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TMC Signature - First planted tank

Good evening,

Nothing much to add.

The tank looks to be evolving well and the plants seem healthy.

From now on I am going to lower the water change frequencies and by the beginning of next week I will be getting some Amano shrimps.

I am also planning on trimming but I’ll let the HM grow a little longer.

Regarding the equipment, I ordered a solenoid valve and a CO2 Adapter from ADA in order to connect the system to a regular bottle.

Visually there aren’t any major differences but I leave you with a few pictures of the tank at 1 week (I still need to improve my technique to get better shots).

Comments and suggestions are welcome!

Cheers,
José


Day 8 - 07.03.2014

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ourmanflint said:
I really like this tank. Very beautiful.
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Agreed stunning rock work and the planting is great, just waiting for it to fill in now ;) parabens :clap:
 
Hi everyone,

Here’s a little update on my 2 week aquarium.

By the beginning of the week algae started to appear everywhere and it’s not evolving as well as it looked before. A few plants, especially the Eleocharis were affected. The sp. mini have now a lower volume and look like they’re withering, while half of the Eleocharis sp. look completely withered.

I’ve reduced the photoperiod from 8h to 6h and I’ve been removing the larger algae. Meanwhile I’ve also introduced 10 Amano shrimps which have been helping with the cleanup.

Sunday I will be trimming the HM, and the parvula to stimulate its horizontal growth. Should I trim the Echinodorus tenellus the same way as the other plants or should I trim leaf by leaf from its base?

Here are some photos but I must say that the aquarium looks way greener in the pictures than it actually does. Any suggestions, especially on saving the sp. mini, are very welcome!

Once again, thank you,
José

Day 15 - 14.03.2014

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I would say the the e sp mini is adapting to the submersed conditions as it was most probably grown emersed before you got it. I have found that every time I have used it, it has gone through a transitional die off but it will bounce back!! Its looking great from the pics mate and good call on the lights. I, as a rule start all my aquariums with a 5 hour photo period for the first month at least. Then gradually increase week on week depending on how things are looking.

Keep the water changes up as much as possible, I would go with every day at the moment if possible but of not then as much as possible.

A good thing to remember is that your tank is still very young and you will learn by watching your plants just keep posting and ask questions if you need too. There are a lot of people using this forum with years of experience that are always willing to help :)

Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk
 
aliclarke86 said:
I would say the the e sp mini is adapting to the submersed conditions as it was most probably grown emersed before you got it. I have found that every time I have used it, it has gone through a transitional die off but it will bounce back!! Its looking great from the pics mate and good call on the lights. I, as a rule start all my aquariums with a 5 hour photo period for the first month at least. Then gradually increase week on week depending on how things are looking.

Keep the water changes up as much as possible, I would go with every day at the moment if possible but of not then as much as possible.

A good thing to remember is that your tank is still very young and you will learn by watching your plants just keep posting and ask questions if you need too. There are a lot of people using this forum with years of experience that are always willing to help :)

Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk
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Thanks for your feedback aliclarke86. Today I trimmed all plants and added 4 pots of Eleocharis sp. mini. Meanwhile algae disappeared and Eleocharis sp. completely melted down. I'll add some photos tomorrow.

Cheers,
José
 
Hello everyone,

Here are a few pictures of my tank on week 3.

This week I trimmed all of the plants and added 4 pots of sp. mini. There are no signs of algae but the Eleocharis sp. withered completely.

The photoperiod is still 6 hours. I'm using 2ml of Step 1 and 2ml of Brighty K (ADA fertilisers), in alternate days.

Now, I'm just waiting for the plants to grow a bit more and when the carpet is almost done I'm going to plant some H. cuba and Marseila hirsuta to achieve a more natural look.

I'm also going to start thinking about the fauna, so any suggestions are very welcome.

Cheers,
José


Day 21 - 21.03.2014

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Nice one Jose. I'm loving the very natural layout,...the nile sand looks really nice under the lights. Plants are looking healthy from the pictures,...just my 2 cents though & i am no expert in co2 but i think you might benefit more if you could further reduce your lighting duration to just 4-5 hours for the next one month & then gradually increase them as aliclarke86 had suggested earlier.I think it should help with the transition & might help to fatten the stems up too.:)
 
Robbie X said:
Love the layout, looking forward to seeing it evolve.
I'm curious how much of substrates in terms of weight etc. I'm planning on using the same tank for my first aqua scape and also considering the ADA substrates.
Cheers
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Thanks Robbie. I used about 12l of Amazonia Powder and 2l of Power Sand. I also have 0.5l of Nile Sand so you might need a bit more substrate. I'd say 15l to 18l.

faizal said:
Nice one Jose. I'm loving the very natural layout,...the nile sand looks really nice under the lights. Plants are looking healthy from the pictures,...just my 2 cents though & i am no expert in co2 but i think you might benefit more if you could further reduce your lighting duration to just 4-5 hours for the next one month & then gradually increase them as aliclarke86 had suggested earlier.I think it should help with the transition & might help to fatten the stems up too.:)
Click to expand...
Thank you Faizal. The photoperiod is still 6h, there are no signs of algae so everything looks fine. But I think there might not be enough iron because the Tenellus is a bit yellowish and the leaves are melting. I need to find some product to fix this. The Amano shrimps are also constantly pulling the sp. mini, so we'll see how the carpet evolves.

Cheers,
José
 
Hi everyone,

After a few problems things are finally starting to look better. I made some adjustments with the fertilisers and added another light fixture. Let’s see if the carpet finally evolves.

I also introduced a school of Paracheirodon simulans.

Cheers,
José


Day 37 - 06.04.2013

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Glad to heard it :) it looks immaculate and nice pics mate

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
 
Glad to see everything is improving on this stunning layout.Keep us informed.
Best of luck!
 
agree with other comments coming along nicely and keep updates coming :)
 
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