# My second go at a planted tank a lot bigger this time



## Marty.h

Having swapped it all over today it's now clearing  hopefully this goes as well as the smaller one I had 




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## Marty.h

CO2 still showing green so all good so far 







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## Paul27

What litre is this?


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## Marty.h

Paul27 said:


> What litre is this?


410 litre 

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## Paul27

Quite big then. Looks nice now but Should be looking very nice and grown in, in a few months.


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## Marty.h

Paul27 said:


> Quite big then. Looks nice now but Should be looking very nice and grown in, in a few months.


Yeah there is space for more plants and fish stock yet but once all grown out should look well

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## Marty.h

Popped to LFS today and treated the tank to a few more plants and some Cardinals hopefully the plants will carpet nicely.

CO2 still spot on and Green and checked PH seeing around 6.6 and out the tap its 7.6. The CO2 as it exits the diffuser is sucked strait up by the intake on the pump and no bubbles come from the outlet so see that as virtually 100% saturation and no CO2 really wasted.

I'm still currently using the other fert and will start the Ei on monday as easier to start at a complete week for dosing purposes.

Also added 200ml of purigen in the filter this will now be working to polish the water as I like nice clean water and so will the stock.

Here is a couple of pictures 

Full tank shot





Looking down the tank 





I will be adding more wood to the tank at some point with moss ect on to give the scape more height but all in good time l

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## Marty.h

Upped the lighting over the tank now have 4 x 54W T5's booming down made a big difference no shaded areas now and one the plants is looking stunning has changed a lot since it went in here a few picture 





The purigen working well looking down all 6ft 





This plant is stunning 




Meet the 3 stuges 







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## Matt @ ScapeEasy

That plant with the red tips is ludwigia palustris


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## Marty.h

Matt @ ScapeEasy said:


> That plant with the red tips is ludwigia palustris


Thanks I didn't know its name I'm still learning  

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## Marty.h

Matt @ ScapeEasy said:


> That plant with the red tips is ludwigia palustris


Been advised this plant is not aquatic can you confirm this if so will be taking it back to LFS 

You can see it in centre of tank at back 



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## dw1305

Hi all, 





Marty.h said:


> Been advised this plant is not aquatic can you confirm this if so will be taking it back to LFS[/QUOTE<"]Non-aquatic">, it is a variegated _Dracaena.
> _
> I must admit this really <"p*sses me off that these plants are still for sale">.
> 
> cheers Darrel


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## Marty.h

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,


Why do they do it no need for it is there you ask advice and get sold that 

Will that happily just live in a plant pot the other will be happy another plant she can have in a pot 

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## dw1305

Hi all, 





Marty.h said:


> Will that happily just live in a plant pot the other will be happy another plant she can have in a pot


Yes, they are a good houseplant. 

It is usually a lot cheaper to buy the same plant as an aquatic, rather than as a house plant. The price difference is often several quid, but all you get extra is the pot and compost, which will have cost pennies.

cheers Darrel


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## Marty.h

dw1305 said:


> Hi all, Yes, they are a good houseplant.
> 
> It is usually a lot cheaper to buy the same plant as an aquatic, rather than as a house plant. The price difference is often several quid, but all you get extra is the pot and compost, which will have cost pennies.
> 
> cheers Darrel


Well the other half is happy me not so 



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## dw1305

Hi all, 





Marty.h said:


> Well the other half is happy me not so


_Dracaena sanderiana. _

That is the variegated cultivar, the plain green one is what is sold as "Lucky Bamboo". I assume it is the easiest species to grow and root as a cutting. 

I quickly found out, when I worked in commercial horticulture, that you aimed to create a market for what ever gave you greatest profit, rather than growing what people actually wanted.  I really liked the shrub <"_Kalmia latifolia">, _great flowers, as easy to grow as most Rhododendrons or Camellias, hardy in most of the UK, not too big etc, but we were stopping growing it and really promoting <"_Pieris_ "Forest Flame"> instead,  but why?. 

Somebody explained to me that _Kalmia_ is tricky and slow to root as a cutting and a slow growing shrub ("grows out of profit"), _Pieris_  had the advantage of being much easier to root and being saleable as a small shrub, it was a no-brainer.  

cheers Darrel


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## Marty.h

What a difference a week makes 

A week ago 




And today 
























Happy with it so far the growth has been incredible 

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## Marty.h

Cant beat looking down the tank just a shame the camera does not show how crisp and clean it is 








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## jimi

That's a lovely looking tank. Have you got a list of the hardware you are using?


