ahaha wonderful period of my life, the food and the nature ah, damn it is seriously a heaven for people into that kind of 'down to earth' lifestyle. but ya I heard things are not getting well over there in the past years especially after COVID... we are actually planning for a visit early next year so I'm going to see that Josh Sim shop aha (IAPLC regular - he is the #3 this year - and apparently the #1 guy said he is inspired by Josh Sim from that ADA video of top15 winners).
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30cm cube tank
- Thread starter chickennublet
- Start date
Darrel you need to try Scottish water! Not that I am biased...
chickennublet
Member
Hiya
Have not updated on this tank in a long time. I really neglected the tank after my holiday in Tokyo last year. The tank became a mess and my fish stopped coming out so I completely stopped feeding them for months. I don't think the ruby tetras made it. It really makes me feel terrible that I treated them so carelessly.
I am trying to get this tank back in shape and it is getting there. I did get a very bad algae outbreak recently which I think was caused by a combination of root tabs leaching from the substrate (probably cos substrate isn't deep enough) and a wave of unusually hot weather recently. Had green algae constantly on the tank walls which would come back in one day after wiping it off. A lot of algae on my plants. Then the water turned green, and when it wasn't green it was cloudy. I didn't want to get any shrimp or other algae eaters (although I did move some red cherry shrimp I found in the filter of my tank to this one I don't think those few shrimp would be enough to make a dent in the algae).
I think root tabs might have finished leaching because, coupled with more stringent maintenance and fertiliser dosing, the tank is now looking quite decent.
I want to share a picture of what the tank looked like in November last year when I finally decided to do some maintenance after putting it off for nearly a month. I don't have pics of when it was infested with algae but I do have a picture of the tank looking really cloudy! And also want to share a picture from last week to show it's progress
Look at the state of this
20231125_100425 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
The cloudy water a month ago
IMG_20240508_114604_693 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
And finally this, just taken a few days ago!
20240506_223550 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
Have not updated on this tank in a long time. I really neglected the tank after my holiday in Tokyo last year. The tank became a mess and my fish stopped coming out so I completely stopped feeding them for months. I don't think the ruby tetras made it. It really makes me feel terrible that I treated them so carelessly.
I am trying to get this tank back in shape and it is getting there. I did get a very bad algae outbreak recently which I think was caused by a combination of root tabs leaching from the substrate (probably cos substrate isn't deep enough) and a wave of unusually hot weather recently. Had green algae constantly on the tank walls which would come back in one day after wiping it off. A lot of algae on my plants. Then the water turned green, and when it wasn't green it was cloudy. I didn't want to get any shrimp or other algae eaters (although I did move some red cherry shrimp I found in the filter of my tank to this one I don't think those few shrimp would be enough to make a dent in the algae).
I think root tabs might have finished leaching because, coupled with more stringent maintenance and fertiliser dosing, the tank is now looking quite decent.
I want to share a picture of what the tank looked like in November last year when I finally decided to do some maintenance after putting it off for nearly a month. I don't have pics of when it was infested with algae but I do have a picture of the tank looking really cloudy! And also want to share a picture from last week to show it's progress
Look at the state of this
20231125_100425 by Lenny Lim, on FlickrThe cloudy water a month ago
IMG_20240508_114604_693 by Lenny Lim, on FlickrAnd finally this, just taken a few days ago!
20240506_223550 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
chickennublet
Member
Picture of tank from today:
20240512_163240 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
20240512_163417 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
20240512_163511 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
20240512_163240 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr20240512_163417 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr20240512_163511 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
chickennublet
Member
hydrophyte
Member
- Joined
- 22 Aug 2009
- Messages
- 1,083
Happy plants in there!
chickennublet
Member
Better trim them before they turn unhappy again
chickennublet
Member
Little update.
I've been throwing some shrimp in there. It's the red cherry shrimp that I find in my BioMaster in the other tank when I open it up for maintenance. It's quite a surprising amount! I kind of regret it because I could have gotten a different coloured Neocaridina for this tank but I obviously can't do that anymore. But hey, it's free shrimp! So far I just take them out the BioMaster and chuck them in there without much acclimation or anything. The water is all from the same source so it should be very similar but perhaps the water in this tank might be softer because of the aquasoil. It is a fair bit warmer for sure. Anyway they are actually doing quite well in there.
