# Journal of our five  tanks



## Ravenswing (14 Dec 2012)

Dear UKAPS friend,

...here we go.

We have five tanks at home, 600, 300, 250, 65 and 45-l. 600l has been running fot three months after selling our 450l away. In that I used to have metalhalides (and T5s for some time) and pressurized C02 with EI, 300l used to have T5s and pressurized as 65l well too. Then I got tired with all that messing with technic and fertz. We had some serious technical problems with (cheap...) T5-lights and (not so cheap) Co2-technic. After that we went down to T8s and daily Excel/Easy Carbo and Iv been sooooooo happy since that though it was a huge job to get 300l back on track after being a BBA farm because of unstable Co2. 

Let me introduce every tank. At the beginning I must tell that earlier (till last spring) we used to have mainly southamerican species but after buing an EC-meter and finding we have extremely hard water (620uS from tap), I gave some species away and nowadays we prefer hardwater species. Those softwater species that seems to do OK in our hard water, we have kept. Prams from tap: GH 3-7, KH 3-5, pH 7,4-8, NO2/NO3 0, EC 620uS.

*600l:*
 As said, three months old, moved at the end of August from 450l to this. Nowadays led-lighting for 6 weeks, daily 15ml EC, filtration Eheim 2048, Hamburger maten filter with 1000l/h AquaBee pump , Fluval U4. Fishes: orange unknown rainbow hybrid x 5, Chilatherina bleheri x 7, Pseudomomugil signifer x >20, Bedotia geayi x 9, Stiphodon elegans x 2 (trying to get more), Stiphodon atropurpureus x 4, L-333, flashpleco and 40+cories (C concolor, C similis and C aeneus). GH 5, KH 3, pH 7,5, PO4 1-2mg/l, NO3 5mg/l, Fe 0,2mg/l, EC 700uS. 

This picture is taken last week. I sold some bows and had to take drifwoods up so I did some rescape at the same time since the tank was a bit overgrown. Substrate JBL Manado.

http://aijaa.com/Pf93Y5

Today: 

http://aijaa.com/3RxvAv

Right now it looks a bit messy after hard trimming. Theres C balansae var crispatula growing on the left corner, oh it grows so slowly! I took it from 300l hoping it would start growing faster with stronger light now. I hate that empty corner!  I used to grow there Heteranthera dubia but it was one dam weed so I took it away.

Iv been very happy with this set up, need to fertilize (KNO3, PO4, K, Plantex and DIY-Equilibrium) just twice a week, WC 50% weekly, no algae anywhere. Fishes have been soooo fine.


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## Ravenswing (14 Dec 2012)

My 14-year old sons *300l:*

This has always been very easy to take care for some reason of but as I told, after unstable C02 and strong lights (T5) last spring it was full of BBA. Nowadays plants grow like crazy with T8s, and there is no algae anywhere so I must do something right, eh.

http://aijaa.com/uSi7Yd

Lightning T8 2x36w, filtation HMF+JBL CristalProfi i100. Fertilizing routines same as in 600l, 7ml EC daily. WC 30-40% weekly. Angelfish pair and  bolivian rams (wild caught) wich spread regularly, neon bows, kongos, glas fish, 2xL-134, 20+cories (C sterbai and C schwartzi). A bit softer water than in 600l (not using DIY-Equilibrium).


*250l:*

Our two sons got this as a present last March. Everything went just fine till I got a Great Idea to change sand to a kitty litter. Well... Oh my...GH jumped up to over 22 (where I stopped counting...) and after couple of weeks I had a serious diatom/BGA problem with very, very poor plants. I went back to plain sand but it has taken months to find a new balance and Im sure I have made millions of mistakes with it. Poor light, then too much light, something wrong with fertz... But now it seems to recover.  Im not happy at all with its scaping but I will let it settle and find its balanse for a while untill will rescape it with some nice new lowlight plants. 

http://aijaa.com/2SbLut

Fishes:+20 young cherry barbs (I will give 10 away as they have grown a bit, I bought these as a fry), a mated pair of Keyhold cichlid, a mated pair of Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlid, +10 Corydoras paleatus and a pair of honey gourami that spreads regularly.

Fertlilizing routines as in other tanks, no added DIY-Equilibrium, 7ml EC daily. Lightning T8s 2x30w + 2x11w ESB 4000K, filtration 2x Aquael inner filter 750+1000l/h. A bit softer water when not using DIY-Equilibrium.

*65l* kitchen tank with a pair of Apistoframma borelii, +10 Trigonostigma espei, +10 Corydoras hastatus and 3x Dwarf Croaking Gourami

http://aijaa.com/OFm7hC

The water is tealike because of the new quite big driftwood. Lightning is 2x11w ESB 4000K so normally the colour of the water is more bluelike. Ludwigia is not doing pretty well here, its missing its downleaves because of lack of light but I havent desided what to plant instead of it. And since I did a bit rescape a week ago when I got the new DW, I will let the tank settle a bit before making changes again. At first this was supposed to be just for Apistos and cories but then we got problems with rasboras when angelfish started to eat them as they were little ones so we had to move rasboras here from 300l. Apistos are moving somewhere as soon as I get the idea where...Fertilization as in other tanks (no DIY-Equilibrium added) and EC 4ml daily. Substrate JBL Manado.

And finally the last one: sons *45l* with Poecilla wingei and dwarf cories. One big mess right now! Need some trimming but Im not very interested in trimming it beacause it has a bit strong light and as soon as I trim, there will grow some BBA so I have to be very carefully when trimming it. 

http://aijaa.com/Gz36L6

Lightning 1x14w ESB 4000K, filtration Eheim PickUp. Fertilization HS FloraCarbo weekly as recommended. Substrate JBL Manado.


