# My 2009 AGA Entry



## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

90g Cameroon Biotope

Plants:
Anubias barteri v. nana
Bolbitis heudelotii
Crinum natans

Fish:
10x Norman's Lampeyes 
2x pair of Pelvicachromis taeniatus
5x Microsynodontis sp.

Light:
2x 250w Metal Halide 5hrs/day

This was an experiment and have since changed lights. I wouldn't recommend doing this. Although there was very little algae maintaining proper nutrition for the plants was almost impossible, especially Iron. Some of the more exposed or higher up plants went chlorotic quickly or were otherwise harmed by the intensity of the light. Prior to switching to PC lighting I was supplimenting a tablespoon (3tsp) of KNO3, 1/2 tsp KH2PO4, 1 tsp CaSO4, 1 tsp K2SO4, 3 tbsp Epsom Salts, and 1/4 tsp CSM+B every other day.

Substrate:
Quartz sand (Paver Base from Home Depot)
Flourite in spots underneath the sand in the rear for the Crinum
Stream pebbles

Left oblique









FTS









Lower Right Side









One of my females feeling brave


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## Jdinh04 (Oct 7, 2004)

Phil! Finally good to see you around again! The tank looks nice! I love how dominate the look of all those Anubias give. Good luck to you!


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## trackhazard (Sep 20, 2006)

Wow. That's a butt load of really nice looking anubias! It looks very lush. 

Do you have any problems with circulation? Is the anubias in the center of the plant mass tied to driftwood?

Charlie


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

Very nice! And different!

are the kribs very shy?


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

trackhazard said:


> Wow. That's a butt load of really nice looking anubias! It looks very lush.
> 
> Do you have any problems with circulation? Is the anubias in the center of the plant mass tied to driftwood?
> 
> Charlie


Trackhazard,

I have two powerheads in the tank providing extra circulation. One moves water on the far (right) side of the tank and another provides cross-tank current from the right rear to the left front.

All of the Anubias, except for the stuff in the very front and sides along the bottom, are tied to wood. The rest of them were secured to rocks so I could place them most effectively.

Regards,
Phil


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

vancat said:


> Very nice! And different!
> 
> are the kribs very shy?


Vancat,

Thank you for the kind words. The Kribs aren't normally very shy fish, no. Since there's so much cover for them in this tank they don't really need to leave it in order to get food or anything else. Since the halide light was so bright they tended to stick to the cover and didn't range out very often.

Regards,
Phil


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Jdinh04 said:


> Phil! Finally good to see you around again! The tank looks nice! I love how dominate the look of all those Anubias give. Good luck to you!


Hey John, thanks! It's good to be posting again rather than lurking.  I hope you're doing well.

Regards,
Phil


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## MrSanders (Mar 5, 2006)

Really nice looking tank, Brave move to try so much light! but seems to have worked well. Just curious i noticed your dosing a lot of Mg, and a small amount of Ca... almost in a 6:1 ratio Mg:Ca sort of the opposite that is usually recommended. Do you have really unusual tap water, or have you found a high Mg level to work out better? I also noticed this on the 75 gal. you wrote the article on for TAG that just came out. Curious to find out


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

MrSanders said:


> Really nice looking tank, Brave move to try so much light! but seems to have worked well. Just curious i noticed your dosing a lot of Mg, and a small amount of Ca... almost in a 6:1 ratio Mg:Ca sort of the opposite that is usually recommended. Do you have really unusual tap water, or have you found a high Mg level to work out better? I also noticed this on the 75 gal. you wrote the article on for TAG that just came out. Curious to find out


Thank you for the compliments. We have really soft tap water where I am so I dose Ca and Mg to harden it as well as to benefit the plants. I added all that Mg in order keep enough in solution for the plants to make Chlorophyll with. I noticed a quick response to increased Mg supplementation and kept up with it until I removed the halides. As far as the 75's concerned, I've been dosing a tablespoon in all my 75s and 90s over the years and it's worked out pretty well so far so I haven't changed it.

