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Easy jungle - 50 liter

paul_j

Member
Joined
20 Jun 2017
Messages
49
Location
Netherlands
Hi,

I started my first tank since childhood in September 2017. I´ve been reading the forums for a while, not posting a lot.

A mistake I made was not being 100% happy with the hardscape before flooding the tank. So I changed a lot since the start. I figured the easiest solution was to try a jungle.

My latest move was changing the stem plant in the back to crypts, removing a beach in the front and introducing the beautiful ferns (which gave really an instantly stunning effect:p). Now I´m pretty satisfied. So I wanted to show you!


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Details
- Dennerle 50L scapers tank
- Chihiros A451, level 1 for 6,5 hours
- Eheim classic 250 (440L-hour), spraybar
- Fluval inline heater
- ADA amazonia substrate
- Redmoor wood, 2 pieces
- a few lava stones

- dosing EI, dry salts
- 2ml easycarbo each day
- 40-50% waterchange every week

Fish

- 8 Ember tetra
- 3 Amano schrimp
- 5 Otocinclus vittatus (added today!)
- 2 male Endlers or mix

Plants
- Bucephalandra sp.Brown (Red mini)
- Anubias nana
- Taxiphyllum barbieri (java moss)
- Helanthium tenellum (Echinodorus tenellus)
- Cryptocoryne parva
- Cryptocoryne lucens
- Cryptocoryne nevellii
- Cryptocoryne costata
- Hydrocotyle tripartita (sp. Japan)
- Cryptocoryne cordata var. Blassii
- Microsorum pteropus Trident
- Eleocharis Vivipara


Thanks for watching.
 
Update!

- the Oto´s are all still alive. 4 of them have round bellies, 1 still pretty skinny.
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I had black edges and spots around on lot of leaves, seems a little bit better now, think the Oto´s and maybe the flow. If it gets worse I´ll ask advice here :)
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I tried floating plants before twice but they kept dying because of too much flow. Now I made this thing, so we will see.
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My biggest Amano shrimp! He (or she??) attacked the Oto´s a few hours when they first got in.
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The Java mos is the only plant that´s growing pretty fast. :dead:
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Some other changes since last week:
- removed the extra tubing (extra spraybar), figured the Otocinclus would like some more flow. A few months ago I already drilled a lot of extra holes in the spraybar.
- changed the lighting to level 2 for 5 hours per day, nicer to view the tank. Hope the floating plants grow fast so the extra light is welcome.


What do you think? Can I make improvements to the scape?
 
Looks really good, nice and natural, I would not worry to much about the BBA on the edge of the plants, slow growing plants are always going to attract algae, just try manage the level by keeping light low. I have had BBA grow on the outlet of my filter and in the highest flow parts of a tank, I dont think flow really effects BBA, its a bit of a mystery for me! Not many fish or shrimp eat BBA, if you spot treat with h2o2 shrimp may eat it as it dies (goes grey / pink) SAE fish when young are known to eat BBA but these fish would get too big for your tank
 
Got bba too, spot treated it with liquid carbon.

I've reduced iron weekly dosage, decreased flow, cleaned my filter, increase my lighting time, it´s getting better.

As doyle said, no animals will attack this algae or too little too annoy it. Manual removing and LC dosing works best.
 
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Started trying to feed the otocinclus some courgette. The second time they found it. This one is now almost two days in so softer, think they like it more. I use a plastic chop-stick, pretty convenient!

Also bought some spirulina window tabs from Sera. The guppys went crazy off course but the oto's also were attracted to it. Despite the business.
I'm glad they are all still looking good.
 
The last 2 months plant growth is very good. It´s time to prune the fern. The anubias in the back is no longer visible, Bucephalandra also almost overgrown. The helanthium tenellum in the front sends out 2 runners a week! The big crypts I planted at the back are touching water level, looking very healthy and lush. Purple/red backside of the leaves of the cordata var. blassii :)

The BBA seems almost gone. I do have some blue greenish algae around substrate level on left corner and front, remove it every week. It does not grow back where I placed the tape maybe I should also attach tape at the front...

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looks really good! remove the oldest leaves, remove them as close to the rhizome as possible, they dont regrow from the leave if that makes sense, the rhizome will shoot a new leave, old leaves generally just consume energy and dont look great.
 
That's some beautiful lush growth, especially in the dennerle scapers, love those tanks.
 
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