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## Deano3 (14 Dec 2012)

wow some great looking tanks there mate i am new to this and still learning but wecome to the forum

dean


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## jojouk (16 Dec 2012)

Great looking tank


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## Ravenswing (29 Dec 2012)

Thank you for your kind words!

Heres a quick update after tuesdays re-scaping. I have always dreamed a tank full of driftwood, java ferns like "Windelov", "Mini" and "Narrow" and crypts but less stem plants. Now I finally had them growing enough in our other tanks to prune them here. The African fern I got a friend of mine in very poor condition but after two months emergency it seems just fantastic and is growing... well not like mad, but fast anyway. I just love it and have been missing it since I lost one because of high temperature last spring. So this is our 600l-bow tank with young Blehers, some unknown hybrid (C bleheri Red Princess???), Madagascars and blue-eyes, wich are my absolute favorites, some plecos and cories. There is a black hole behind the big DW, still, where C crispatula var balansae grows, grrrrrr. It makes me crazy with such a slow growth!















Yesterday I happily finally got 10 Psudomugil gertrudae wich Iv been dreaming about a year. They are living in 250-litre tank with cherry barbs and The Plan is to get 10 more as soon as possible. Pics coming... I also re-scaped with lots of DW 65-litre tank but Im mising pictures right now. So later them too.

Sons 300-l... Who wants to come and trim it as it seems Im nor capable to do that?? No heart to steel his jungle! Do you see bows? Yes you do!





Its in terrible condition but please forgive me, we had so much troubles with lights and unstable (pressurized) Co2 last spring, after that tank was a totally BBA-farm with poorpoor plants, now finally this healthy jungle and no algea just with daily EasyCarbo and EI. Easy? No, super easy!!


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## Ravenswing (4 Jan 2013)

Some updates as I promised in my last post:

*250l:*

Current stocking: 20 young Spotted Blue-eyes (yahoo, I finally got them!), ca 12 Cherry barbs (sold +10 away) , a mated pair of Keyhole Cichlids, a mated pair of Cocatoo Cichlids, 6 Leopard cories (have to get more), 10+Peppered cories, 2 Honey gouramis "Golden"-type (moved from 65l to this two weeks ago). I just prune stems to my aquarist friend. It seems tank has passed its worst times since I havent seen any algae for weeks in this tank. Still work to do! I dont like those driftwoods as they are, looking for new ones or at least some inspiration to do something for them...



 



*65l:*

After small re-scape on christmas holidays. I got tired of Ludwigia and stole some Java ferns from other tanks. So now I can reduce lightning (you can see some slight green algae on because of too strong lightning) and no need to prune every week. Current stockin: 4 Sparkling Gouramis from a friend (lets see how they will do, so fas so good after two weeks), 6 Golden pencilfish (moved from 250l after changing Glowlight rasboras to Sparkling Gouramis with my friend), 10+Dwarf cories. Few Ottos and... still......A mated pair of Umbrella Ciclids wich are living here temporarily until I get an idea where to move them. I just love them! They have spawned many times but Rasboras has eaten the fry every time. Water is still a bit tealike. _Microsorum p_. "Narrow" has started to spread slowly, great! In this tank EC is just a little higher than tap water even just before WC so things are going really nice here.



 

 

 There you can see one of my favorite plants: _Cryptocoryne costata_

As you already must have noticed, Im a driftwood fan! Its has always been my passion. Besides it makes good for our water parameters wich aren`t so beautiful because of poor tapwater quality.

Bad news are that I lost four Checkerboard Ciclids. At first died two males within one day, two weeks later two females at the same way. Both happend right after WC and I just cant figure out what happend beside there was something wrong with WC. All of them were day before eating well and in normal (=fantastic) colours, next day...found dead in the morning. Not a single sign of illnes or injury. I`m sad, I really love those little fishes, but maybe it not worth to buy then more since our tap water is a bit tricky. I have had them since last February. All other fishes were/are doing just great.


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## Ravenswing (7 Jan 2013)

I got some nice byt not totally healthy anubias from a friend of mine. I still dont like how the DW looks like, I`ll buy a new nice one when I find one. Til that...




 



Anubias was given me by name _A barteri var barteri_ but is weirdly tall (10-12cm), maybe because of light? I took some from sons tank too, but its much shorter. We`ll see how the situation will progress....

Then...Unexpected project took a place.... I found a sweet 40-l from second hand.



 




Frogbit is there just ocasionally helping the tank settle. This is also supposed to be low-light (Ikea 7w led spot, will increase light if needed) with Java fern "Mini" and Java moss growing on the brach, some Anubias `Nana`. No stems. Im monitoring the temp since the idea is to stay away from the heater but Ill buy it if necessary. The temp seem s to be settled at +24c wich is just fine. Stocking will be 6 Galaxy rasbora and 6 Pygmy cories, arriving hopefully tomorrow. Gravel is just plain sand +-1mm, MTS to take care of it.

I did some water tests on Friday, the day before WC. Found out that there isn`t consumption of PO4 nearly at all so maybe I`ll leave it away from dosing regime. I was without it for some months then took it with without any visible differences in anything. PO4 was high in every tank after adding it 1ppm for some weeks. Blaah, just waste of money. Or maybe I`ll split the dose down to 1/4, these are low-light tanks anyway. KH was 3, pH 7,6 (or more) what are results of adding baking soda last week (KH 2, pH 7,2) They have been pretty stable for months but then I became conserned about propably swinging/lowering pH. Now Im wondering what to do, just let the KH be 2 (and keep eye on that) as it has been or add little soda every week trying to find the amount wich keeps it stable 3-4. Fishes, mainly bows, can handle a bit higher pH, no problem, but my target is to do (/add) things as little as possible. Maybe its just OK to let it be since Im not messing with CO2? GH keeps lowering because of plants (or inert JBL Manado??), I add DIY-Equilibrium in every WC. Baking soda is cheap for sure, but every other fert costs me quite a lot so this is something to think about. Some dry ferts I used to order from USA (from this on UK because of new VAT rules) and some, like KNO3, is really expensive (500g ca 18 pounds) here unless I can get it from some farmer (donnou any...). Importing KNO3 is illegal. Sigh. Happily I got a lot KNO3 and K2SO4 from a friend who stoped keeping tanks, but they wont last forever.