There are still two ruby tetras in this tank. They are getting a little braver recently. I thought I lost of all of them as I didn't see any fish in there for months but there they are! I guess putting a tiny bit of food in the tank every so often worked.
The plants will be very overgrown soon but I cannot bear to trim them. I could pull them out and replant them but it is a lot of work. I think I will let myself enjoy them for a few more days before they get the snip.
Anyway, two pictures to share:
FTS from today:
20240616_220511 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
Shimp!
20240616_220530 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
I've been throwing some shrimp in there. It's the red cherry shrimp that I find in my BioMaster in the other tank when I open it up for maintenance. It's quite a surprising amount! I kind of regret it because I could have gotten a different coloured Neocaridina for this tank but I obviously can't do that anymore. But hey, it's free shrimp! So far I just take them out the BioMaster and chuck them in there without much acclimation or anything. The water is all from the same source so it should be very similar but perhaps the water in this tank might be softer because of the aquasoil. It is a fair bit warmer for sure. Anyway they are actually doing quite well in there.
There are still two ruby tetras in this tank. They are getting a little braver recently. I thought I lost of all of them as I didn't see any fish in there for months but there they are! I guess putting a tiny bit of food in the tank every so often worked.
The plants will be very overgrown soon but I cannot bear to trim them. I could pull them out and replant them but it is a lot of work. I think I will let myself enjoy them for a few more days before they get the snip.
Anyway, two pictures to share:
FTS from today:
20240616_220511 by Lenny Lim, on FlickrShimp!
20240616_220530 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
chickennublet
Member
Been a while since I updated this thread.
I had a bit of rather poorly growth with the Limnophila aromatica for a while. The new growth came out small and translucent. Not sure why they stunted as they are usually very easy to grow but they have bounced back recently. Will find some time soon to pull all of them out and re-plant them so that I can toss the stunted ones out.
Anyway, I just wanted to share a few pictures as I recently pulled everything out and re-planted them! on 7th July everything was overgrown, so I did a reset. I don't have any pictures between 7th July and 5th August unfortunately but between 7th July and 5th August I trimmed twice and replanted some of the cuttings.
Taken on 7th July, very overgrown
20240707_133606 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
7th July, just after replanting:
20240707_170631 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
5th August, just after the 2nd trim and replant
20240805_215154 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
9th August, just to show how they have grown in those few days
20240809_224521 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
16th August! Astounded by the amount of growth since the 9th. This was before maintenance so the glass was a bit dirty. I've trimmed the Limnophila and Rotala tulunadensis since this photo was taken
20240816_164501 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
Rotala tulunadensis in ambient lighting. My favourite plant in this tank for sure.
20240818_110710 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
I had a bit of rather poorly growth with the Limnophila aromatica for a while. The new growth came out small and translucent. Not sure why they stunted as they are usually very easy to grow but they have bounced back recently. Will find some time soon to pull all of them out and re-plant them so that I can toss the stunted ones out.
Anyway, I just wanted to share a few pictures as I recently pulled everything out and re-planted them! on 7th July everything was overgrown, so I did a reset. I don't have any pictures between 7th July and 5th August unfortunately but between 7th July and 5th August I trimmed twice and replanted some of the cuttings.
Taken on 7th July, very overgrown
20240707_133606 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr7th July, just after replanting:
20240707_170631 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr5th August, just after the 2nd trim and replant
20240805_215154 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr9th August, just to show how they have grown in those few days
20240809_224521 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr16th August! Astounded by the amount of growth since the 9th. This was before maintenance so the glass was a bit dirty. I've trimmed the Limnophila and Rotala tulunadensis since this photo was taken
20240816_164501 by Lenny Lim, on FlickrRotala tulunadensis in ambient lighting. My favourite plant in this tank for sure.
20240818_110710 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
chickennublet
Member
Tank is still going strong. I trimmed the stems back awhile ago but didn't take a photo of the aftermath. Currently recovering quite nicely.
