have been mistaken for years. I was thought that photosynthesis is require red spectrum, but according to the article that only apply for land-based plants. If I understand correctly from the article, red light does not travel far under the water. This is the reason why NA light bulb temperature is around 7800K to 8000K.

"Amano: ...My red jacket looked black. What should have been red appeared black."

Graph shows light reduction rate depending on wavelength
(graph taken from ADA web site)

Also the light only appear bright for short period of time, typically 11:00 AM until 2:00 PM. During this time sunlight comes straight into the water. The entry angle before or after that period of time is too stiff thus the light reflected off the surface.

(graph taken from ADA web site)

Other important infos captured from the article are fluorescent bulb if turn on for 8 to 10 hours a day will last about half a year before the brightness rapidly decrease. As for Metal Halide (MH) bulb, it decrease after about 4000 to 5000 hours of lighting

You can read the full article from "Light Transmissivity in Water" and "The Light I Encountered Under Water"

Another interesting article is from Dennerle, it was mention that "The periods with bright light should always be of at least 4 hours’ duration. Plants will be unable to make effective use of shorter periods". I did accidentally verify this when I change my daily lighting period to 3hrs diffuse light + 3hrs intense (MH) light + 3hrs diffuse light, After two weeks I can see that my rotalla start shedding its leaves. This is when I found the Dennerle light article.

Replace U. graminifolia with G. elatinoides

2008-10-07T00:59:00.006+08:00

I decided to replace Utricularia graminifolia with Glossostigma elatinoides. Reason being, somehow I'm unable to grow healthy Utricularia graminifolia.

Few thing that I had try:

Double the light from 36 Watt to 72 Watt. It doesn't seem to help.

Increase the CO2 and NPK level doesn't seems to help as well. Though it does kill all my Malayan and Cherry shrimps in the tank

It doesn't look good, so decided to replace it with Glossostigma elatinoides.

So far so good, Glossostigma elatinoides is growing well. Some are grow tall and some creeping. I used stainless steal wire bend into inverted ‘U’ and use it to pin down the tall Glosso, it will force new steams grow to creep. Trick I pick up from other forumer.

Unhealthy Utricularia graminifolia

2008-09-02T23:01:00.003+08:00

After about two months, the spiky moss (Taxiphyllum sp.) has grown nicely. Unfortunately, I seem to have no luck with Utricularia graminifolia. It doesn't seem to be growing well, the leaves color is a pale green and green spot algae start growing on some of the leaves.

I do not think because of fertilizer dosing. I'm dose 10ppm of NO3 3 times a week, 1.5ppm PO4 3 times a week and Seachem trace 3 times a week. I do not think because of CO2. CO2 should around 30ppm according to the drop checker.

Some qustions in my mind:
1. Could it be because of the substrate? I'm using ADA Africana, If I'm not mistaken it is the least fertile from ADA soil. Does Utricularia graminifolia need very fertile soils?
2. Could it be because of light? I'm using 36W PL light, should be enough but the moss probably over shadow it.

I decided to trim the moss, hopefully Utricularia graminifolia will get better light and grow better. It is about time to trim the moss anyway.

Comments from Aquascaper at AQ

2008-09-01T12:53:00.006+08:00

I would like to share some of the comments from fellow Aquascaper at AQ. It was difficult to understand at first but after some discussion, I got the idea. It is very constructive comments that make me think way to improve my scape in near futhure.

Thank you guys.

Jacian:
1. The 2 very visible wood are poking out at the 2 corner, making the setup bit too symmetrical.
2. The top is flat and monotone.
3. The fish seems too small for the setup, hardly visible.
4. I like the base where we can see some wood/moss protruding out which created some depth. Can have more of such.
5. The hairgrass at the 2 corners seems a bit out of place to me, especially on the right one where looks like a standalone patch of hairgrass.

StanChung:
1. Impression could be better. Dynamism/boldness. This because one look and I would feel I've seen it already.[There's a past honor prize with M pteropus needle leaf island layout]. A note about Island setups. They're very hard to make dynamic, it's a very static layout. If you look at the previous M pteropus needle leaf layout, it had very nice gnarly texture wood base with lots to see and nice wavy M pteropus needle leaf. This help greatly to create the impression of flow and break up the static look of island setups.
2. I'm not going into detail about the minor items about your layout as you can already spot them yourself and most of it already mentioned by Jacian. They are important as they are the finishing touches.
3. My last mention would be to always have decently large thickets of plants. The few strands of M pteropus needle leaf makes the tank look new.

