Coread
New Member
Hi Everyone
One of the things that drew me to signing up to ukaps was reading the journeys that a lot of you have been on (your experiences, your support, and your advice). I’ve asked for a little bit of advice over the last few weeks, and the responses have been exceptional… and with people’s journals being so inspirational and helpful to the journey I’m on, I though why not combine the two and write a journal of my own!
So here it is:
Tank - Aquael Opti 200
Lighting - 2x Aquael Leddy 14w day and night
Filter - Fluval 407
CO2- None
Hardscape:
Dragon stone
Sacapers Gnarly wood
Hugo Sand
Tropica Aquasoil
Plants:
Hygrophila Siamensis
Christmas Moss
Lobelia Cardinalis
Bacopa Caroliniana
Cryptocoryne - two types
Anubis
Spiked Moss
Java Fern
And a selection of vals/stem plants
Potentially some Salvia
Livestock:
TBC
My intention was to create a scape that was heavily planted with tall reaching plants in the back ground on both sides of the tank, with a sand bed through the middle. I ended up creating a bridge out of the wood that I got, and stacking dragon stone to create a little bit of height.
As I started to place the substrate in, I stood back I didn’t like how the rocks looked unnaturally stacked, and how the wood looked… actually I didn’t like it at all.
So I ended up spending a day going back at forth and ended on this:
I would have liked a little more height on the left (and may still add something there) but I’m happy with how it looks.
One annoying thing to note for the future, is my wood started to float about 3 hours after flooding the tank! Absolute chaos, hardscape ripped up, plants floating everywhere and sand flung into the water column… anyways, after a few hours of repairing and some rocks glued to the wood, we’re back to normal… although slightly flatter then before.
My intention is to grow moss across most of the wood and rocks, with only some of the foreground rock exposed.
I transfer some of my Crypts, vals and Anubis over from my old tank, interestingly I’ve had a little bit of melting and algae grow on them but nothing too serious. I’m also having some issues with other plants, but I’ll keep an eye on them over the next week.
I made a few mistakes with my plants, first I planted some of them in to cold water (10c-15c). Second I only fertilised with micro ferts. This was purely down to poor planning, and not thinking things through.
After a few days running, and the cloudiness in the water subsiding, I introduced macros… now only time will tell.
Yesterday, I pulled over my old filter media and sprinkled some flakes in to the water. I tested this afternoon for ammonia, but nothing is showing on the tests yet, I expected something from the soil but assuming the plants are sucking it up.
I’ve been doing 30% water changes every 3 days as well, I’m thinking I should change my fertiliser schedule to match (I’m dosing once a week).
If I could start again, I’d plan the planting of my tank differently, does complete fertiliser from the beginning, and because I use dragon stone, use a more pressured clean (as there is dust in all of the little holes running through the rock).
I’ll keep you updated on how things go.
My hope is to introduce the Cherry Barbs from my old tank into this one… but it’s likely I’ll drop in a post before I introduce any livestock (I feel like I’ve over complicated things and I’m not too sure what indicators I’m looking for).
One of the things that drew me to signing up to ukaps was reading the journeys that a lot of you have been on (your experiences, your support, and your advice). I’ve asked for a little bit of advice over the last few weeks, and the responses have been exceptional… and with people’s journals being so inspirational and helpful to the journey I’m on, I though why not combine the two and write a journal of my own!
So here it is:
Tank - Aquael Opti 200
Lighting - 2x Aquael Leddy 14w day and night
Filter - Fluval 407
CO2- None
Hardscape:
Dragon stone
Sacapers Gnarly wood
Hugo Sand
Tropica Aquasoil
Plants:
Hygrophila Siamensis
Christmas Moss
Lobelia Cardinalis
Bacopa Caroliniana
Cryptocoryne - two types
Anubis
Spiked Moss
Java Fern
And a selection of vals/stem plants
Potentially some Salvia
Livestock:
TBC
My intention was to create a scape that was heavily planted with tall reaching plants in the back ground on both sides of the tank, with a sand bed through the middle. I ended up creating a bridge out of the wood that I got, and stacking dragon stone to create a little bit of height.
As I started to place the substrate in, I stood back I didn’t like how the rocks looked unnaturally stacked, and how the wood looked… actually I didn’t like it at all.
So I ended up spending a day going back at forth and ended on this:
I would have liked a little more height on the left (and may still add something there) but I’m happy with how it looks.
One annoying thing to note for the future, is my wood started to float about 3 hours after flooding the tank! Absolute chaos, hardscape ripped up, plants floating everywhere and sand flung into the water column… anyways, after a few hours of repairing and some rocks glued to the wood, we’re back to normal… although slightly flatter then before.
My intention is to grow moss across most of the wood and rocks, with only some of the foreground rock exposed.
I transfer some of my Crypts, vals and Anubis over from my old tank, interestingly I’ve had a little bit of melting and algae grow on them but nothing too serious. I’m also having some issues with other plants, but I’ll keep an eye on them over the next week.
I made a few mistakes with my plants, first I planted some of them in to cold water (10c-15c). Second I only fertilised with micro ferts. This was purely down to poor planning, and not thinking things through.
After a few days running, and the cloudiness in the water subsiding, I introduced macros… now only time will tell.
Yesterday, I pulled over my old filter media and sprinkled some flakes in to the water. I tested this afternoon for ammonia, but nothing is showing on the tests yet, I expected something from the soil but assuming the plants are sucking it up.
I’ve been doing 30% water changes every 3 days as well, I’m thinking I should change my fertiliser schedule to match (I’m dosing once a week).
If I could start again, I’d plan the planting of my tank differently, does complete fertiliser from the beginning, and because I use dragon stone, use a more pressured clean (as there is dust in all of the little holes running through the rock).
I’ll keep you updated on how things go.
My hope is to introduce the Cherry Barbs from my old tank into this one… but it’s likely I’ll drop in a post before I introduce any livestock (I feel like I’ve over complicated things and I’m not too sure what indicators I’m looking for).