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## MARKCOUSINS (7 Jan 2013)

You have a lot of work on your hands with all those tanks!!Some very nice pictures its sad to hear you have trouble obtaining certain ferts i hope someone can help you.Keep the intresting updates going good luck.cheers mark


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## sanj (7 Jan 2013)

Very nice tanks. Love the 600. I keep and breed a lot of rainbowfish species. I am not keen on hybrids although a few are pretty. I keep P.gertrudae "Aru II", really lovely fish.


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## Ravenswing (8 Jan 2013)

Hi sanj and markcousins and thank your for yor nice words!

sanj, are you the one from Adrians Rainbowfishforum? If so, I really apreciate your knowledge and experience of bows. Your bowtank is absolutely one of the most gorgeous bowtanks Iv never seen! Just amazing! I really must read your journal(s) with plenty of time! So glad to find another bow hobbyist here!

Im not interested in hybrids too, but these orange ones were sold as fry by name _M splendida. V_ery soon its was Very clear they are not splendidas and I was a bit disapointed since I always prefer true pure species. I have sold away some of these but my kids like them...So...maybe later...get rid of them.... I had six males, three males and everything went fine but after selling 2+1 one male has been pretty agressive towards other fishes, not just bows. I found out _C bleheri _less agressive and I love them, so that is one alternative to hybrids. Now Im having 3+3 blehers. Its very hard to find quality bows from Finland. Some random species like _boesemani_, _herbert__axelrodi, G incisus_ etc are commonly sold but Id like to find some real juwels, not that rich in colours but some diamond glitter here and there, as blehers have. Got the idea? Sometimes we have opportunity to order fish direct from Aquarium Glaser wholesaler from Europe but so far there hasnt been nothing really intetresting for me. We`ll see.

Oh, you have "Aru II"? So jealous! I had an opportunity to order them (and still have) but the prize knocked me out (ca 10 pound head), so I bought instead "common" gertrudaes. I prefer big shoals so twenty "Aru II"s would have driven me bankruptcy... May I ask how much "Aru II" costs in GB?


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## Ravenswing (16 Jan 2013)

Hi all!

Instead of Pygmy Cories I end up Neocaridinas and so the branch coming out of tank was taken away and I put lidglas. So far so good but too few plants, try to find some more java fern.





Sorry a bit cloudy glas, I just add more bacter ampoules (BioDigest) and did not want to bother them by cleaning the glas right after. CPDs seems to do fine, they`r cute!

Big one is doing great, new plants are growing nicely. I bought a new Eheim 2252 for it, old 2048 moved to 300l. I got Seachem Purigel as christmas present, as promised it has raised EC a bit. Grrrrrr........Definetly *no* need for _that_! But I`ll keep it working anyway.





300-l, not so great today... Oh man. I did some pruning: Frogbit (right corner): bye-bye, Sunset Hygrophila (left corner): bye-bye. I got Bacopa caroliniana instead of Frogbit and _Hygrophila salicifolia_ will replace Sunset. JBL CristalProfi 100i were replaced by Eheim 2048




If someone happens to be interested in Hamburger Maten Filters, here is couple of pics of mine. In 600l the size is about 50cm (height) 20cm (diameter), pump is aquaBee 1000l/h




300l about 40hx10wx20d cm, pump Eheim Compact 600l/h





Poor fish became very timid after pruning. They were used to live in a jungle! Now they just hang under lily and Ludwigia bushes.


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## jack-rythm (16 Jan 2013)

This tank is beautiful mate  looks so natural, well done


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## Ravenswing (31 Jan 2013)

Hello!

It time to do some updates. We changed tanks with oldest son so I got his 45-l for Celestial pearl danios and shrimps and he got new 40-l to his shrimps and _Poecilla wingeis. _We did this because of dimensions of tanks. 45-l is propably more suitable for CPDs since they seemed to need more hiding places males teasing females all the time. 45-l is taller so it was easier to furnish with high driftwood.

So this is sons lowbutlong low-tech today, slight led- lightning . EC is now 450uS with 25% (of total water volume) RO-water wich I buy in canisters for shrimps. Some rearrangements will be done for some plants. Anubias is _A nana_ `Golden`. Fertilization HS FloraCarbo weekly.



 

 



Yes, you can see right, theres a board game tressle as background. At first is was fallen there, then it became a joke and since that it has been there.

CPD/shrimp low-tech tank today, lightning 14w ESB 4000K. EC 450uS with 10% RO-water. EasyCarbo 0,5ml daily (will increase with time), N+K+Equilibrium+Plantex. I got tired of the noice of airstone and changed it to small Fluval. No heater, temp +24c.



 



Young CPDs seems to do fine, couple of males are in fantastic colours and shows interest towards females *and* java moss...hmmm... ???!! Oh, these are unexpectable active fish, going around the tank and woods like maniacs! There is also three brown Bee-_caridinias_ among "plain" _Neocaridinas_ and Sakuras but so far Im not sure about their species. Sakuras will move to sons tank. Target is to let the moss grow all over.