Beach Forest - IAPL Contest 2008 rank 420/1170

2008-08-05T10:46:00.004+08:00

This is what my tank look a like, it is look better than last year tank. I'm rank 420 out of 1170 participants, great improvement from last year rank 869. Will work harder and to do better for next year. In fact, I already started my new tank. It is 3ft tank this time.

Title: Beach Forest
Tank Dimension (LxWxH): 60 x 30 x 36cm

Lighting: 55 Watts

CO2: 2 bps with external reactor
Substrate: Europet fine riversand

Flora: Microsorium pteropus 'Windelove', Microsorium pteropus 'Needle', Anubias barteri var nana 'Petite', Eleocharis parvula, Fissidens fontanus, Taxiphyllum sp.
Fauna: Trigonostigma espei, Caridina multidentata, Neocaridina heteropoda var. red

IAPL Contest 2008 result

2008-08-04T10:34:00.003+08:00

Today is the day where all the Aquascaper around the world waiting for, International Aquatic Plants Layout (IAPL) Contest 2008 result. I'm rank 420, not a bad result though I miss my target by 20. Nothing to be disappoint about, just do better next year.

World rank result in Japanese:
Rank 1 to 584
Rank 585 to 1170

World rank result in English:
Rank 1- 584
Rank 585-1170

From Singapore, we have 23 participants:

88 Catherine Wong

109 Maurice Cheong

228 William Ng

250 Lee Choong Hwa

282 Bernard Lee

420 Robert

512 Steven Hii

564 Wilson Lee

589 Foong Siew Kuan

634 Loo Fey Shien

643 Vincent Toh

723 Tang Chee Yong

764 Jervis Mun

800 Loh Koah Fong

876 Richard Yap

900 Tan Jian Feng

910 Christophe Bibi

927 Natalie Loh

958 Victor Yeo Chye Kwang

1000 Changlei Zhao

1009 Ong Ta Wei

1078 Thay Boon Cheong

1133 Dio Ling

DIY Aquarium Fan for small tank

2008-07-21T23:46:00.001+08:00

I would like to share my DIY Aquarium Fan, nothing fancy and all the parts are scavenger from broken PC. Actually it is not worth of doing DIY because the cost of buying the component is about the same as aquarium fan bought from local fish shop.

The parts are shown below:

Parts List:

Fan (taken from spoil PC chasing)

Power adaptor Jack (female): S$1.50

12V DC power supply: S$5 (only Choa Chu Kang neighborhood shop sell at that price)

Glass divider holder: $0.30

Plastic to hold the fan (taken from spoiled printer paper tray)

PVC glue

Total around S$6.80 (New Aquarium fan is about S$10 - S$12)

First need to bend the paper tray about 45 degree or as you see fit. Refer to picture below, right side is original and left side after bending. I use fire from candle to head up the join and bend it while hot. Need a bit practice, we do not want it too close to fire and burn the plastic. On the other hand we want it to be close and hot enough for us to easily bend it.

Once done, glue the fan to the paper tray and then glue the paper tray to the glass divider holder. Wait for few minutes until it dry, after than solder the power adaptor jack to the fan cable and that about it.

Its look pretty good when mounted on 1ft tank.

Waiting for IAPL Contest 2008 result

2008-07-15T14:49:00.002+08:00

15 more days before 2008 IAPL Contest result. I can't wait the result, hopefully I can get better rank than last year. Total 1,170 participants from 47 Countries, 23 of them are from Singapore. Unfortunately it was less than previous year, last year we have 28 participants from Singapore.

Participants country list:

1. Argentina (1)
2. Australia (19)
3. Belarus (1)
4. Belgium (1)
5. Bolivia (1)
6. Brazil (9)
7. Bulgaria (2)
8. Canada (7)
9. Chile (1)
10. China (27)
11. Croatia (6)
12. The Czech Republic (3)
13. Denmark (1)
14. Estonia (1)
15. France (14)
16. Germany (26)
17. Greece (5)
18. Hong Kong (65)
19. India (9)
20. Indonesia (24)
21. Ireland (1)
22. Israel (1)
23. Italy (30)
24. Japan (423)
25. Kazakhstan (1)
26. Korea (18)
27. Latvia (1)
28. Lithuania (1)
29. Malaysia (120)
30. Mauritius (1)
31. Mexico (4)
32. Philippines (1)
33. Poland (63)
34. Portugal (6)
35. Romania (1)
36. Russia (18)
37. Serbia (2)
38. Singapore (23)
39. Spain (10)
40. Sweden (4)
41. Taiwan (86)
42. Thailand (28)
43. Turkey (6)
44. United Kingdom (12)
45. U.S.A. (48)
46. Ukraine (13)
47. Vietnam (25)

1.5ft June 2008 rescape

2008-06-23T14:56:00.004+08:00

I decided to rescape my 1.5ft tank. This time around, I would like to create grassy land with tree in the middle, inspired by "Filipe Oliveira" work on IAPLC 2007.