Regards,
Phil


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## Chris Noto (Aug 10, 2005)

Ah, so *this* is the tank with the MH 250s! Your images do seem to show either overexposure of some of the higher positioned Anubias, or the yellowing that you referred to. The Bolbitis, though, is _amazingly _dark green.

Your brief discussion of light intensity on Sunday touched my own wondering, which was set off by an article at The Advanced Aquarist, which compared the PAR in a MH lit tank to a Hawaiian reef, and found the maximum intensity in the tank to be about half that on the reef. Since reading that article, I've been wondering what would happen in a planted aquarium at anwhere close to "full sun conditions". Your experiment reveals one answer, but I'm guessing that Anubias, with its slow growth rate, is a shade-adapted genus. I'd really like to see the density of some stem plants under your two 250s. I'm guessing that the internodal lengths would be microscopic, compared to what we see in the average aquascape.

I've really got a soft spot in my heart for the genus Pelvicachromis, and that female is a nice one. I see some quite spherical looking objects under her... could she be guarding eggs?

All the best, 
Chris


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## gf225 (Mar 26, 2005)

Hi Phil

I'm really into biotope aquascaping these days and this one is a beauty!

You're a brave man with that lighting. I'd be scared of the electricity bill more than anything! lol

All the best for the AGA contest. Hopefully we'll see more biotope entries than last year...


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Hey George,

In retrospect, there was far too much light going into the tank. I switched out to an old PC fixture I lent to a friend a couple weeks ago and have already noticed a significant improvement in the appearance of the Anubias. It was a good experiment to run in general. Maybe not the best choice for a competition tank, but it answered a question I've been curious about for some time. The plants grew very quickly under that much light. The problem was with nutrient acquisition. They just couldn't assimilate what I dosed fast enough to sustain that level of growth. 

I noticed you were talking about a biotope setup elsewhere online. Did you enter the AGA contest this year? I'm judging this year and although I can't participate in scoring that category, I can say that I'm blown away by the biotopes that were entered this year. There are many more than in the past and some of them are VERY nice.

Would you please share the resources you use to research your biotopes with us?

Cheers,
Phil


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## gf225 (Mar 26, 2005)

Hey Phil

No surprises there with the lighting, but it's always good to experience these things and learn first hand.

Yes, I'm really into biotopes now. I set up a new one every month for Practical Fishkeeping magazine.

So far I've done Cambodian blackwater, Tanganyikan shell-dweller, UK lake, Chinese stream, and I'm currently on an Amazonian blackwater. I've even done a Banggai cardinalfish set up that has turned into a properly aquascaped planted marine tank!

I did enter the AGA and it's great to hear there's more biotope entries and some decent ones too... Last year (and previous years) have been disappointing.

I mainly use Mongabay and Fishbase for my info. I do have some contacts like Heiko Bleher too, which is pretty cool. My favourite research was when I physically dived into a UK lake to examine the planting, fish and decor. I collected some amazing wood too.

I use some artistic licensing, but try to keep them as real as practicable.

I really like the challenge of balancing an aesthetically pleasing design and layout with the realism of attempting to mimic a natural habitat. It's nice to give the fish priority for a change too, as before I was a self-confessed aquascaper first, fishkeeper second.

I'll get some photos up at some point.

Cheers.



Phil Edwards said:


> Hey George,
> 
> In retrospect, there was far too much light going into the tank. I switched out to an old PC fixture I lent to a friend a couple weeks ago and have already noticed a significant improvement in the appearance of the Anubias. It was a good experiment to run in general. Maybe not the best choice for a competition tank, but it answered a question I've been curious about for some time. The plants grew very quickly under that much light. The problem was with nutrient acquisition. They just couldn't assimilate what I dosed fast enough to sustain that level of growth.
> 
> ...


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## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

wow wow wow wow!!!!


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

bratyboy2 said:


> wow wow wow wow!!!!


Thank you very much.


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## gwendal (Feb 10, 2009)

Nice anubias!



1 saludo


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