Only have a picture of the tank recovering. I should take a picture of the tank when it's been hacked back next time. Anyway, here's the most recent picture of the tank shortly after maintenance:
20240915_114601 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
I was gonna post about what I learned over the one or so years maintaining this tank but it got rather long so i'll probably post separately.
Only have a picture of the tank recovering. I should take a picture of the tank when it's been hacked back next time. Anyway, here's the most recent picture of the tank shortly after maintenance:
20240915_114601 by Lenny Lim, on FlickrI was gonna post about what I learned over the one or so years maintaining this tank but it got rather long so i'll probably post separately.
chickennublet
Member
This tank started out very differently from where it is now. I started out with low tech but was not very successful with it. I struggled with Rotala rotundifolia which by all accounts ought to have been easy to grow in low tech conditions. They come to me with big leaves and brilliant colours and slowly turn into twigs under my care. I thought it was the lack of CO2 that did them in, so I eventually started dabbling in CO2. It did improve their health, but only marginally. I had a glorious bush of trident fern (which eventually started melting en masse, I still don't know why), but my Rotala remain small and poorly. Even after a rescape when I got rid of all the hardscape and went with stems only, a good number of the Rotala would stunt a lot.
During this time I would dose a lot of fertiliser as I was under the impression that stems being fast growers would need a lot of fertiliser. I dosed APT (and previously Tropica) at full concentration daily. For such a tiny tank it was a lot of fertiliser. The stunting didn't stop.
I am dosing far less than I used to in this current scape and the plants are growing a lot better than my first attempts but I am starting to tire of the maintenance. If I could simply keep trimming the plants perpetually then I could see myself maintaining this layout for a very long time. However as we know, the bottom parts don't stay healthy forever and eventually I will need to pull everything out and replant the healthy tops, which makes a huge mess and is incredibly time consuming, even for a tank this small. I've also let it go without a water change for about 3 weeks now and I finally did one yesterday. I didn't trim it.
I've also noticed that some of the plants don't grow back so healthy anymore. I looked at past pictures and it is like night and day. My Limnophila aromatica seems to be suffering. It could be because the scape and soil are more than a year old and it might be time to fertilise the substrate. I do have some root tabs so I might try fertilising just that one part of the tank.
Anyway, I think it might nearly be time for me to tear this scape down and start over with something lower maintenance. It is really overgrown at the moment but I am tired lol. I've maintained this scape for nearly a year and a half now and I have been really pleased with it, to be able to grow them this well in over 30°C. But I wonder if perhaps I enjoy fish more than plants as I will also admit that I have been giving my other fish focused tank more attention. In the meantime, I took a picture.
20241110_180314 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
During this time I would dose a lot of fertiliser as I was under the impression that stems being fast growers would need a lot of fertiliser. I dosed APT (and previously Tropica) at full concentration daily. For such a tiny tank it was a lot of fertiliser. The stunting didn't stop.
I am dosing far less than I used to in this current scape and the plants are growing a lot better than my first attempts but I am starting to tire of the maintenance. If I could simply keep trimming the plants perpetually then I could see myself maintaining this layout for a very long time. However as we know, the bottom parts don't stay healthy forever and eventually I will need to pull everything out and replant the healthy tops, which makes a huge mess and is incredibly time consuming, even for a tank this small. I've also let it go without a water change for about 3 weeks now and I finally did one yesterday. I didn't trim it.
I've also noticed that some of the plants don't grow back so healthy anymore. I looked at past pictures and it is like night and day. My Limnophila aromatica seems to be suffering. It could be because the scape and soil are more than a year old and it might be time to fertilise the substrate. I do have some root tabs so I might try fertilising just that one part of the tank.
Anyway, I think it might nearly be time for me to tear this scape down and start over with something lower maintenance. It is really overgrown at the moment but I am tired lol. I've maintained this scape for nearly a year and a half now and I have been really pleased with it, to be able to grow them this well in over 30°C. But I wonder if perhaps I enjoy fish more than plants as I will also admit that I have been giving my other fish focused tank more attention. In the meantime, I took a picture.
20241110_180314 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
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chickennublet
Member
Trimmed most of the plants back heavily recently. They are recovering well.
Honestly, growth isn't as neat as it was before and plant health could definitely improve. But they are still chugging along!