It already been 2 weeks but the wood have not sink yet as you can see from the rock on the braches. Spiky moss is start growing but 90% of Utricularia graminifolia melted. Probably because I squish it too hard durring the platting, it is fragile plant and easily breaks. The good thing is the one that left is start growing, can see couple of new leaves sprouting.

Tank Dimension (LxWxH): 45x30x36 (cm)
Lighting: 72 Watts

CO2: 2 bps
Flora: Utricularia graminifolia, Taxiphyllum sp. (Spiky moss)
Fauna: Danio margaritatus/Celestial Pearl Danio, Caridina cf. Babaulti var. Malayan (Malayan shrimp)
Substrate: ADA aquasoil Africana, Europet fine riversand

DIY External CO2 reactor

2008-06-16T09:31:00.007+08:00

This is actually my 2nd DIY external CO2 reactor. I'm using AMDUS drinking water filter, other water filter or container can also be use, just make sure that it can take the pressure. My previous reactor is made from PVC pipe with couples of bio ball inside. It is doing good until I realize that it is very hard to clean because everything is glued (epoxy) together. I deciced to use water filter because it can easily be open and clean.

The parts are shown below:

Parts list:

Drinking water filter S$17 (AMDUS) or S$12 (CRYSTAL), there might be even cheaper brand

3/4 to 12mm hose connector: S$3.50 x 2 (Hose size can be anything from 12mm, 14mm or 19mm)

DYMAX CO2 atomizer (can't remember the price, reuse my old atomizer S$1~S$2)

Less than 1ft 3.5cm outher diameter PVC pipe S$0.60

Air hose connector S$0.10

Epoxy glue (left over from previous project)

Total around S$27

The plan is to make the water flow around the white PVC in circle. Below ais the sketch of how the water suppose to flow.

First, remove the red color button and replace it with air hose connector. Glue it with epoxy glue. To remove, just unscrew the red button from inside. This red button was originally used to expell air trapped inside the canister.

Second, connect the CO2 atomizer to the air hose connector as show in the picture below. This is optional. You can also use those small air stone, as long as it can fit in.

Next, connect the 3/4 to 12mm hose connector to both inlet and outlet and glue the PVC pipe to the blue color filter head and you get your self DIY external reactor. All done in less than 10 minutes except for the fact that you need to wait until the epoxy dry. One idea by fellow forummer at AQ is by using the inner part of filter media, you need to remove the media first though.

Lastly, I add piece of plastic (black plasting thing on top of atomizer) to direct the water flow. It can be from any plastic, in my case it was from ice cream contriner cover and cut it to fit.

This is how it worked during test:

Beach Forest

2008-06-10T14:23:00.002+08:00

This is my second 2ft tank. Will post photo once the ADA IAPL Contest 2008 result coming out in September. This time around, after reading various layout guide line from the web, I decided to make a scape that look like an Island. It is a lump of vegetation in the center surrounding by rock and sand. I believe It is much better than my first tank, hopefully I get better rank this time.

Also I decided to buy DSLR camera (Canon EOS 400D) for this. I saw the advantage of using external flash instead of just relay on the tank light. With the help and suggestion from fellow forumer at AQ and MAC, I manage to create those blue gradients as my background. It is probably not possible to do it with point and shoot camera though (justify my purchase).

My First 2ft tank

2008-06-09T22:44:00.009+08:00

This is photo of my first tank, at that time only focus on how to grow healthy plants rather than layout. The tank size is 60x30x36cm with ADA Aquasoil Africana, 55W PL light 6500K, and injected CO2. Submitted to ADA International Aquatic Plants Layout (IAPL) Contest 2007 and manage to get rank 869 out of 1142 participants. I will do my best to improve my layout on the next tank project for IAPL Contest 2008.

World rank result in Japanese:

Rank 1 to 576

Rank 577 to 1142

World rank result in English:

Rank 1- 576

Rank 577-1142

Tank Dimension (LxWxH): 60x30x36 (cm)

Lighting: 55 Watts

CO2: 3 bps with external reactor

Substrate: ADA Aquasoil Africana

Flora: Taxiphyllum alternans (Taiwan moss), Fissidens fontanus (US Fissidens), Hemianthus micranthemoides, Vallisneria americana, Japanese hairgrass, Rotala sp 'Mini', Rotala wallichii, Pogostemon helferi (Downoi), Glossostigma elatinoides

Fauna: Boraras brigittae, Caridina multidentata, Neocaridina heteropoda var. red