Spotted blue-eyes moved from 250l to 600l and joined Pacific blue-eyes shoal without any problems. For some reason we have just few female Spotteds, oh man when Spotted males found Pacific females, they became mad!! WooooOOOmen!! Now 250l is a bit empty, just a small school of Cherrybarbs hanging around mid-waters. Im planning to find some Glass tetras there next week.


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## Nat N (1 Feb 2013)

Really impressive! Maria, I am absolutely amased how you manage to keep these tanks to look good!


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## Ravenswing (3 Feb 2013)

Thank you, Nat N for your kind words. Eh, I have nothing else to do... LOL, that was a joke. I have full time job and four kids but they help a lot, actually we take care of these together and as you already must have noticed, oldest son (14-years) has two tanks but as teenages used to do, things will be done "soon" or "tomorrow". My target is to keep tanks in such a condition I just need to add fertz and change waters. That means slow growing lushy and healthy plants and trying to keep algaes at bay. Honestly, glutradehyde is my best friend.

The Beckford pencilfishs six-pack moved to 250-litre and we found Apistogramma borelii papa with young fry in 65-l. The male is very agressive towards the female and protects the fry all by himself. Last time boreliis had a fry, the female just disappeard with the fry! I never found her body or nothing, it was really weird! This time femele was also lost and I had a bad feelings but she was found in good condition under woods when catching the Beckfords.

The Project:

Id like to grow something here...




....on the wood. But what?


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## sdlra (3 Feb 2013)

Looking forward to more updates


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## dagzz (3 Feb 2013)

beautiful tanks mate


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## sanj (4 Feb 2013)

Hi Ravenswing,

I am sorry I missed your reply. I am the same person on the European site. 

For a long time we have had pretty poor stock in the UK as well, but there has been significant improvement in the last couple of years. Melanotania Aru II are not very rare anymore, but the Psuedomugil. gertrudae Aru II is still difficult, but not impossible to find. I travel into Europe for most of my stock.

Good fish in the UK range from £10+, common species are cheaper. Some rare ones are in the order of £60 a pair which few people will buy.

Aquarium Glaser do seem to have a positive reputation for occasionally being able to source good rainbowfish species.

Sanj


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## dw1305 (4 Feb 2013)

Hi all,


Ravenswing said:


> .on the wood. But what?


_Hemianthus callictroides_?

cheers Darrel


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## Ravenswing (7 Feb 2013)

Hey, thank you ALL very much for your responces!



sanj said:


> I travel into Europe for most of my stock. Good fish in the UK range from £10+, common species are cheaper. Some rare ones are in the order of £60 a pair which few people will buy. Aquarium Glaser do seem to have a positive reputation for occasionally being able to source good rainbowfish species. Sanj


 
Hi Sanj!

It seems price level is pretty same here. Random species costs here 5-8 euros, more rare ones (inc _C bleheri_ here) ca 15e. I got 10_ P gertrudae _for 35e, but Arus will cost much, much more. Hey mate, do you travel to Europe just for fish??? To Germany or...? I have acces straight to Glaser stockinglists via Finnish coryclub Im a member of,  from time to time, you can recommend it as a reliable whole saler when it comes to bows? They sold some shrimps with wrong names but you know, this happens all the time. You can never be 100% sure what you get when you order young fish.

*Darrel*: Thanks for your idea of growing HC on the wood. Actually Iv been thinkg of that! I had it in my riparium and it grows really nicely emersed too. What do you think, would it be good idea to let the java moss grow up (->emersed) first (dam it so slow!) and then plant the HC on it or get some other moss, some local for example, and plant the HC just on it and then let the java grow over the moss/HC-mess do what ever it likes to do?


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## dw1305 (7 Feb 2013)

Hi all,


Ravenswing said:


> What do you think, would it be good idea to let the java moss grow up (->emersed) first (dam it so slow!) and then plant the HC on it or get some other moss, some local for example, and plant the HC just on it and then let the java grow over the moss/HC-mess do what ever it likes to do?


I think either of those options will do, I'd probably try "or get some other moss, some local for example". If the local moss dies in won't matter, as it will still provide a mat for the _Hemianthus _to root into, and eventually the Java moss and HC will meet, so it will save time. When I had a HMF it reached above the water level, and the _Hemianthus _grew on top emersed.

cheers Darrel


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## Ravenswing (8 Feb 2013)

Hey *Darrel*, thats a good idea with HMF, too! How did you start with HC? 

I met my hobbyist fellow yesterday and shes having _Hydrocotyle tripartita, _wich I happen to love_, _growing on wood emersed, theres nothing under it,  just the wood. Bingo! I ask her some Hydro and plant it half under waterlevel as she did too at first with it.

This way:





The Hydro wasnt very pleased to become removed but dont worry, everything is going to be fine (isn`t it?). At first I was worried Hydro will dry off but as you can see, it "sucks" water, the wood above it is wet.

I gave my huge _Aponpgeton longiplumosus _to my friend since shes having tall tank. Now the corner in my tank is empty and I should get an idea what to grow there. Might be boring but I asked some Water wisteria from a friend of mine. I like it (never had it) and she recommended it as nearly-pleco-proof since this plecofella L-333 of mine has started to eat my beautiful Narrow leaf giant hygros. Leds seems to have quite strong light but the problem with such a mount of woods is that they shadow the bottom of the tank strongly so some more light demanding plants will throw away their underleaves messing the tank. Giant hygro has done pretty well though it is needed to prune from the lower part from time to time.


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## dw1305 (8 Feb 2013)

Hi all,


Ravenswing said:


> everything is going to be fine (isn`t it?)


Yes, _Hydrocotyle tripartita _should be fine. Plants don't need a substrate, even strictly terrestrial plants can only take up ions (NO3-, K+ etc) from solution, although often this role is actually performed by their mycorrhizal symbionts, which may have much more exacting requirements.