Some pictures:
20241130_162014 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
Little shrimp
20241130_230037 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
Honestly, growth isn't as neat as it was before and plant health could definitely improve. But they are still chugging along!
Some pictures:
20241130_162014 by Lenny Lim, on FlickrLittle shrimp
20241130_230037 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
chickennublet
Member
Trimmed some of the straggly growth to keep the growth more even looking. To be honest that Ammannia needs a bit more trimming because it's growing so unevenly now. Some of the Rotala tulunadensis do not appear to be growing well after trimming either probably because I neglected them too much. Anyway, will probably have to do a huge maintenance session in a couple of weeks if I'm going to keep this scape going.
2024-12-03_08-59-04 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
2024-12-03_08-59-04 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
chickennublet
Member
Hi everyone
I know it doesn't look it, but things are not growing very well at the moment. Some of the Bacopa stems appear to be rotting, although the tops continue to grow. Rotala tulunadensis is taking a very long time to recover from trimming. Some of the bottoms did not sprout any new growth at all and some have only just started, and they were last trimmed probably nearly two weeks ago? Only the few tops I retained appear to be doing well. I've removed all the Limnophila aromatica after they started growing poorly with transparent new growth.
I really enjoy looking at this tank, but I don't enjoy the maintenance that much anymore and I have become lax in keeping up the work required to maintain these plants. I have also gotten lazy with fertilisation. I used to fertilise daily with heavily diluted APT fertiliser but the tank has endured weeks, if not months without any fertiliser at all. I've only just started fertilising again, and not in as precise a manner as I used to. I also skipped a few too many water changes during that time and am only starting to do them weekly again. I reckon the soil has run out of nutrients too. I have root tabs, but I just can't be arsed to use them. The last time I did I used too much or I didn't bury them deep enough and experienced really bad green algae growth on the glass for a couple of months (the plants were unaffected). But I really should be using them since the problem wasn't with the product but the way I used it.
This tank has been through quite a lot, including that one time last year when it went with zero maintenance for a little over a month (including not feeding the fish at all) but the tank keeps going. The plants are nearly free of algae despite the poor conditions, and I still have two Axelrodia riesei in there which are doing well even though I hardly feed them anymore. They hide so much I almost never see them, so when they do come out I always take the opportunity to give them some food (although they dart away the moment I raise my arm above the tank to feed them). This tank has really given me so much so I will keep this tank going for a bit longer. I think the tank (and I) have done very well, considering the temperature of the water. I don't look forward to maintenance at all because eventually I will have to pull the plants out and replant them one by one again. It has been over a year by now, so it might be time for me to say goodbye soon.
Anyway, next steps I gotta do:
1. Get some distilled water and mix up some diluted fertiliser again so that I can go back to daily dosing
2. Rip out Rotala blood red, Rotala indica and Bacopa, replant the best bits and throw the rest away
3. Probably bury just 1 root tab where it's needed the most, amongst the Rotala tulunadensis
Mainly I want my Rotala tulunadensis to recover to how they used to be. They are my favourite stem plant and if you see the pictures I've shared of them in the past they used to look so fricking good.
Here is a picture from yesterday. It looks good but is a far cry from how it used to be.
20241211_204504 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
Cheers!
I know it doesn't look it, but things are not growing very well at the moment. Some of the Bacopa stems appear to be rotting, although the tops continue to grow. Rotala tulunadensis is taking a very long time to recover from trimming. Some of the bottoms did not sprout any new growth at all and some have only just started, and they were last trimmed probably nearly two weeks ago? Only the few tops I retained appear to be doing well. I've removed all the Limnophila aromatica after they started growing poorly with transparent new growth.
I really enjoy looking at this tank, but I don't enjoy the maintenance that much anymore and I have become lax in keeping up the work required to maintain these plants. I have also gotten lazy with fertilisation. I used to fertilise daily with heavily diluted APT fertiliser but the tank has endured weeks, if not months without any fertiliser at all. I've only just started fertilising again, and not in as precise a manner as I used to. I also skipped a few too many water changes during that time and am only starting to do them weekly again. I reckon the soil has run out of nutrients too. I have root tabs, but I just can't be arsed to use them. The last time I did I used too much or I didn't bury them deep enough and experienced really bad green algae growth on the glass for a couple of months (the plants were unaffected). But I really should be using them since the problem wasn't with the product but the way I used it.
