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Channelling my inner Filipe - Christmas Corys

Thanks! I love it and can't wait to see it grow in! It was a lot of plants, maybe the perfect amount seeing as all areas are planted. I probably could have cut the list down by a couple pots but hopefully this will give me the best chance from day 1.

Big water change later and EI dosing starting tomorrow now i've mixed up a big batch of macro and micro solutions.
 
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One week update... Things are growing in well, especially the rotala got some decent new submersed growth and it has doubled in size! Got minimal melting of the crypts so far, but have literally had a patch of monte carlo melt overnight which is not great, but other than that so far so good. Got the typical white wood fungus in places and have done 4x 80% water changes so far.

Co2 is looking good, even at substrate level seems to be lime green, verging yellow at lights on. Co2 comes on 3 hours before lights on and 1 hour before lights off and my tank seems to degass overnight. Lights increased to 60%, i might increase the light 10% every two weeks from now as my substrate is sloped up pretty high, so my plants are definitely getting more light/par than they would if i have a more "normal" level of substrate depth.

I'm really impressed with the oase biomaster 600 thermo, it's solid and is pretty heavy when filled up. It's pretty quiet with no weird noises which im happy about as i've always had trouble with cannisters, must just have bad luck. The flow is great, too strong in the main area of flow as its battering my rotala. The prefilter is genius, i have drilled extra holes and have the course foam, so far so good. Does have some trapped air every now and again but you wouldn't notice unless you tilt it every now and again.

DAY 8
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Superb, sammy 🙂

am I right in thinking there is some soil under the ADA small gravel stones?

if so would look good planting a little Cuba here and there in it. It’ll help ease the transition between the planted area and sand.

just a thought, but looking really good!

s.
 
Thanks! loving it right now can't wait to get some shrimp in there next week.

Unfortunately i don't think there is much soil at all under the gravel barrier but will have to experiment maybe with the monte carlo once it gets ahold. Hopefully that patch will recover but looks severe considering it was fine last night when i did a water change.

Hesitant to add any easycarbo yet as i don't want to induce unessessary melting at this stage :lol:
 
You should be fine adding a bit of Cuba into the stones. The soil is right at the edge so nutrients will migrate. You’ll only need 1 of the 1-2 grow pots so cheap to experiment with what you think.

the Cuba will also give you some depth being slightly smaller than the Monte Carlo which is right at the front.

see what you reckon 🙂
 
If thats the case then i shall pick up a pot or two of hc and mc next week depending on how much more melts :thumbup: definitely would look good the barrier is a bit harsh at the moment.

Thanks
 
The tank has it's first inhabitants! Picked up two dozen red cherry shrimp from aquarium gardens and some more monte carlo to try replace the melted parts.

Well it was a massive PITA trying to bury monte carlo in a flooded tank, i really hope i don't have to do that again :thumbdown:. I think i made a right pigs ear of it so hopefully it grows and doesn't float! :lol:

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Will update on plant health/growth soon.
 
Week two update....

Everything is going well so far, literally no spec of algae on the glass. Plants are settling in, still minimal crypt melt which is promising especially as there's quite a lot of new leaves! Melted monte carlo patches were replaced and hopefully it starts doing well. staurogyne repens has been growing really well but some bits have randomly melted, looks pretty cool like a demascus pattern. The rotala is going mad, some bits already at the top of the tank, and other bits starting to colour up a little! The hygrophila pinnatafida is looking really healthy, exciting to see it grow! One of the buce is melting not sure if it will survive or put out new growth yet. Also one of the java fern trident is melting/dying but thats thats probably my fault for wedging it in between the wood and maybe damaging the rhizome.

But really happy so far it's starting to take shape, lighting increased to 70%, will probably trim hard and replant tops after next weeks growth. Looking a little mg deficiant maybe with all the large water changes even though i add it back in every time, so will see how that develops over the next week or two.

DAY 15
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Thanks for reading :thumbup:
 
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Managed to catch some "asian rummy nose tetra" from my other tank to get things going! Took out some bio media from my fluval 306 and into a free tray in my oase biomaster 600 to help seed the filter and prevent any ammonia spikes. Will have to break down my old tank in 2 weeks to get the rest of my fish out. Sorry for the terrible photos, will have to dig my camera out soon now things are progressing.
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Will have a 30 day update soon before it's first trim and replant as the rotala has gone pretty crazy!
 
The tank is still going strong, coming up to 30days now so will have an update after i carry out it's first real maintenance session this weekend. Can't wait to trim and replant! :lol::thumbup:

Most plants are doing well, one of my buce melted so i removed it. Weirdly two of my annubias also melted but they have some new growth so maybe some of it will survive. Java fern trident is doing worse on the left hand side i think maybe the flow is battering it as the java fern on the right hand side is doing much much better. :thumbdown:

Caught a decent shot of a berried female earlier so hopefully there will be some baby shrimp sooner or later :thumbup:
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Well it's been a good first month, so far so good! Some of the rotala are starting to colour up so finally getting some contrast.

General plant health is great, crypts are growing loads of new leaves still with minimal melting, I chopped off a few old leaves now i've got new ones! Monte carlo is hanging on, haven't seen any more melting but its not growing as much as i hoped! But in the next month i should be good and hopefully will have a little carpet.
Hygrophilia pinnatafida is doing well, getting tall so will trim a couple stalks off next week. The S repens has perked up and is growing well. I am most pleased about the pogostemon helferi, it's my nemesis plant that i always fail with, but in this tank so far it's doing amazing and filling out. :woot:

I added a little extra sand on top of the gravel to ease the barrier feeling, and the added HC is growing in the ease that even more!

No real algae yet, the glass has stayed pretty spotless, i still clean it every water change but haven't got a diatom bloom as of yet. Got a the tiniest hint of green on a couple rocks so will give them a scrub on the next water change. Going to clean my glassware in a couple days pretty nervous about it with my luck! :lol:

All in all i'm really happy and love it even more. Only bummer is i was planning on moving my pair of rams across this weekend but the male just happed to get ill or something. Just my luck! :banghead::banghead::banghead:

DAY 30
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After 1st trim & replant
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Thats a lovely scape and glad all going well looks great.

Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk
 
Thanks guys! Really pleased with the progress so far, can't wait for another month to pass, everything should grow even better now the transition period has passed! Finger crossed for the monte carlo, i really hope it starts taking over! :thumbup:
 
Really well done

I wonder if the MC is slow to get going re limited light? consider where the Twinstar positioned/intensity ... though as long as growth is steady, I’d be loathe to alter the lighting as everything else is going so well
 
Thanks so far so good, but i'm dreading it now i'm past the 1 month mark
I think it definitely was low light, as my light is in the middle but it's biased towards the back for the rotala, so i think the hardscape has been shadowing the MC so hasn't grown to its full potential. I am at 80% at the moment 6h photoperiod, will probably increase to 90% next week. The light is at the maximum height the brackets allow so far. I plan on increasing intensity up 100% and if everything still goes well increase the photoperiod time up to 8h max over the next month or so.

Might have to get another pot of MC to fill in the patches that melted seeing as it isn't growing much. Got a tiny bit of melt from adjusting to easy carbo, only 3ml a day for the past week or so.
 
Very Nice start, always an good idea to use lots of plants at the beginning!

How many lumens Is that twinstar light? Seems a bit weak for the size of your tank. Would avoid algae problem but Mc and stems needs lot of light to Look best, so I Would push it to 100% as your plant mass Is good 😉
 
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