Ravenswing said:


> How did you start with HC?


 I bought a pot, but quickly realised that it is the least suitable plant possible for my tanks. Some of the decaying remnants washed up onto the  the HMF, where they proceeded to grow happily for several years. All the growth was emersed on top, with any bits ending up in the water failing to root into the sponge, unless the foliage was emersed.


Ravenswing said:


> but the problem with such a mount of woods is that they shadow the bottom of the tank strongly so some more light demanding plants will throw away their underleaves messing the tank. Giant hygro has done pretty well though it is needed to prune from the lower part from time to time.


 I hate a gap, but what ever I do the bottom of all my tanks always ends up as a gloomy basement full of wood and dead leaves <Anubias surgery? | UK Aquatic Plant Society>.
I'll try and get a photo, but some _H. corymbosa_ has escaped from stygian underworld of its tank and is flowering at the moment.

cheers Darrel


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## sanj (9 Feb 2013)

yeah, I go for fish, but make it into a short holiday and see the places I go to.  It is otherwise too expensive.

I think even good wholesalers can get their supply wrong sometimes. I have never used Glaser, but the name crops up occasionally on rainbowfish forums. The best place to get rainbowfish is direct from reputable breeders though.


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## Ravenswing (10 Feb 2013)

Hi Darrel and hi sanj!

*sanj*: By accident I just got a possibility to order from Glaser. There were some interesting bow, like _M maccullochi_, and blue-eye species but unfortunately the minimum order is 10 fish. No way now. I asked the prize of Danio erythromicron (for 65l-tank) since its also mid-hard water species too but so far I havent got the answer. As far as I know, there`s nobody growing bows here, they are not very famous. I think they have bit poor glory not being so hard fish. IMO it just because we still dont understand the meaning of clean water what I have found the key to keep bows with succes. They dont tolerate dirty (=a lot of organic waste) water very well though they tolerate many kind of  water parameters as long as water is clean enough. They used to promoted here as hard fish, many hobbyista have take it as a recommendation *not* to do their WCs regularly...

*Darrel*: Sounds good with HC, thanks for advices. As soon as I got it I will give it a try on my HMF. Dam, I was going to buy one enormous bogwood from my LFS in target to plant some other submersed plants on it, but I told about it to a friend of mine. She was faster than me. Stupid me! Yes, I`d like to see a photo of your flowering _H corymbosa_...and get some salt into my wounds since the pleco is progressing with his disasters. Everytime my _H corymbosa_ reaches surface, it starts drying. I wonder why.


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## Ravenswing (4 Mar 2013)

Hi all!

After some small rearrangements* 250-l* looks like this. Its just a poor start, but The Plan is strong and believe me, I have a vision! At the end of April I will order some small orchid species from here Startseite Bens Jungle Onlineshop. I already have _Leptotes bicolor _and_ Bulpophyllym variegatum_ growing there along two _Nepenthes_-species, _Peperomia prostrata_ and some (hopefully) emersed and submersed aquatic plants. Im planning to order _Isabelia pulcella, Ostradella centadenia,_ _Pleurothalis_ sp. maybe some_ Angraecum _and _Tillandsia _but some of these are going to be grown 600-l. The water is tealike because of new bogwoods. I also should buy some more cork, it was a totally new thing to me but seems to do well as a background (can`t be seen in a pic thou). On the left side I try to put some bigger species, there is plenty of room for them available as you can see. Some moss, but wich, is also under construction....??? I got some unknown climbing tiny fern at the same time with orchids from Mr. Falck also. I really must thank Daniel of his great and gratuitous help with sooo many things!! I hope I wont kill his plants!



 

 

 



Most of the plants seems to be doing fine after three weeks, but the other _Nepenthes_ doesn`t look very happy thou its still making new leaves. Inhabitants: Sakura and Bumble-Bee shrimps, 6 Leopard cories and 20 Celestial Pearl Danios wich seems to love their new woody and shady enviroment! Submersed plants are lowlights: anubias, java ferns, java and willow moss and cryptos. Oh man, its really hard take photos of this tank with my photographer skills ("skills")! IRL it looks a bit more lushious! Some plants are hiding behind that tall wood on the right, sorry for it.

*600-l* is ready to receive some orchids and other epiphytes too:



 

 



...*plus* the existing third wood with _Hydrocotyle_ _tripartita_ (see earlier pics above), wich is doing great BTW!! _Acorus gramineus_ looks fine and is pushing new leaves, but we`ll see. A friend of mine has have a great succes with it this way, so Im hopefull. I just bought couple of days ago _Cyperus helferi_ for emersed trying, now its growing just on the wood wich is supposed to be OK...? Iv seen it growing that way too...The colour of the plant is still poor, so light. Unfortunately the light of my Leds seems to be a bit strong at the surface level, hopefully not too for it?!



This tank also got, FINALLY, a new HMF 

 Nice colour, isn`t it. Happily it will turn black sooooon?!!

My son was so exited about this emersed culture mess with other tanks that he started his own minimersed with his* 45-l*: He is planning to plant some small orchid there too, maybe _Pleurothalis_ would work when lifted up enough from water level?





*300-l* is doing pretty fine but still under progress with stem plants after Big Pruning:



 



Dam plecos has eaten young growth of Bacopas but then I started to give them more veggiefood and I think they have left Bacopas alone now. In 600-l Water wisteria has been left alone by plecos but Im still missing my beautiful Giants wich I throw away couple of weeks ago when I received Ww.

Iv spent hours of watching different palundariums and vivariums, oh man there is some soooooo awsome ones not to mention some purely emersed culture tanks!! T-h-a-t is what I call inspiring!


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## Ravenswing (6 Mar 2013)

Hello again!