This tank has been through quite a lot, including that one time last year when it went with zero maintenance for a little over a month (including not feeding the fish at all) but the tank keeps going. The plants are nearly free of algae despite the poor conditions, and I still have two Axelrodia riesei in there which are doing well even though I hardly feed them anymore. They hide so much I almost never see them, so when they do come out I always take the opportunity to give them some food (although they dart away the moment I raise my arm above the tank to feed them). This tank has really given me so much so I will keep this tank going for a bit longer. I think the tank (and I) have done very well, considering the temperature of the water. I don't look forward to maintenance at all because eventually I will have to pull the plants out and replant them one by one again. It has been over a year by now, so it might be time for me to say goodbye soon.
Anyway, next steps I gotta do:
1. Get some distilled water and mix up some diluted fertiliser again so that I can go back to daily dosing
2. Rip out Rotala blood red, Rotala indica and Bacopa, replant the best bits and throw the rest away
3. Probably bury just 1 root tab where it's needed the most, amongst the Rotala tulunadensis
Mainly I want my Rotala tulunadensis to recover to how they used to be. They are my favourite stem plant and if you see the pictures I've shared of them in the past they used to look so fricking good.
Here is a picture from yesterday. It looks good but is a far cry from how it used to be.
20241211_204504 by Lenny Lim, on FlickrCheers!
Last edited:
chickennublet
Member
Did some maintenance on Monday. The tank is crying out for replanting. The stem tops look good but the bottoms are not doing well at all. Parts of my Bacopa actually appear to be rotting. The bottoms of the Rotala species have lost nearly all their leaves.
I decided to replant all the Rotala blood red, Rotala bonsai and some of the Ammannia pedicellata. The bottoms did not look very good, but at least the stems were not rotting. Honestly I probably could have gotten away with a straight trim but it was also getting too overgrown for that.
It took me nearly 2 hours to trim, remove the unhealthy bottoms and replant everything because of all the dirt that got kicked up into the water column. And I'll have to go through this again to sort out the Bacopa and Rotala tulunadensis. I shudder to think of the maintenance. I've decided that this will be the last round of replanting for this tank. After this I'll let everything grow to the surface, give it a nice trim, regrow them again and that will be time time for me to trim and sell the stems, give away the ones I can't sell to my friends and tear this tank down. It won't be torn down for good because I'll want to rescape it into something more low maintenance and keep the filter running so I'll buy some wood in the meantime.
It was fun growing stem plants but boy the maintenance is crazy.
Anyway, just a little picture I snapped:
20241217_212156 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
I decided to replant all the Rotala blood red, Rotala bonsai and some of the Ammannia pedicellata. The bottoms did not look very good, but at least the stems were not rotting. Honestly I probably could have gotten away with a straight trim but it was also getting too overgrown for that.
It took me nearly 2 hours to trim, remove the unhealthy bottoms and replant everything because of all the dirt that got kicked up into the water column. And I'll have to go through this again to sort out the Bacopa and Rotala tulunadensis. I shudder to think of the maintenance. I've decided that this will be the last round of replanting for this tank. After this I'll let everything grow to the surface, give it a nice trim, regrow them again and that will be time time for me to trim and sell the stems, give away the ones I can't sell to my friends and tear this tank down. It won't be torn down for good because I'll want to rescape it into something more low maintenance and keep the filter running so I'll buy some wood in the meantime.
It was fun growing stem plants but boy the maintenance is crazy.
Anyway, just a little picture I snapped:
20241217_212156 by Lenny Lim, on Flickr
hydrophyte
Member
- Joined
- 22 Aug 2009
- Messages
- 1,083
Nice to see this tank again. I'm sure you'll have fun with the replanting, but I think it still looks good. Very nice balance of foliage and those hues too.
chickennublet
Member
Thank you mate. No I did not have fun with replanting haha but yeah I think it's still looking quite good. The Rotala tulunadensis I neglected is recovering well.
Last edited:
