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House Tank

As you don’t have any livestock crank the co2 up and aim for a yellow/green colour on you drop checker. How are you filter outputs positioned? I would have them at opposite ends (diagonal).

remove any decaying plants and keep up regular water changes a as no you will crack it!

higher plant mass really helps WHEN you get your co2 sorted. I would look to get some cheap fast growing stems and/or floating plants
 
As you don’t have any livestock crank the co2 up and aim for a yellow/green colour on you drop checker. How are you filter outputs positioned? I would have them at opposite ends (diagonal).

remove any decaying plants and keep up regular water changes a as no you will crack it!

higher plant mass really helps WHEN you get your co2 sorted. I would look to get some cheap fast growing stems and/or floating plants

Cheers Tom
Filter outflow positioned as you recommend will get some fast growing stems today . Possibly a daft question but would these need to be planted or could I get away with leaving them in the pots ?


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Cheers Tom
Filter outflow positioned as you recommend will get some fast growing stems today . Possibly a daft question but would these need to be planted or could I get away with leaving them in the pots ?


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I would leave them floating- best plants are the ‘weed’ like growers. Any floating are great, stems such as Rotala green, Indian swamp weed, water sprite, Pearl weed etc. Don’t worry about how it looks initially, you can plant and bin them later when you have hit the co2 sweet spot and the other slower growers have established their roots and grown in a bit.

I personally don’t like bubbles going into my filter as it’s noisy and I like to observe them - when you have positioned the outflows at diagonals I would position the diffuser opposite the front outflow. You want to see the bubbles heading down to the substrate and then around
 
I would leave them floating- best plants are the ‘weed’ like growers. Any floating are great, stems such as Rotala green, Indian swamp weed, water sprite, Pearl weed etc. Don’t worry about how it looks initially, you can plant and bin them later when you have hit the co2 sweet spot and the other slower growers have established their roots and grown in a bit.

I personally don’t like bubbles going into my filter as it’s noisy and I like to observe them - when you have positioned the outflows at diagonals I would position the diffuser opposite the front outflow. You want to see the bubbles heading down to the substrate and then around

I’ve planted some limnophillia and Rotala added some floating plants and cranked up the Co2 . See how that goes .


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Co2 cranked up and diffuser positioned next to intake drop checker opposite side of tank about 4” below water line now showing green , melted plants removed few more added


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Co2 cranked up and diffuser positioned next to intake drop checker opposite side of tank about 4” below water line now showing green , melted plants removed few more added


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Great - personally I would aim for a lime or even yellow tinged green as you don’t have livestock, but remember when you do add critters it’s critical that you start with zero co2 and increase gradually up to a green colour (i restrict my lighting when I do this to limit algae).

it’s also key that the drop checker is green lights on.

if you can see the gas circulation touching all the leaves and the leaves gently flowing in the flow then you should be nailing it.

finally keep up the water changes - basically as much as you can tolerate in the first couple of weeks- the more you can do the less algae you will get (but we have lives!)
 
So I’ve been at sea for 2 weeks and left the tank in the completely incapable hands of my son who has assured me he’s carried out several water changes . ( I know he hasn’t because his brother grassed him up ) but he’s done a couple so not too bad . I’m due home in a day or two weather permitting and will carry out a big water change and a bit of maintenance. My lad sent me a picture and things LOOK ok . Hopefully I can add some Otos and I’d like some Siamese Algae eaters along with some RCS I have from another tank just to start with .
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I’ll also remove the stem plants and floaters .
Think I chose the wrong hobby due to working away and having to leave / trust the maintenance to my lads but we’ll see how it goes
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So about 5/6 weeks in plants growing in well added fish and shrimp no problems there but I’ve spotted what I think is staghorn algae growing on the Hydrocotyle verticillata
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I’ve dosed Exel directly onto the areas hopefully that will sort it .
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Looking more like an over grown jungle already


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So at 8 weeks now had a bit of Green Spot Algae on glass and some Anubias and tiny amounts of Hair Algae but only appears on the Hydrocotle . I’ve taken out Juncus Repens at the back right hand side and removed all the moss as it was growing wild think it looks better for it . Current live stock
20 CPD
15 Ottos
10 Ember Tetras
3 SAE
1 Rainbow Shark
10 Ammano
loads of RCS
And 5 Green Rasboras

Is this over stocked ? Fish seem happy and as they’re mostly “Nano” fish have plenty of swim room
Filters ( Oase 600 & Oase 350 ) handling well
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So at 8 weeks now had a bit of Green Spot Algae on glass and some Anubias and tiny amounts of Hair Algae but only appears on the Hydrocotle . I’ve taken out Juncus Repens at the back right hand side and removed all the moss as it was growing wild think it looks better for it . Current live stock
20 CPD
15 Ottos
10 Ember Tetras
3 SAE
1 Rainbow Shark
10 Ammano
loads of RCS
And 5 Green Rasboras

Is this over stocked ? Fish seem happy and as they’re mostly “Nano” fish have plenty of swim room

Imo, this should be close to the stock limit, especially with the current plant mass. I would refrain from adding more fish (and consider removing the larger fish, such as the SAE and the rainbow shark), especially because you will not be able to perform regular water changes and keep on top of maintenance. So, a lighter bio load could help avoiding potential issues going forward. Note that having a rainbow shark in a tank with nano/small fish might not be a good idea. The Epalzeorhynchos spp. can become territorial and aggressive as it reaches sub-adult size and the smaller fish might become his breakfast...
 
So after returning from two weeks at sea with no maintenance being carried out I came back to a very grown in tank I’d trimmed everything back before I left and even managed to set up a couple of tanks I had spare with the trimmings .
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There is a couple of spots of stag horn algae over on the left but unless you’re looking for it you wouldn’t see it . Few bits of green spot on the glass but that’s all . I seem to have a problem with the flow for the CO2 as the diffuser is positioned under the intake on the left the right hand side getting most of it . Just needs a tweak
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As you can see the Repens on the left although growing just not as green and lush as on the right .


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Just an update . Trimmed pretty much everything back as it was getting out of hand .
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Looks a bit better really surprised/ happy with the lack of algae I’ve had to deal with since this has been running . Only the occasional spots which nobody else notices so all good


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So after nearly six months we’ve gone from
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To this
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So the plan is to break this down and start over . Still going to go for something similar with regards to hardscape and lay out but better plant selection and planting plan this was a great learning experience and the advice I’ve been given and articles I’ve read through this forum have helped immensely .


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