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## Marty.h

jimi said:


> That's a lovely looking tank. Have you got a list of the hardware you are using?


Fluval FX5 filter
4 x 54w HO T5's
Ista CO2 system 

That's about it 

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## jimi

Ok thanks muchly  


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## Marty.h

The other half needing to do some walking today so perfect excuse to go for a walk round LFS see what I did there  there was a gap in the middle of tank that annoyed me so picked up a plant for there and some faster growing ones for rear to help consume the nutrients ect also picked up 12 black neon tetra to go with the cardinals and add some contrast.

Before 





After 




I think that fills that gap nicely 


Some pics of the neons 


 can also see some fast growing green plants that have been added right at back 

And some extra plants visible to right here 





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## Marty.h

Haven't done a feeding time vid yet so here one is 





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## Marty.h

Nice big 50% waterchange done today a little tidy up be rude not to take some pics 

Taken on the 16th





Taken today 4 days later the growth 




























Them red plants I find absolutely stunning 

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## Marty.h

Had a bit of a move round of plants and added a few more looking nice and full now 





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## Marty.h

This seems to of happened case of it growing out now 



Gave them all a feed after 




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## Marty.h

I didn't like the odd piece of wood over to the left so had to move that looks much better now I think also altered the angle of powerheads so valis now sits up instead of being blown to one side 






200L waterchange done , filter floss replaced sit and enjoy for remainder of the day 

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## Marty.h

Things are still growing away at a very rapid rate and looking healthy and currently no sign of any algae 

















I also cant seem to get any nitrate reading I've upped the Ei dose and been feeding heavy so looks like the plants are just munching through it.





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## dw1305

Hi all,





Marty.h said:


> I also cant seem to get any nitrate reading


It might be the test kit. This is partially why I don't like basing decisions on test kit results.

Just look at the plants, they are a healthy dark green and growing pretty well, so all is good.

cheers Darrel


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## Marty.h

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,It might be the test kit. This is partially why I don't like basing decisions on test kit results.
> 
> Just look at the plants, they are a healthy dark green and growing pretty well, so all is good.
> 
> cheers Darrel


Strange thing is if I test water from the tap i get a nitrate reading so presume the plants are using it and yes they all look healthy so will just leave it be 

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## dw1305

Hi all, 





Marty.h said:


> i get a nitrate reading so presume the plants are using it


Probably the plants. One of the things I've found, from people who don't keep planted tanks, is that  the ability of plants to take up nutrients is often vastly under-estimated.

You can get problems with other mono-valent anions  (ions with one charge, like chloride Cl-) interfering with the test results, but you need quite high concentrations of them normally for this to be an issue.

cheers Darrel


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## Marty.h

dw1305 said:


> Hi all, Probably the plants. One of the things I've found, from people who don't keep planted tanks, is that  the ability of plants to take up nutrients is often vastly under-estimated.
> 
> You can get problems with other mono-valent anions  (ions with one charge, like chloride Cl-) interfering with the test results, but you need quite high concentrations of them normally for this to be an issue.
> 
> cheers Darrel


Yes it is shocking in a marine it was a battle to keep 0 nitrates and here I am trying to keep some in the water  totally different ball game 

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## Chris Tinker

Totally jealous... your tank is looking stunning


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## Marty.h

Chris Tinker said:


> Totally jealous... your tank is looking stunning


Thanks it's getting there and growing out well 

The difference 6 days make 

26 October 




1st November 




Seems I'm more green fingered then I thought also been managing to keep household plants alive as well  by now I would of normally killed them even treated myself to a Bonsai tree a few months back and that's still alive with new shoots ect 

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## dw1305

Hi all, 





Marty.h said:


> Yes it is shocking in a marine it was a battle to keep 0 nitrates and here I am trying to keep some in the water


I've not kept marines, but I can see it  would be much more difficult with marine tanks. You can still use plants like <"_Chaetomorpha">_ and or an algal scrubber, but being algae they don't have roots that act in the same way that those of a vascular plant would.

The only true vascular plants available are sea grasses like _Posidonia &_ _Zostera _or mangroves like_ <"Rhizophora mangle">, _and I know that people have been experimenting with these.



 
(from <"High Nitrate">).

