Chris' Jungle - Proof that budget works

[Stew_822]

WHAT ON EARTH IS THAT THING!!!!

Just kidding. Mine isn't going to get to that stage, as soon as the leaves grow a pup (before they get to the surface) they get a trim. Still, i'm thinking it is an accident waiting to happen, i stop watching it for a few days and my tank is full of leaves. This weekend may be its final days. Plus i reckon i could fit another 4 species of plants in the gap. Already got some lined up too.

And thank you! I have 3 in there, they really enjoy the plants, they hide for up to a week at a time and i think they've dropped off and then back they come every few feeding days.

It's a.... mistake :P

Yeah, wise move I pulled all the laves off mine a few days ago. I can finally see the fish again. I'm thinking I'm going to drop it altogether but it has such lovely leaves; it's just hard to scape around them, I think, especially at the rate they grow.

I am curious though, which plant is the one that is just behind and in front of your gourami (the ones that go straight up), in this photo:
http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/...psf142eb52.jpg

It looks really nice.

[mr_c265]

Another week, building up for the big swap meet tomorrow:


And then the big trim today:
"
Sorry for the poor quality of both, only used phone camera.

Note to self, do not under any circumstances ever try to pull out E. tenellus

And Stew, sorry i missed your post, it is either H. Polysperma or L. Aromatica, probably the former.

[mr_c265]

No update, it looks like rubbish at the moment.
But here's one of my favourite fish in the tank at the moment. You can probably guess why it looks like rubbish now.

[mr_c265]

This clown has finally given in, will be going high tech in 2-3 weeks with possibly 3 tanks. Wish me luck, although i'm hoping i don't need it.
Hoping to suprise everyone rather than give it all away now, but there is some new lighting is on the way (expecting ridiculous levels of light, modest energy usage), a bit of proper CO2 and i'm going to get off my bum and mix up some kick arse ferts.

[mr_c265]

Bought Myself a serious lump of metal today.

Not as impressed with it at first glance as i hoped i would be, but i guess time will tell.

It's a 50W Flood, but the power draw appears to only be 35 Watts, bit miffed about that, but oh well.
It's not as bright as 2 of the good 20W's at first glance, but it did cost less and power draw is the same.
It also appears to spread quite well, so until i find where i've left my lux meter i wont know quite how bright it is.

[Rebel]

Lovely wooden ruler. Nice!

[mr_c265]

Bought Myself a serious lump of metal today.

Not as impressed with it at first glance as i hoped i would be, but i guess time will tell.

It's a 50W Flood, but the power draw appears to only be 35 Watts, bit miffed about that, but oh well.
It's not as bright as 2 of the good 20W's at first glance, but it did cost less and power draw is the same.
It also appears to spread quite well, so until i find where i've left my lux meter i wont know quite how bright it is.

Lux meter say's it's crap. Emailing the seller now. Back to the expensive ones i go.

[Rebel]

Hey Chris, does that mean they lied about the power rating and light output? :O That's so irritating about many of the product adverts. They seem to advertise the maximum possible power in a parallel universe where the normal physics don't apply.

[greengreen84]

If I was you I would contact the seller for a full refund and tell him that he has misleading information and your going to contact the accc to sort this matter out if a refund isn't sorted prompt, in the mean time take screen shots of the advert and pictures of your proof just in case he/she changes the add hope this helps I've had to this once.

[mr_c265]

The seller in Aus selling the CREE LED's has always been pretty good, but i decided to try a cheaper one, also in Aus. Absolute rubbish. 35W power draw has gone down to 32W already. Lumens are still roughly what one of my 20W floods puts out.
I've contacted him and am hoping it's just this one light that's faulty, however i'll see what he offers. Another seller tried to rip me off once, sent me a 20W instead of a 30W. He told me it's not possible, then i sent him a picture of all of my gear hooked up to it and he shut up and refunded me. Doesn't phase me much, just annoying.

[nudibranch]

!another thumbs up from a low-tech lover!

Really nice low light jungle dude. Keep up all the great work

Once apon a time I let my lotus grow outta control and got so crabby with it for dwarfing everythin I hacked every last stem off it and kept cutting them off to the base for about a month., mostly out of bitterness but also to let everything else grow back. When I started leaving it alone it grew tightly clustered low lying leaves with only the odd tiny leaf heading north to the surface, which I would quickly hack off. Might work for you too.

[mr_c265]

Thanks! I have about 8 of them in there now, all little fortunately, except the huge one. 6 Aponogeton Crispus' (all little), 3 Barclaya (little), The damn amazon sword is what's killing me at the moment, i've got 30 of them in there and over 12 foot of runners. And duckweed. I'm about to clear it out and start high tech i hope.

[Rebel]

LOL 30 Amazon swords??? Mate you should supply the LFS in the area...

Great journal though. Thanks for posting the info & pics.

[mr_c265]

Today i somehow gassed my fish pretty bad with the CO2, i turned it up yesterday and assumed it was fine after monitoring it for a few hours. Come tonight (after an interesting week having a busted timer, an air pump and a heater) all the fish are gasping for air and the BN's are lieing on there backs, CO2 went off immediately, splashed the water around the bit and hoping all is well. pH went from 7.8 to 6.2 over the course of the day, so pretty drastic. Fingers crossed tomorrow the tank isn't a graveyard. Plants look happy though. Mostly... The crypts don't like the change in pH.

[Rebel]

Wow that's scary. Fingers crossed they will be ok. Is this with your compressed co2?