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Ghosts first proppa scape

Hello everyone im back with some updates

Everything showed signs of nutrient def, I assume it's down to the retainer I used, the roots just didn't grow through it, maybe they would with more times, but blyxa completely died off, I cut half the retainer out and out all the plants to the side of the tank with no retainer, I did this today, I also went to the woods last week and got a load of wood, witch I soaked and boiled and de barked, it's noe in the other side of the tank being held down by terracota pots and saucers, so as of now the tank looks a mess, but I'm changing the gravel next week and cutting out the juwel filter, so tbh as long as the plants live till next weekend it'll be fine, did have some fluffy stuff going on aswell did extensive reaserch and doesn't look like any alage, so know idea, it's gone now

Also I have ordered 2x none branded allpondsolution ef1400, I say unbranded as there just re branded sunsun filters,
A big list of plants, won't recive them till next Friday, also im adding tropica plant substrate onto of the soil, and putting root tabs under every stem plant and crypt

So yea really it's just a waiting game atm, all plants can access soil now, so should be ok till next week,

When I'll remove all plants, drain tank, remove old gravel and all the retainer remove all the soil, add my hardscape, then place soil around the hardscape, place tropica plant sub on top of the soil and around hardscape, then add 1-3mm black gravel, root tabs along the back (under backround plants) and under any location were crypts go, my goal is to have a finer layer of gravel around the front where my carpet goes, might not workout who knows

Cheers for sticking around, will update again when I have everything ready to tear down and start again

Ghosty
 
It sounds as if you're planning on soil + Tropica Growth Substrate (or do you mean their aquarium soil?) + gravel (sand will control leaching better than gravel, so stay on top of water changes) + root tabs = a lot of nutrients ... I'd be planning CO2 ;)
 
Co2 is being planned :) im a daily water change guy I do 10% everyday, it's easier for me, saves the big load of buckets

Yes I will eiether be going tropica plant growth substrate then the mts soil, or the other way around, due to the plants not doing so well and not having enough, I decided to re do the tank with another parcel of plants and better gravel

Got an amazing deal on the filters, I am paying £68 pounds for the same filter as the aps ef1400
 
I'm thinking you may need to do 50% daily water changes - I suspect you'll have a ton of nutrients leaching into the water column - that your plants won't really be using as they are getting established & plant mass is relatively low ...
As you're planning a thorough tank rescape, why not try replicating the style of tank set up shown over & over again in the Tropica videos (other places as well but Tropica does some great time lapse videos )with plants grown very successfully using only "Growth Substrate" & various (relatively) inert fine gravels/sands + CO2 + light + (relatively low) flow.

Choosing water column fertilizing, whether commercial prep or EI, allows much greater control than having loads of soil (remember that you want a well oxygenated substrate) - note that all those commercial soils whether ADA or Tropica are very "light" with "space" between the individual particles, also setup is done by layering the substrate, then adding water without substrate disturbance, this means that there is significant amounts of air trapped in those lower layers.

Congrats on the filter find :)
 
Hello alto

IV been doing 50% plus water changes with the tank for the last two weeks, I'll be using the soil that's in the tank currently, so shouldn't need to carry on with the 50% daily, but after rescaping I will do so for a week, then. I'll slowly add my fish over.

I have watched and read a few of the tropica scales, but tbh, I'm just going to wing it, I was never happy with the gravel and the wood from the start of setup the first time, and now have the wood type I want and the gravel I want, also have some pvc pipes ready for sticking with gravel, and got some terracota saucers that I'll put together and drill a hole in top, and bury in gravel,

I may however forget about adding he tropica substrate, as I already have a bag of Jbl and a 1nch layer of soil, I will however add home made red clay balls under all heavy root feeders,

And the filters are an amazing deal, I was watching a YouTube video, in the sunsun, and alittle reaserch found the aquatop/sunsun/allpomdsultion, are all the same filter, so found a company selling them out of Germany for shrapnel, how aps can charge over double the price just for a rebranded fikter is ridiculous.
 
I'm confused re the PVC pipes & terracotta saucers - take lots of pictures during your re-scape!
 
Will do mate, it's pretty simple though, put to saucers together like this
_____
/. \
\____/

Drill a hole in the top, and glue the substrate ud use in ur tank to the top, and then bury it slightly, under gravel caves :)
Same thing for pvc pipe, only you cut a 3rd of the bottom of the tube, and cut the opening at a / angle then glue ur subsistrate to it, then bury it slightly,

I'll take pictures next weekend, got lots im waiting for, so not doing anything other then wait till next weekend when my little girl isint running around, so I can get everything layer out for pictures
 
Hello everybody

Sorry for my disapperance I dropped my iPad and never got round to fixing it. Still waiting on parts.

I did get round to planting the tank. I can't remember how far I had got with the journal so

I replacdd all the gravel and finally planted everything. Got some brown alage and so I added the second t5 tanks now running 2x54w t5 with no reflectors water changed never really. Once I finish the tank and ad fish Ill be doing 2 x10% a week I finished making a 3d background and also made those terracotta pot caves witch look amazing. So will post pictures tonight maybe

Cheers guys
 
Hi Ghosty, hope the replant went all ok. Id suggest you need to up your water changes though, with high light and co2 injection you should really be aiming for 50% a week as a minimum, substantially more during the first 4 weeks otherwise algae will become a problem for you due to high organic waste in the water.
All the best
 
Hello there

I never bothered with co2 as I was expecting a reg from someone but they never set me it, i had life get In the way, after the original escape I did 50%a day for like a week then after that life got in the way. I re did the tank again. Like 3 time. I'm done now. Just waiting on some g4 pond sealer for my day backround

Tbh I had no issues with algae at all instill two weeks ago. As it was brown alage I added my second 54w t5. And have been drained the tank and cleaned everything like twice. And tend do 50% Monday and Thursday so same day as my other tank maintance. I never really went with a scape just added plants I like where I liked

Sorry also after the original rescap I changed the gravel. To finer black stuff whilst doing that I added a lot of pure red clay balls. I finally nardowd down the process
 
Sorry for no pictures guys iPad still out for the count might just have to use my digital camera

I added into the tank
3 zebra snails
A ruby shark
6 younger tiger barbs

I will post pics this weekend
 
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