I hope people <"try algae"> actually in the tanks as well (as well as coralline algae).

cheers Darrel


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## Marty.h

dw1305 said:


> Hi all, I've not kept marines, but I can see it  would be much more difficult with marine tanks. You can still use plants like <"_Chaetomorpha">_ and or an algal scrubber, but being algae they don't have roots that act in the same way that those of a vascular plant would.
> 
> The only true vascular plants available are sea grasses like _Posidonia &_ _Zostera _or mangroves like_ <"Rhizophora mangle">, _and I know that people have been experimenting with these.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (from <"High Nitrate">).
> 
> I hope people <"try algae"> actually in the tanks as well (as well as coralline algae).
> 
> cheers Darrel


In marine people tend not to add alage to the display tank due to how it can take over a tank. I use to grow chaeto in my sump and only time I put any in my tank was when I was thinning it out and gave the tangs in there a treat they would inhale it so was also a good natural food for them 

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## HafMan

Looks great and the clarity is crystal! Keep it up.


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## Marty.h

HafMan said:


> Looks great and the clarity is crystal! Keep it up.


Thanks the purigen helps with the clarity 

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## HafMan

Marty.h said:


> Thanks the purigen helps with the clarity
> 
> Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk



I’ve heard of it before but I’ve only just read into it now and I’ve been deciding on how to change the juwel biofow compact that I’m using as the standard filter set up is awful.  
I think I’m going to give this a try!


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## Costa

Beautiful tank and very healthy plants. How do you dispense CO2 and what substrate do you use? Thanks and well done


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## Marty.h

Costa said:


> Beautiful tank and very healthy plants. How do you dispense CO2 and what substrate do you use? Thanks and well done


I use the Ista CO2 setup the diffuser is directly under my FX5 intake so it gets infused into the water well and I have Oliver knott nature soil  as the substrate and I dose Ei 

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## Costa

Marty.h said:


> I use the Ista CO2 setup the diffuser is directly under my FX5 intake so it gets infused into the water well and I have Oliver knott nature soil  as the substrate and I dose Ei
> 
> Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk



Thank you for the prompt reply. Do you know where is Oliver Knott's substrate sold?


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## Marty.h

Costa said:


> Thank you for the prompt reply. Do you know where is Oliver Knott's substrate sold?


I got mine locally in the UK but I see you are in Greece so it's a case of looking on the internet to see where its available in your area 

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## Costa

Marty.h said:


> I got mine locally in the UK but I see you are in Greece so it's a case of looking on the internet to see where its available in your area
> 
> Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk



Thank you - I did look online but found only the 4-5mm 10L version. The 2-3mm 10L version was as expensive as ADA (EUR 44 / GBP 36). Which version do you use in your tank and where exactly did you buy it from? Maybe they can ship overseas. 
Thanks again


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## Marty.h

Mine is the 4-5mm and they only had 10L bags and is the same price as online 

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## Marty.h

I've had a prune and things still going well 










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## Marty.h

Having neglected the tank for a month decided today was the day 

I got the scissors out and a bit more 





Looking spangly again 


I popped into a new LFS and always wanted some carp and purchased 3 very small common carp however on returning home and floating the fish I noticed something wrong i has 2 carp and a tench !! I called the LFS and explained and they said oh he only been here 2 days I said maybe its best he stays on the till for the meantime until he can tell the difference between a carp and a tench 

 So i decided to add the tench they fine in warmer water just they will have a high metabolism and grow faster my mate has a pond i can always move them to later also they all make excellent clean up crew for the bottom

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## Marty.h

Christmas clean for the tank all sponges and filter spangly nice big watechange have a good Christmas all.





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## Marty.h

Beginning of December visited and LFS and always wanted some common carp however the lad at the shop didn't know the difference between carp and tench so ended up with 2 carp and a tench sadly the tench was very thin and not looking it's best but have since been feeding very heavy and it's starting to fill out 





Since I'm having to feed quite heavily also decided I better add some more biological media so added nearly 2kilo of alfagrog to the filter this should help over time left the old media in this runs before the alfagrog so will help speed the alfagrog.

The 2 common carp are a friendly pair and have so far been model citizens one thing I have noticed is with them and the tench they do help turn over the bottom nicely which caused issues with detritus/poo settling in the tank.

