70L planted - first tank

[LFNfan]

Thanks v much both for the ideas 🙂

The chai looks very cool but I think I want to keep a green aesthetic for now.

Good to know about the eleocharis proliferation issue, but still, I do like the 'grass' look. I wonder if the inclinata and lancea are too similar to the siamensis 53B I already have.

I'm looking for something low that I can have in front of the hardscape, maybe in the spots indicated. Also to fill in the open gravel sand area front left, but in clumps (or tussocks might be a more artful word) rather than a full carpet.

Thank you again!

 

[LFNfan]

Well, the tank is looking a lot less pristine now, but there's more life to it.

 

[LFNfan]

Updated my ferts and remin plan.

 

[LFNfan]

Looking fungus-free

 

[LFNfan]

Bought a TDS meter last week (half price off Amazon Warehouse - brand new looking but had a flat battery).
Last week 328 μS pre water change, 227 post.
Today 282 μS pre WC, 152 μS water going in (25L RO + 1L tap + remin), 221 μS in the tank post-WC. I expect that will come down a bit more as my new ferts / remin regime establishes.

Also a smartphone pic of my increasingly chubby SAE snoozing on the spray bar after lights out.

 

[LFNfan]

Plants seem pretty happy with the new ferts regime.

I also splashed out on a 20W led flood, so I am currently running 40W in total (10+20+10)!
Added a second epipremnum with wet roots.

My SAE has basically outgrown the tank now, maybe 3.5+ inches and chunky, with attitude at feeding time , so is going back to the LFS soon. Wish me luck bagging him! Likely get another but younger.

Picked up some hydrocotile leucocephala at the LFS last week - looked so healthy and much bigger than the one I got as part of my first ever batch of plants. Could not resist. I suspect its grown emersed and may soon disintegrate in its new home. Let's see!

After nearly two years I finally succumbed and scraped the algae off the front glass - wow. Major improvement. I am not going back to relying just on the snails. Haven't seen my nerites in a while actually but some of the hardscape is looking pretty clean so they must be around somewhere.

Mulling a shoal of trigonostigma espei.

Maybe after the new RO system rather than at the same time...

 

[LFNfan]

Nerites located.
Plus a couple of half-decent full tank shots with scraped glass.

 

[LFNfan]

Hitchhiker ahoy!
Bladder snail?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Bladder snail?

It is likely to be. You need to see its tentacles to make sure that it isn't a "Pond Snail" Lymnaea / Radix.

Have a look at Marcel's @zozo 's post - <"Snail Identification">.

cheers Darrel

 

[LFNfan]

Although I have seen it twice now in a week it has been hunkered down on that leaf rather than on the glass waving its antennae. I will keep an eye out, and thanks for the link to that thread @dw1305. Triangular feelers look pretty...unique....

Any issues if it is a pond snail?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Any issues if it is a pond snail?

They eat some plants.

Cheers Darrel

 

[LFNfan]

I'd like to encourage you to RO+DI.

Well I have finally purchased an RO system after a lot of hum-ing and hah-ing! I'm pleased with the results (840 mcS out of the tap to 40 mcS post-RO). My back is already thanking me for not having to handle 25L containers, and my new RO container holds around 35L +, so i can finally do 50% WCs. The booster pump is great and the container fills much more quickly than I expected. I installed a float valve and the whole thing shuts down when the container is full. Pretty cool.

I'm enjoying the chaos of the tank at the moment, but at some point I will probably want to tidy it up a bit.

I could not resist picking up a cheap monstera obliqua on visit to the garden centre, even though it's a very sad specimen. Let's see if its life improves...

I think my next livestock purchase is around the corner - six or so long fin white cloud mountain minnows. Hopefully going to the LFS tomorrow.

 

[LFNfan]

The long fin white cloud mountain minnows have landed.
Very active fish, and they know how to eat!
Got eight of them in the end. Hope they do well.
Quick vid of them mucking about in the filter outflow as I was changing the water.

 

[LFNfan]

Happy birthday '70L planted - first tank'! Two years old today. 🎂

On a slight whim I added three 'japonica' shrimp last week. I've seen them out in the open just once since then. Are they still alive - who knows!

I've also thinned out the floating plants (the limnobium laevegatum doing very nicely - all green as grass) and sunk the ceratopteris thalictroides (its immersed growth looks really nice). I have also raised the lights up a bit to minmise the inevitable algae outbreak from the extra light in the tank.

 

[LFNfan]

Shrimp sighting. I love how they juggle the substrate! One found a catfish pellet and retreated back into the shadows.

First WC with my own RO this weekend just past. Everyone seems fine including my back, so I call that a success. Remineralised the RO to 5GH.

Ferts ran out, new macros batch skinnied back a bit to 5.5ppm NO3 from 7.5ppm. Micros unchanged. Will see how that goes.

 

[Bradders]

Well I have finally purchased an RO system after a lot of hum-ing and hah-ing! I'm pleased with the results (840 mcS out of the tap to 40 mcS post-RO). My back is already thanking me for not having to handle 25L containers, and my new RO container holds around 35L +, so i can finally do 50% WCs. The booster pump is great and the container fills much more quickly than I expected. I installed a float valve and the whole thing shuts down when the container is full. Pretty cool.

I have to say, that is pretty cool. I salute you!

I have also been thinking about an RO unit, on and off. However, 100 litres of spotless water I can store for around 8 weeks before having to replenish stocks. So I am thinking Ill stick there for a while.

 

[LFNfan]

Thanks @Bradders!

I was on Spotless Water for about 18 months. 0 - 1 EC for pennies on the litre - cannot fault it.

I was using 100L in about 4 weeks, but it was just the heavy lifting and storage space that swayed it for me in the end (plus my missus finally gave me permission to buy the RO unit 😉)

 

[LFNfan]

My amano shrimp have settled in. One is an absolute tank. Here chowing down on a senescing anubias leaf.

 

[LFNfan]

bit of an update.

I decided to turn down my lighting from 11 to something more sensible. and also to make a modest upgrade from LED spots to an LED batten (still a cheap-o DIY store fitting rather than 'premium for aquatics'). I must say that after a few months of use, the LED batten seems to grow less algae. So for those planning a cheap approach, my experience might indicate a preference for an LED batten(s) rather than LED floods.

The semi-foreseeable consequence of japonica shrimp + lots of algae-covered foliage has been holey foliage. My anubias in particular has suffered and the siamensis 53B, but that is now in the process of sorting itself out following pruning and new leaf growth. I'm in no rush.

 

[LFNfan]

Ferts o'clock