The Scaper LED lighting is tailor-made for the Scaper Aquariums it sits nicely above the aquarium so it doesn't distribute the view and can provide even coverage of lighting. With a high light output, it's optimal for plant growth. The highly energy efficient LEDlight can be controlled by a finger touch dimmable switch. Speaking of filters, this is an exemplar of the “Descent into madness” part of the process for me. I have spent a huge amount of time and energy over the past month worrying (ie. overthinking) about many things with regards to the tank, and a big chunk of that is endlessly worrying about position, angle and flow with the filters.

Large pallet items like aquariums are deemed delivered successfully with no damage once the the driver has left the property. If a report of damage is submitted after the driver has left we may be unable to assist with replacements. We recommend refusing a damaged delivery, this is the fastest resolution. Is it really Seiryu though? I’d never heard of it, and when I later looked it up it seemed unlikely it would actually be authentic Seiryu stone. But seeing as I’d not been in search of it, it doesn’t bother me if it is just something similar (and it wasn't particularly expensive). I like how it looks which is the main thing ... or is it? Ok, so probably a good time to go into that “ substrate regret” mentioned in the first post. Other than the cost, my two concerns are : Onto the internal filter. This has a spray bar, initially I had the spray bar above the water level (the instructions aren’t very clear, but in one part it seems as if this is mandatory for the filter) if I aim it across the tank I get splashes onto the shelf above (not a good idea, unless I fancy a mould farm), if I aim it straight down I’m not sure I’ll get much circulation, I end up aiming it at the side, not least because it is quieter that way.So, while I’m sure it is doing great stuff for the plants (and they are mostly growing pretty well), I wish I had instead gone for a sand-capped low organics soil substrate with water column dosing (and perhaps occasional root tabs). But these are all concepts I learned about afterwards. Oh well.

Here, time for a guilty confession. Despite nearly everyone advising against it these days, I opted for fish-in-cycling. As previously mentioned, the tank (and fish) were to be a birthday present, and, while personally I could have happily adopted the policy of “ start with a garden, and then introduce the animals”, The Creative Director felt an empty fish tank would have made for a lousy present. In retrospect, I probably could have argued it from a delayed gratification / good things come to those who wait / appreciate nature / learning responsibility angle, but hey, it was a 6th birthday … so quite possibly it would have led to tears. Not as many tears as being presented with a tank of dead or dying fish of course, so I proceeded with caution, but still, in retrospect I wish we had gone for the patience, patience, patience approach. Bottom line is - it was better than getting a goldfish in a bowl, but that’s a pretty low bar. The Client was very pleased, but almost immediately followed up with “why are they so small, are they going to get any bigger?” “ermmmm …” Did I realise I realise how hard it would be to maintain a planted tank when there is a shelf above it obscuring about half of the top of the tank? No Over the first couple of weeks I have to do a lot of water changes to keep the ammonia down (daily 25% - 50% to begin with) whilst the bacteria and plants get going. I suspect that more of this ammonia is coming from the substrate (and perhaps the melting plants) than from the fish themselves. I may possibly be over feeding a little, but from the start I have been pretty wary and cautious of this as a potential problem, so probably feeding a lot less than the average beginner. Fish are all doing well, I don’t really know them well enough to say if they are “thriving”, but with all these water changes I’m sure I am shortening the useful life of the substrate, so that’s yet another con for the fish-in-cycling, what’s good for the fish is not good for the plants. Notice in the substrate on the right mystery plant number 3 (a red lotus? a red lilly? a red lotus lilly?) from first trip to LFS all I know is that it will get a lot bigger (wife saw a fully grown one in the shop and fell in love with it), though it is taking its sweet time over it. No sign of a bulb though, so does that rule out a lotus?The hope was to establish a wide diversity of microflora and microfauna in the tank, and to establish a bit of an ecosystem, even if not exactly “closed” because I am having to provide some inputs (ie food) and deal with some outputs (ie water changes). I was doing this not because I thought it meant I could get away with no cleaning or water changes, but because an ecosystem, or just a slice of nature, is much more interesting and beautiful to me than a sterile glass box with some plants and fish in it. I also hoped, and believed based on lots of reading (albeit perhaps self-selected reading), that the more diverse the life in the tank, the more resilient it would be.