 I was not happy with that so changed out the 2 x 3000LPH powerheads for 2 x 75000LPH powerheads this stired the tank right up and now having 17000LPH of flow in the tank combined with filter return flow rate this got all the detritus/poo nicely suspended into the water column allowing the filter to do its job and pull it out just ment I had to change the filter floss a couple of extra times to while the filter caught all the poo and caught up all the stock dont seem bothered by the flow ans I dont have any dead spots.

Here is a few pictures of the stock and the tank 





















There will be some changes in the next few weeks plant wise but I'll update as I go 

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## Wookii

That's a lovely looking tank you have there.

However I have to question the addition of the carp and tench? Both are strictly cold water species, and really too large a species for an indoor tank. Common carp can grow to in excess of 40lb (18Kg) in the wild in the UK, and similarly tench can easily grow to over 8lb (3.5Kg) - both fish are also naturally patrolling species that are designed to forage over large areas of a lake. They are also both voracious bottom feeders - the carp in particular can cause massive clouds of mud and silt whilst feeding in the wild, and will likely uproot your plants in due course.

Also bear in mind that carp are omnivorous (they have very powerful pharyngeal teeth in their throats - strong enough to crack mussel shells) and happily munch on fish fry and small amphibians in the wild, and crustacea and snails are a common food source, so they'll more than likely have a go at your smaller tetra when they have chance, and will most certainly eat your shrimp and snails if you have any.


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## Kezzab

Mmm agreed common carp and cardinal.tetras aint gonna work for long id wager. Tanks looking nice though.


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## Marty.h

The carp and tench have been moved on the  tank has just been ticking along 





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## Conort2

Marty.h said:


> The carp and tench have been moved on the  tank has just been ticking along
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk


Looking good! 

How long have you had the silver dollars for? I’m surprised they haven’t demolished every plant in the tank, they love eating vegetation. Are you aware how large they get too? They’re a big fish fully grown.


Cheers

Conor


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## Marty.h

Conort2 said:


> Looking good!
> 
> How long have you had the silver dollars for? I’m surprised they haven’t demolished every plant in the tank, they love eating vegetation. Are you aware how large they get too? They’re a big fish fully grown.
> 
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Conor


It's a 6ft tank and they been in a long time they have a nibble here and there but I keep them well fed 

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## Conort2

Marty.h said:


> It's a 6ft tank and they been in a long time they have a nibble here and there but I keep them well fed
> 
> Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk


Must have them well trained lol! Looks like you may be safe then with the broad leaf plants you have. I wouldn’t fancy any stems standing a chance though if you went down that route again.

cheers

Conor


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## Marty.h

Conort2 said:


> Must have them well trained lol! Looks like you may be safe then with the broad leaf plants you have. I wouldn’t fancy any stems standing a chance though if you went down that route again.
> 
> cheers
> 
> Conor


There is some plants with a little nibble out of here and there but adds to it being more natural and if I have to replace a few plants here and there it's no big issue or expense no like when I had a emperor angel in my old reef tank one night it decided to decimate my SPS  that was an expensive feast 

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## Marty.h

My tank has changed a bit since I updated this thread here it is now





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## mort

Looks great, love the barbs especially. Just a word of warning, unless it's my eyes, but you seem to have a few non aquatic plants in there which would be best replaced in the long run.


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## Marty.h

mort said:


> Looks great, love the barbs especially. Just a word of warning, unless it's my eyes, but you seem to have a few non aquatic plants in there which would be best replaced in the long run.


See how they go can soon replace what ones you talking about circle them for me 

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## mort

The three grass like plants next to the fork like wood in the foreground look like ophiopogon japonica, you have a few parlour palm type plants chamaedorea elegans dotted about, what looks like a spathaphyllum peace lily in the middle and I think looking again that you have lobelia cardinalis (which is an aquatic plant Lobelia cardinalis - Tropica Aquarium Plants ) but there are a couple of species that look similar which aren't suitable for underwater. The ophiopogon will likely last quite some time as will the chamaedorea but both will rot eventually I'm afraid.

There is a little more explanation here 21 plants to avoid in the aquarium


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## dw1305

Hi all,


mort said:


> The three grass like plants next to the fork like wood in the foreground look like ophiopogon japonica, you have a few parlour palm type plants chamaedorea elegans dotted about, what looks like a spathiphyllum peace lily in the middle


Same for me. They are all <"good as house plants">, but don't have any place being <"sold as aquarium plants">. 

cheers Darrel


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## Simmo

Looks great 👍


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