Just some quick details this time:

*250-l*

_H micranthemoides_ has just started to grow emersed tips, it surely looked a bit unhappy for a short while!

*

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Sorry, no underwater pics now!


*600-l*




 

 

 



Kitchen *65-l* after some `Windelov`pruning, it was a huge bush! Poor looking Blyxa (the one I got...) is new, it has just started to push new nice coloured leaves. This tank has now settled nicely. Everything grows well and all algaes are at bay finally, there was slight signs of them after the rescape.





A new tiny emersed project started yesterday, this time on the new HMF. In a picture just _Staurogyne repens_, then I add some _C helferi_ and _H micranthemoides_ too. Now they are growing under plastic bag, not a glas lid!





The target is cover the whole top of the HMF with plants.

Cheers,

Maria


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## Ravenswing (17 Mar 2013)

Just some quick updates...

*600-l*
I got some small species _Anthurium_, wich is now growing in hydro (also in 250-l).  A blooming orchid, _Ludisia discolor_



 

 



*250-l*



 



I found fry, it must be CPDs. Sooooo happy! Everything seems to be just fine with plants too. A friend of mine is selling her T5s (2x39w), Im considering to buy them but worried if they are too much light  for staying away from gas type CO2. They are actually my old lights wich I sold with the tank to her, so Im familiar with them. Shrimps seems to be fine thou EC is around 500uS but no sign of shrimp babies so far.

Kitchen 65-l tank is having new inhabitants. Five remaining Beckfords are joining bigger shoal of some other small _Nannostomus_-species shoal tonight and gouramis are leaving tomorrow, Dwarf cories are staying. I will take thermometer away from the tank and there will move a group of Emerald dwarf danios (_Danio erythromicron_) after tomorrows wholesaler visit. There is also Empire Gudgeons _Hypseleotris compressa_ for sale, thinking to add them to the bow tank. We`ll see.


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## Ravenswing (31 Mar 2013)

Surprisingly... _just some updates:_

Got few new plants... and trying to get some more for hydro growing. The 250-l is now fully planted...eeeeh...yes it is...erh...it is.

*600-l																*

Small _Spathiphyllym_-species is growing hydro. _Phaleonopsis_ is some tiny species one. Im not a big friend of Phales, but this was just called after me buying it and wont overgrow for my purposes so I took it with.



 



*250-l* went throw a rescape since I had a problematic big BW in 600-l wich I wanted away from there. So it moved to 250-l. Leopard cories started spawn like maniacs, new eggs every day around the tank! CPDs ate their fry, but thats what I expected to happen with such a bare tank.

I found _Polystichum tsus-simense_, Korean rock fern, wich will propably grow too big but I was told it can be cut back then. So, we`ll see.



 

 

 



The fern with couple of wild species orchids and _Peperomia prostrata												 _This ^ was my headache, its really a cave like, CPDs practically live in it


_

 

 _

_Hydrocotyle verticillata _grows just with some java moss_			 Micranthemum (_left corner_) _and_ Hydrocolyle tripartita _didn`t like moving but doing fine after few days again. 	

Shrimps are doing fine, they are active, but no, no sign of babies. Anyway I will order them more from Germany as soon as weather will warm up a bit. EC in 250-l is litter less than from tap, tap ~620Us, tank ~580uS without any RO-water, I guess I cant do much more without RO-water or peat filtration wich both are out of question. Id like to grow java moss mersed (for CPDs to lay eggs), but the water part is really, really dark so Im nor sure will it thrive there? So far plants (above and under), fish and shrimps seems to do fine and nothing bad (algae, sick/dead fish or shrimps etc) has happend since I started this project so Im pretty happy with it.Now its time to see it just grow, and it certainly has done it already!Im pretty sure Im going to loose a plant or two, but this is a project of trial and error when it comes to plants.

The next thing to do is to try to take some pics from *water* parts of the tanks, you know... what are called aquariums..... Its been a bit difficult because of dramatically increasing northern light in our rooms. The target is to do it today. So see you, my dear reader, hopefully soon.	

Cheers, Maria


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## Ravenswing (1 Apr 2013)

Ookkey, heres some shots I promised of *600-l* after moving the huge BW to 250l. After this there is plenty of empty room, hopefully not long. Looks too messy for my taste but before I touch the tank, I will let plants settle and grow a bit. Unfotunately the water is ugly tealike because a new BW is leaking tannins. I should have taken pics right after WC so it would be clearer and a bit more blue-like as it really is. Leds above the tank are 6500K, not 3000K....																																					 In the last pic the new BW with new decorations



 

 

 



*300-l* is doing pretty well, thou Bacopa has been ruined by plecos and therefore has growned toooooo sloooooooooowly, as you can see the other side of the tank is full, the other..eh,,,.maybe some other hobbyits tank...? Pogo should be trimmed but we love it that way!



 

 

 



Sorry the poor pic quality but my son wanted me to take a pic of him, he just loves em. We have a pack of 6 these, they are wild caught and spawn regularly. Really nice fish!






Kitchen *65-litre* where lives now new 12 Emerald Dwarf Rasboras, 9 pygmy cories with six Vietnamese Multi Banded Zebra Loach (whoaaa what a long english name!). Rasboras (actually Danios) are very, very shy, I wonder if they are always? They do keep playing and teasing eachother when you stand still for a long time (very active and atractive fish, BTW!) but as soos as you move your eyelash, they are gone. Nothing new with plants or the scape, but Java ferns and anubias are growing nicely, Im happy with them. Hmmm. funnily `Windelov` wich grown on the top of the BW on the left, grows differently were water flows throw it, you can see long "arms" but on the left side of the "arms" (where you can see light "touching" the plant) where is no water movement that much if all, it grows more bushy. Those long leaves under flow are... welll... a bit ugly I think. They lool like plastic! There is small Eheim PickUp hided behind that "lighty spot". That small Cryptocoryne on the left hate its life for some reason, otherones are growing nicely, making nwe leaves and spreading.





