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700l labour of love

18 Weeks

Been a while since my last update so lots happening.

The Vietnamese Mountain Minnows have settled in beautifully. They really are gorgeous little fish. Tend to break into smaller groups and very active all over the tank.

Happy to say no further glowlight losses either so the netting to prevent jumping and the larger fish numbers seems to have worked.

Iā€™ve also added a few Cherry shrimp, that have unsurprisingly disappeared off into the tank and rarely seen since, but I get a glimpse of the odd one occasionally so Iā€™m assuming they are in there somewhere. Hopefully making babies that are good at hiding from my fish.šŸ¤ž

The AR is still a problem child. New leaves are coming through fairly nicely but GSA on the older leaves is persistent. šŸ˜”

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The Stems that I moved from a shady spot to a brighter area are showing better colour and internodes are shortening (as expected) Rotala Rotundifolia are also starting to show signs of un-stunting though not entirely happy yet.

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This is the RR that grew up inside the Pinitifida but now has access to light and flow. Not much growth in 4 weeks but the perfect example of going from stunted, with algae to un-stunted and improved growth now it has better conditions.

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These will be trimmed and re-planted in due course.

New Mayaca Red has been in a couple of weeks. The red tips faded out initially but are just starting to pink up again so a work in progress.

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The Pinitifida plantlets are growing a little, though not thriving yet, and I have now placed a brand new in-vitro plant in pretty much the same location. Curious to compare results!

The Wallichii experiment has also commenced. Can I grow these ā€˜soft waterā€™ plants in my hard water tank? Iā€™ve planted a group in their planned position behind my central log but also potted up a few and put them somewhere that I can both see and photograph them more easily. I will post progress in my ā€˜Wallichii alternativeā€™ thread.

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Quite a few plants in transition but, all round, I think some of my choices will benefit from additional light so I am now very slowly tweaking duration up to 8hrs (15 mins increase per week) and intensity is up by 2-3%per week. No resulting algae issues so far (touch wood šŸ¤«)

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Iā€™ve also just started front loading macroā€™s. Iā€™ve been measuring TDS for a few weeks now, just to see whatā€™s going on with the tank really, and front loading should make it easier to figure out impact of ferts on TDS measurements. Will also be interesting to see if there is any difference in plant health by comparison to spreading the ferts across the week.

The tank is looking a bit scruffy at the moment. Waiting for new things to grow in and old things to come out (I also have aquasoil all over the place šŸ™„) but hey hoā€¦ā€¦obligatory full tank shot. šŸ˜Š

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Still donā€™t know why I keep getting random duplicate photo attachments at the end of the posts! User error Iā€™m sure šŸ¤Ŗ
 
Coming on beautifully, you have infinite patience waiting to see how things grow. I'd have kept putting extra plants in all over the place!
Nice to slump on the chesterfield & watch what you have created...
This probably won't mean much as my tank is 1/12th (!) the size of yours but I think lower light for a longer time can be beneficial to the plants. My photoperiod is 10hrs under dim little led lights, the plants just grow more slowly.
 
Coming on beautifully, you have infinite patience waiting to see how things grow. I'd have kept putting extra plants in all over the place!
Nice to slump on the chesterfield & watch what you have created...
This probably won't mean much as my tank is 1/12th (!) the size of yours but I think lower light for a longer time can be beneficial to the plants. My photoperiod is 10hrs under dim little led lights, the plants just grow more slowly.

Thank you. It is getting there and yes, that end of the sofa is one of my favourite places in the house. šŸ˜Š

Iā€™ve been a keen gardener for a long time and in the garden it can easily take a year or more to establish a plant, confirm that it is happy in its spot and that I am happy with its placement so Iā€™ve had lots of practice with being patientā€¦.although for some reason it is still so much harder to do this with the tank. šŸ˜‚

Regarding the lights, they have been between 40 and 50% since starting out and I do think that keeping them low has been a large part of the reason why I have had virtually no algae issues, other than the bothersome AR GSA and even that is (I think) down to those particular plants not being entirely happy yet.

I feel that I need to find the place where my light hungry plants are a bit happier but the tank isnā€™t running at super speed and I donā€™t think Iā€™m quite there yet. Hopefully the very small increments of increase will help me find my sweet spot.

Out of curiosity, are you running Co2 and do you still increase Co2 period with the longer photoperiod? Iā€™ve heard that the plants have basically had their fill of Co2 by the time you hit 5 or 6 hrs but the standard mantra is keep running up to 1hr before lights out.

Just wondering how folks on longer photoperiods do it. šŸ˜Š
 
Out of curiosity, are you running Co2 and do you still increase Co2 period with the longer photoperiod? Iā€™ve heard that the plants have basically had their fill of Co2 by the time you hit 5 or 6 hrs but the standard mantra is keep running up to 1hr before lights out.

Just wondering how folks on longer photoperiods do it. šŸ˜Š
You would use a less bright light.
 
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I have always used low light, I like the shadowy effects it makes. LEDs are great now, they are so adjustable even the basic kind I use!
I've been given a sort of CO2 kit šŸ˜¬ It's a plastic reservoir which goes in the tank & an airline runs to a disposable aerosol of CO2. Fill the reservoir in the morning & it dissolves through the day, very high tech!
I thought I might as well give it a try, even though the added CO2 would be minimal/negligible! Low light for 10 hours & ferts stayed the same.
Growth is no quicker but the plants seem more robust & healthier. I have some very shiny crypt leaves & the echinodorus ozelot grows leaves steadily.
It seems to work for my little 57l, I just want healthy plants & happy fish!
 
20 Weeks

Rotala Rotundifolia is bravely putting on a few more leaves and colouring up. Still needs a bit more growth before a trim an re-plant.
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Mayaca Red not doing too much. Patience is perhaps a virtue with this one!
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Pinitifida- The plantlet from the mother plant that melted is in the forefront of this pic (The V shaped pair of leaves and the longer green one) with the in-vitroā€™s behind. Iā€™d say the in-vitroā€™s are winning this game, bushing up and showing new growth with no sign of melt. šŸ‘
Letā€™s see if I can get this lot past 4months šŸ¤ž
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Wallichii (if it is, in fact, Wallichii) is doing better than I expected (it hasnā€™t melted, stunted or died) so taking that as a win so far
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The Monte Carlo epiphyte is still hanging on by its fingernails. Still not thriving but not given up on me yet.
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The central log has had a few more additions and is starting to get the look that Iā€™m after. A bit more time for this lot to grow in is required. These slow growers are just so slow! šŸ™„
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Altogether, just ticking along! šŸ˜Š

Oh and, knocked up a couple of raised beds for the patio in my spare time too. šŸ˜‚ Next job, clearing the darn blanket weed out of the pond. šŸ˜”
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It's beautiful. Seeing a huge tank fill out & mature is great (especially when you have nano tanks!)
You complain about slow growers being slow, bet you'll be moaning when the stem plants take off & you're trimming every week!! šŸ˜‚
 
It's beautiful. Seeing a huge tank fill out & mature is great (especially when you have nano tanks!)

Thank you. šŸ„°

You complain about slow growers being slow, bet you'll be moaning when the stem plants take off & you're trimming every week!! šŸ˜‚

You could be right. There may be armloads of them on the for sale/donation/please someone take these stems of me šŸ™ page! šŸ˜‚
 
24 Weeksā€¦ā€¦doesnā€™t time fly!!

The Rotala Hā€™ra (which might not be Hā€™ra ) is doing itā€™s thing. Mostly randomly flopping about now in a rather que sera sera kinda fashion, but the colour is rather lovely.
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Pinitifida is putting on some growth, the in vitroā€™s are still ahead of the game but even the plantlet from the mother plant is perking up.
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My collection of stems in pots is expanding so the Wallichii thatā€™s not Wallichii (or at least not the type I was expecting) is ticking along and growing well enough but Iā€™m not really loving it Iā€™m afraid.
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The new Wallichii looks more like the right plant but itā€™s early days. Only been in a week or so, had a bit of melt on some stems and the others are not really showing much growth yet. Time will tell!
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And finally, some Cobomba, which is showing some new growth already and I like the form.
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Iā€™ll give the new plants some growing time and then see if they make the cut for the ā€˜behind the logā€™ spot that Iā€™m looking to fill.

The current Rotala variants that are in that spot are just a bit non-descript so wonā€™t be staying. (Sorry guys, nothing personal!)
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Iā€™ve teased off a couple of plantlets from my Crypt flamingo without disturbing the main plant too much so hoping the ā€˜youngstersā€™ will settle in and do as well as the mother plant and also split a schismataglottis, though, as slow growers, Iā€™m expecting the new plantlets to take a while to bush up.

Had a little bit of melt on a couple of the new epiphytes on the central log. An Anubias nana coin in particular is being a bit grumpy but I think itā€™ll recover.

The Vals are just randomly popping up all over the place, with lots of runners; even the smaller ones on the left are making a good effort at catching up with their big brothers now so will thin out and look to move a batch of these to the pond next weekend I think.
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Lights are up to around 60-65% now and Iā€™ve finally placed a second light on the left to improve spreadā€¦ā€¦.then found my spare timer is not working. Guess Iā€™ll get that started up next weekend! šŸ™„

The Nurii Rosen Maiden have put on some new leaves and seem to be settling in really well. Just gorgeous colours. Thank you Hoggie for this lovely little plant. šŸ˜Š
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From a couple of quick checks, Co2 seems to have dropped back just a touch, could be additional plant mass but Iā€™ll re-calibrate the pen, do a profile next weekend and tinker if needed.

Other than that just another Anubias to move to a shadier area. As the light increases, Iā€™m definitely seeing algae pop up on some of these more exposed slow growers but working on the ā€˜right plant, right placeā€™ theory, tweaking their position seems to do the trick!
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šŸ˜Š
 
24 Weeksā€¦ā€¦doesnā€™t time fly!!

The Rotala Hā€™ra (which might not be Hā€™ra ) is doing itā€™s thing. Mostly randomly flopping about now in a rather que sera sera kinda fashion, but the colour is rather lovely.
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Pinitifida is putting on some growth, the in vitroā€™s are still ahead of the game but even the plantlet from the mother plant is perking up.
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My collection of stems in pots is expanding so the Wallichii thatā€™s not Wallichii (or at least not the type I was expecting) is ticking along and growing well enough but Iā€™m not really loving it Iā€™m afraid.
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The new Wallichii looks more like the right plant but itā€™s early days. Only been in a week or so, had a bit of melt on some stems and the others are not really showing much growth yet. Time will tell!
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And finally, some Cobomba, which is showing some new growth already and I like the form.
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Iā€™ll give the new plants some growing time and then see if they make the cut for the ā€˜behind the logā€™ spot that Iā€™m looking to fill.

The current Rotala variants that are in that spot are just a bit non-descript so wonā€™t be staying. (Sorry guys, nothing personal!)
View attachment 188640

Iā€™ve teased off a couple of plantlets from my Crypt flamingo without disturbing the main plant too much so hoping the ā€˜youngstersā€™ will settle in and do as well as the mother plant and also split a schismataglottis, though, as slow growers, Iā€™m expecting the new plantlets to take a while to bush up.

Had a little bit of melt on a couple of the new epiphytes on the central log. An Anubias nana coin in particular is being a bit grumpy but I think itā€™ll recover.

The Vals are just randomly popping up all over the place, with lots of runners; even the smaller ones on the left are making a good effort at catching up with their big brothers now so will thin out and look to move a batch of these to the pond next weekend I think.
View attachment 188641

Lights are up to around 60-65% now and Iā€™ve finally placed a second light on the left to improve spreadā€¦ā€¦.then found my spare timer is not working. Guess Iā€™ll get that started up next weekend! šŸ™„

The Nurii Rosen Maiden have put on some new leaves and seem to be settling in really well. Just gorgeous colours. Thank you Hoggie for this lovely little plant. šŸ˜Š
View attachment 188642

From a couple of quick checks, Co2 seems to have dropped back just a touch, could be additional plant mass but Iā€™ll re-calibrate the pen, do a profile next weekend and tinker if needed.

Other than that just another Anubias to move to a shadier area. As the light increases, Iā€™m definitely seeing algae pop up on some of these more exposed slow growers but working on the ā€˜right plant, right placeā€™ theory, tweaking their position seems to do the trick!
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šŸ˜Š
wallichii definitely seems right, please report back with how it grows in EI. tank looks nice!
 
27 Weeks

The Rotala (whatever) is throwing a mass of side shoots, so Iā€™ve trimmed some tops and re-planted in another spot and am letting the side shoots grow on.
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Iā€™m guessing a week or so before I can actually see the tops emerge from their hiding place but I think the colour will be nice in that position.
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The Wallichii thatā€™s not Walichii has been unceremoniously dumped into the new ā€˜hospitalā€™ tank, which is low light and no Co2, so Iā€™m not expecting much but weā€™ll see how long it takes to melt!!

wallichii definitely seems right, please report back with how it grows in EI. tank looks nice!

The answer to this is, it doesnā€™t!! Total melt on the new batch, although I found a single stem floating this weekend thatā€™s still alive. Iā€™ve left it floating (letā€™s see if it gives me any roots) and am still tempted to try some in-vitro after Iā€™m back from hols. Never say never eh! šŸ˜‚

One of the flamingo plantlets that I split has popped me a new leaf and the rather depressed nana coin has perhaps decided it might stop sulking and has produced a couple of teeny new leaves too. Good little plant. šŸ˜Š
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The new light (a cheap as chips 75w aquarium eco) has been in for a couple of weeks on the left side of the tank. Using it on full throughout photoperiod and the plant 3 has been tweaked very slightly to 65%. No algae bloom šŸ‘ and the extra spread on that side looks much nicer I think. Hopefully the Alternanthera will continue to appreciate the extra par. The colour on these is much better now though Iā€™m not sure if I will ever be able to grow this plant without getting some gsa on the lower leaves! šŸ™„

More Vals (12 of them šŸ˜³) have been pulled out and donated to the hospital tank for now, along with various other trimmings. All grist to the mill for the cycling process and more for the pond at a later date, no doubt!

The cobomba, in pots, have now been moved behind the central log to see what I think of them when they gain some more height but, unless the in-vitro Wallichii decide to actually grow, I shall re-visit the suggestions for red fine leaves stems and trial some for that spot.

Co2 had dropped back by around 0.1 and Iā€™ve also noticed some slight twisting on alternanthera leaves so a tiny tweak done last week and monitoring.

Had a bit of tidy up this week and refreshed some sand, mostly to cover up some of the ever present wandering aquasoil, and then sat and smiled at fishes for a couple of hrs. A nice way to finish of the BH weekend! šŸ˜Š
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41 weeks.

Wow! Itā€™s been a long time since I did an update, figured it was somewhat overdue.

So whatā€™s been going on.

Holiday Co2 fail I July. lots of algae - mostly cleared up in a week or so. AR mini got completely smothered in GSA however and have now been replaced with new in vitro plants, which are doing ok as they only have a little GSA on lower leaves. šŸ™„
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In vitro Wallichii sat in the tank and looked like this for weeks.
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For now I have given up! My tank is not this plants happy place it seems!

I think I missed a few bits of the ā€˜otherā€™ mystery Wallichii that I dumped however and have a couple of these that have popped up. They have really put on some spread and Iā€™m starting to like them. They can stay. šŸ˜Š
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The weeping moss on the bridging branch has been replaced with riccardia graeffei which should need a lot less trimming and I really like the look.
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That little rosen maiden is now this:
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And the baby flamingo is doing nicelyā€¦.slow but pretty!
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The Hā€™ra is growing strongly now and Iā€™ve just hacked it back to shape it up. I think it will recover. šŸ¤ž

Iā€™m still pulling Vals out by the armload to keep them in check!

And I have a new collection of lovelies, including:

Anubias Pangolino
Bucephalandra 'Black Ventii'
Bucephalandra 'Brownie Blue'
Bucephalandra 'Blue Green'
Bucephalandra "Brownie Ghost" (Aquaflora invitro)
Bucephalandra "Lamandau Purple"
Bucephalandra "Deep Purple"
Cryptocoryne "Purpurea"
Cryptocoryne 'Queen Vandomā€
Riccardia sp. "graeffei"
Plagiochilaceae sp. "Cameroon Moss"
Hydropogonella gymnostoma (Queen Moss)
Hookeriaceae sp. (Rare Moss / Hooker Moss)
"Troll Moss" from Norway

Just a selection:
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They had a very long trip but are all doing ok considering.

My heartfelt thanks go out to @Hufsa who on hearing the news that I had confirmed fish TB in the tank (we wonā€™t dwell on that) sent me these beauties to cheer me up! What an absolute star. šŸ˜

A few wide shots to finish up.
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50 weeks.
Close approaching 1 year on this tank and overdue an update.

Have been doing a whole bunch of experimenting for a good while now, which has been interesting and a great learning curve.

I started out on full EI, and not too much light
Kno3 - 30ppm
Po4 - 3ppm
K - 30ppm
An APFUK clone for macros with Fe at 0.5ppm
Good, stable Co2 and plenty of flow (unchanged)
50% weekly WC (unchanged)

Not too many issues with the tank, but GSA was a nagging issue that this regime wasnā€™t solving, and some of the stems werenā€™t performing as well as I would like them to.

Dropped my Micros by up to 1/5 of their original dose, including taking Fe (8% DTPA) from 0.5 to 0.1ppm, and got myself some lovely chlorosis.
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Tried 0.3 ppm of DTPAā€¦.still not happy, tried 0.3ppm of DTPA and EDDHA mixā€¦.still not happy. šŸ¤”

Tried 0.15 DTPA plus 0.15 gluconate (total 0.3ppm) all whilst leaving the remaining micros lowā€¦and fixed the chlorosis. šŸ˜Š So, where 0.3ppm of DTPA didnā€™t work. The same level with a gluconate mix did the trick. šŸ¤”
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Stems seemed to like this regime and I guess I didnā€™t need anywhere near the level of other micros that I had been dosing after all!!

Current:
Fe 0.3 (DTPA and gluconate)
Mn 0.15
B 0.02
Mo 0.005
Zn 0.02
Cu 0.006
For those that might care! šŸ˜‰

Had constant GSA issues on AR mini (pretty much since they were planted) Soā€¦.also Increased the light (not generally recommended for algae issues, right!!) This gave better colour and form but still GSA. (Though no worse than before) No amount of removing infected leaves seemed to do the trick, it kept coming back. Hā€™ra was also loving this extra light too, cobomba responding well and pretty sure my new Ludwigia white wouldnā€™t be doing so well without it. All in, higher light was a good thingā€¦.butā€¦.

also developed nagging issues with GSA on slow growers after light increase (Anubias primarily). Took Po4 up as far as 8ppm with no real change, so that common fix didnā€™t do it for me. (Still dosing full EI level N and K at that point)

Reducing light again would perhaps solve this issue but would the stems be as happy. I think not!

Soā€¦..slowly stopped dosing N completely (tap at 30ppm plus) and eventually reduced Po4 and K down to 2ppm and 7ppm respectively. No noticeable negative impact but no real positive impact either.

Eventually, gave up on the original ARā€™s (which had been in-vitro) and replaced them with new in-vitro plants and theyā€™ve not missed a beat. No GSA on the new plants in the very same conditions! šŸ™„šŸ˜‚
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So, it seems conditions were better for this plant but the original plants still couldnā€™t overcome the GSA issue that was already there. AR mini grow very slowly in my tank and perhaps donā€™t respond so well to the stress of topping and re-planting. In this instance, fresh plants did just fine.

Still got GSA on Anubias though. šŸ˜” Finally increased Po4 back up to 6ppm and K up to 15ppm (now without that additional N) and GSA started receding.
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Around 5 weeks into this regime and plants are the cleanest Iā€™ve seen in a long while.
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So, with super high N levels (tap plus 30ppm) in addition to high Po4 and K levels I still had GSA and yet with no additional N being dosed and P&K at fairly high but still lower levels than before, GSA seems to have reduced. šŸ¤·ā€ā™‚ļø

Iā€™m still planning to remove the Fe gluconate and go back to 0.3ppm DTPA only, to establish whether chlorosis returns at that level, and at some point will reduce Po4 to see if I can induce GSAā€¦..why? Because I can, and maybe Iā€™ll learn something from it. šŸ˜‚

Co2 levels were maintained at the 1ph drop, kept stable, and flow was good throughout these ā€˜experimentsā€™ in order to remove these as a variable.

(Other than those few days of no Co2, back in the summer whilst on holiday, which resulted in a stack of algae issues, but wasnā€™t too tough to recover from.)

Changes were also made slowly and as much as possible, one thing at a time, so the above has been done over a period of months.

Iā€™ve also planted all sorts, including crypts and blyxa, in inert sand (where I thought they may struggle) and watched them thrive, and learned that I canā€™t seem to grow Wallichii no matter what I do. šŸ˜‚ (though Iā€™m not sure Iā€™ve given up on this yet šŸ˜‰)

So what can I conclude from all of this?

Wellā€¦..thereā€™s many roads to Rome!!

Having good stable Co2 (in an injected system) and good flow doesnā€™t solve everything but without itā€¦..you are probably in trouble.

Playing with ferts and light might cause you problems, but watching your plants respond to these changes is fascinating. Iā€™ve learned more about my plant preferences and responses than I ever would have done if just left to a standard regime.

What works for MY tank, may not work for others, so the above is not a ā€˜recipe for successā€™ only observations on my particular tank. Trial and error, however, is a lot of fun and the ecosystems that we manage are certainly never dull.

Is it all about ferts?ā€¦..no! Is it all about Co2?ā€¦..no! Are regular WCā€™s and good maintenance a pre-requisite?ā€¦.for me, thatā€™s a yes butā€¦mileage may vary. šŸ˜ How much of a factor is timeā€¦.now thereā€™s the one thing you can never really test. The tank matures and maybe responses change as a result, but hey, you canā€™t go back and test again!!

So thatā€™s me, one year inā€¦.and lastlyā€¦..I couldnā€™t have got this far without input from others on this forum so thanks, as always, to all you crazy folks out there, with all your diverse opinions, ideas and contributions. šŸ˜

Heres looking forward to another year of evolution. šŸ˜Š
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53 Weeks

GSA on slow growers may be beaten! šŸ‘

Plants have stayed pretty clean for a good period now. Old GSA has needed to be removed by trimming old leaves but new growth is looking good.
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The old nemesis, AR mini, also remains nice n clean albeit a little dull in places and the odd wrinkled leaf (primarily from being swamped by tripitata I think)
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Am starting some more Fe trials this week. Removing gluconate and increasing DTPA to 0.3ppm to see if chlorosis kicks back in, and will try higher DTPA and gluconate only respectively thereafter, if it does.

Some gratuitous shots of the Repashy food queue
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They have much better manners than this hoard. šŸ˜‚
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Quick FTS for prosperity.
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