There is really nothing new when it comes to maintenance routines with tanks but I add bit more EC for 600- and 300-litres now, just beacause to keep increasing plant mass happy. I also try addin KH2PO4 just in order to see if I can see some improvements. Or nothing at all. I have tried it few times before with no succes but I want give it a try once again (why, one may ask. Good question!)

Cheers and have a nice day, my friends!

Maria


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## tim (1 Apr 2013)

Hi ravenswing, tanks are looking top notch, I really like the style you've chosen especially the emmersed sections, I have a group of danio erythromicron and unfortunately they do seem to be very shy and prefer the lower levels of the tank, beautiful fish though


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## Ravenswing (2 Apr 2013)

Hi *Tim* and thx for your reply and kind words! These Emeralds of mine usually play mid-waters, they especially love swim around and through fernbushes. When not, they really stay lower levels. It seems they are becoming bolder, thou slowly, now they come and eat when we are in the kitchen so far there is no noise or sudden movements neat the tank. Earlier they refused to eat at daytime, only nights, now every time is OK.  In 250l  we have 20+ school of CPDs, they are really bold fish, thou I noticed that every time they move (wich has now happend three times) they refuse to eat for couple of days, after that they are OK and eat like little bigs. Tim, have you got any Emerald fry? I hope to get but I guess these little predators will eat them so not-very-high-hopes....CPSs has spawned but they have eaten the fry so far. I guess they have also eaten our leopardcory fry, too. We just sold away our fry tank so there is no place to grow any fry till we get a new tank. Oh these awesome ideas!!

Cheers, Maria


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## Ravenswing (6 Apr 2013)

Cheers,


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## Ravenswing (15 Apr 2013)

Hello all!

Photobucket is not working now, so no pics, sorry. Just have to tell the good news: Sakura shrimps have finally got babies! This is quite exciting and maybe even unbelieveble since EC is pretty high in all out tanks. This babyshrimp tank (45l) has around 500uS. We found babies about a week ago and they seems to be doing fine, growing from day to day so we are hopefull they will thrive.

Cheers, Maria


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## BigTom (15 Apr 2013)

Really awesome set of tanks Maria. I'm a sucker for emersed stuff but have been neglecting mine a bit. Watch out for the _Anthurium_ and _Spathiphyllum_, mine went beserk.


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## Ravenswing (16 Apr 2013)

BigTom said:


> Really awesome set of tanks Maria. I'm a sucker for emersed stuff but have been neglecting mine a bit. Watch out for the _Anthurium_ and _Spathiphyllum_, mine went beserk.


 
Hi *BigTom*! _Anthurium_ (some unknown small species) actually grows hydroponics, not emersed, _Spathiphyllum_ (`Chopin`=small) grows emersed but there is a pot hiding behind the BW. _Acorus_ and _Hydrocotyle_s are growing on the BWs, "true emersed" so to say. I have red a lot horror stories of too invasive plants so Im very carefull with all emersed/vivplants. It would be very interesting to see your emersed/hydroponic cultures, Im hooked on this after I start this. I had a small vivarium over a year ago but after some air circulation problems while I wasnt at home, they all rot...great. Some of plants by water grow hydro, some traditionally in pots (soil).
Well, 250l is more likely a patrimony of that ancient destroyed project but it... krhm...escalated to this...

Well well...heres some updates. Everything seems to be fine, all plants are growing like crazy. I threw Pogo `Octopus` away  , wich can not be seen, and the tank is bit less messy I think. The only problem is to find something nice on its place. I replanted some water wisteria there but since Im already having it so (too?) much, it would be cool to get something different, something straight growing or with straight leaves. Actually theres some valls growing now but Im not sure how it will do with EasyCarbo. Earlier I havent had any problems with that combo, but we`ll see how its gonna work this time. _Aponogeton longiplumosus_ is also one possible plant. I used to have huuuuge_ A crispus, _but I got rid of it since it really was enormous and tried to fill the whole 600l! After I increased the amount of daily EC, the growth of all (submersed) plants has been significantly better. The tank looks still tealike but I have a slight feeling that leaking of tannins is decreasing a bit. ....Or not. That BW on the right is huge, you can`t see its going all the way from the visible part to the right where it ends just before the pic ends on the right (and where oh-so-lovely coloured HMF starts...). The African fern grows on it there between WWs and cryptos.

LOL, THE target, when I did the big rescape last autumn, was to get rid of plats (except _some_ anubias, cryptos and java ferns), does _this_ look like that??? Where on earth they all are coming from????


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## dw1305 (16 Apr 2013)

Hi all,
Just fantastic, you could try a _Restrepia_ as a wet growing orchid. There are probably some Gesneriads that are a possibility as well. An _Episcia_ or _Chirita tamiana _might do_._

cheers Darrel


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## Ravenswing (18 Apr 2013)

dw1305 said:


> you could try a _Restrepia_ as a wet growing orchid. _._


 
Hi dw and thanks for you plant suggestions! Definetly need to try to find _Restrepia_ somewhere from Europe and give it a try, just fantastic looking orchid, woooow! Have you grown it? Does it prefer how high humidity?



dw1305 said:


> There are probably some Gesneriads that are a possibility as well. An _Episcia_ or _Chirita tamiana _might do_._


 
Guess what? I already have _C tamiana . _Unfortunately I tried it in viv at first where it rotted badly. Now its growing by 600l and trying to heal herself....Really sweet plant! In general Im not a big fan on Gesneriads but there are few exceptions, like _Chirita _and similar wild species. Its almost impossible to find here any special plants, all have to be ordered from Europe. Or from other hobbyits. The weather here is still quite cold, so have to hold horses for a while!

Its amazing how well plants seems to do since I dont find those Leds particularly strong and plants by tank grow mainly shaded. We installed them at the end of September and so far Im very pleased with them. They were pretty cheap so well see how long they will work...knockin on wood!


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## hydrophyte (19 Apr 2013)

Nice emergent growth in those tanks.


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## Ravenswing (20 Apr 2013)

hydrophyte said:


> Nice emergent growth in those tanks.


 
Thanks mate! I always enjoy seeing your tanks and they have been been great inspiration to me! This hydro/emersed way of growing plants extends this hobby a lot as we can see from your experiences too. It definetly provides a larger supply of species to grow and the number of plants too. It is a different world so to say!


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## Ravenswing (3 Dec 2013)

Hi all!

Its time to update, at least there is something to update now. Summer went pretty well without adding any kind of Co2 but as summer turned into autumn and all green was gone from the garden, I felt myself very very shortage of green and desided to start EC for three tanks (in order to get some green faster as first aid):, 600l wich was replanted two weeks ago (after taking all plants exept a small sword away at the beginning of the summer as it turned to be just-wood-wanna-be-amazonbiotope), sons 300l and kitchens nano wich was given me as a birthdaypresent in september (so the 60l was sold away). As said, 600l was replanted two weeks ago and just yesterday I plant more, also waiting2x _Echinodorus argentinensis_ (wrong name) and 2x_ E grandiflorus_ from Germany. There must be a mistake naming these swords, but hopefully other one will be a real Argentine sword (actually_ E grandiflorus (ssp grandiflorus)_) wich Im looking for! Two weeks ago I also did some rearrangements in filtration, here more (How to...) Get rid of filtration | UK Aquatic Plant Society. Well, the right thread is "How to get rid of mechanical (or electrical) filters", not filtration!

I know, I know...we all like pics, so you are welcome: sorry the poor quality

*600l* as of yesterday, water is bit cloudy and tank messy after planting session, first some underwater sights with just "moonlightning" (IRL more shady than in pics!). Swords will be planted at the back of the tank
:



 

 






 



*250l* wich Im very pleased with, thou its now a bit naked after major trim, the first pic is taken before trim, a bit overgrown... This time I had glass on the tank, now without. its still under construction, Im waiting _Micranthemum umbrosum_ arriving today, going to plant it emersed, _Ficus_ is expected to grow etcetc. There lives 15 black ghosts, 5 jaguar cories and a pack of six Vietnamese Multi Banded Zebra Loachs.



 

 

 

 


Ludisia growing in water, about to bloom (as Anthurium next to it), right some species tiny orchid (name??? Forgot!), wich has not bloomed yet.

To be honest, the thread is wrong since only sons 45l and the 250l (^) are running without EasyCarbo, they are not low-tecs anymore. I will change the name of the thread. And oh, we have started to collect rainwater in order to lower  high ECs (850is uSv at highest) with a fantastic results, now we are at 150-400uSv. I have ordered RO from Germany but still waiting... Idea is to use 50/50 or 60/40 ro-tap-mix.

Will update sons tanks and kitchen nano soon, cheers,

Maria


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## xtevo (6 Dec 2013)

Nice tanks! You should upload bigger photos, to make it more enjoyable.


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## Ravenswing (14 Dec 2013)

xtevo said:


> Nice tanks! You should upload bigger photos, to make it more enjoyable


 
Thanks! Ok, I will! But this time just small ones...as I just resized them into small! Well, to be honest, the truth is that pics are better in quality when edited smaller. Yes, its all about my poor skills!

Hi all!

Everything is fine with the new veggiefilters and all. I got my RO-unit (JBL max 130l/day) and swords from Germany few days ago. RO is right now working for first day and...oh man...so much waste water! I knew, I knew it so dont worry. Some updates, Im pleased with plants growth, you are welcome: BTW, isnt green wonderful colour, I think its all we need?!?!

*600l* as of today: _Nepenthes_, pitcher plants, just loooove to grow by water, thou they do hang above the water level. Cups are in very good condition after being so poor and dried when buying them. They are flourishing, as orchids as well, too. Im suprised how well_ Ludisia_, Juwel orchid, grows hydro! There wasnt any kind of problem to remove it from soil to lecahydro, whereas most plants do show that they are a bit disturbed because of the transition.In the veggieboxes (=hydroboxes on both side of the tank) are now growing _Spathiphyllum_s, _Ciritha_s, _Echinodorus, Lobelia_s, _Hemianthus, Ludisia _and _Anthurium_s. I think I will need something more but its fun to plan things with plenty of time! The left side box is a bit shady, so well see... On the right side are windows facing south. I got 2x _Echinodorus_ argentiniensis (false latin name) and 2x _E grandifolius _from Germany, so excited to wait them grow emersed. I would be more than happy to hear if someone has some experience about them. They say that they will grow faster emersed if photoperiod is minimum 12 hours, I have about 8 (3+5) now, so maybe its time to prolong it?



 

 



*250l* above, still bit naked but_ Ficus_ is doing her job... And some details_:Lobelia_ learned to grow emersed, with some just arrived _Hemianthus_ around it,



 



*Kitchen nano,* sorry poor quality but Im sure you will get the idea. i started started EasyCarbo with it too about month ago, have no idea why because it was pretty healthy even without it. Maybe I want prune more....? That must be it, theres nothing to do in the garden right now! All frozen out there, you see.





All tips, ideas and critisism is welcome, feel free to comment!

Thx and cheers my friends,

Maria


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## Jason King (2 Feb 2014)

some great looking tanks, so much going on


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