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Lianko

looking good, whats your plan for the Sagittaria and E.Tenellus?

have you thought about more hardscape? maybe some thin pieces coming up from the crypts? maybe??

Chris
 
I don't really know to be honest - my plan of action is to just dump it in and see what it does! :lol: The E Tenellus will go towards the front, around the wood and stuff. The Sagittaria will go towards the back and fill in any gaps that are still there.

I have thought about that in the past and may experiment in the near future with more hardscape, but at the moment I'm just enjoying the aquascape how it is and letting things mature to see how it goes.

Thenks for the comments guys! :)
 
Thanks Gill ;)

I've decided this is going to turn into a sort of 'learning aquascape'. I'm just going to put plants in, see what they do etc and this will ultimately create a jungle style scape which is what I want anyway.

I'm also going to add CO2 injection in the near future. There hasn't been much growth from the Crypts and I want to speed that up. I also think it's about time I took the plunge! This will help with the whole learning thing too.

Just an update on the Cherry Barbs - they are great fish! They're always chasing each other around, but yesterday I kept the lights on for an extra hour because I was bored and just sat there watching them. I was feeding them freeze dried bloodworms which they go crazy for. I noticed the females were really fat and the males as red as a tomato so I'm hoping there will be some breeding going on. I saw the males properly sparring with each other for the first time and it was great to watch.

I'll update when I get the CO2 sorted - already bought the drop checker and diffuser so it should be up and running soon. Just a few questions regarding that:

- I currently dose 5ml of Easycarbo and TPN+ a day. I don't really know what affect it has because I've got nothing to compare it to if you know what I mean. What should I dose (if anything) when I get CO2 injection going? Is it possible not to use EI ferts?
 
I used TPN+ on my 60litre ;) 3ml per day. I cant believe how much you are dosing on a low tech compared to my 2.7wpg T5 setup :lol:

easycarbo is your choice, not necassary, but it does ensure there is no carbon defficiencies, might be useful while you get the hang of injection rates & distribution.

The crypts may melt back due to a change in CO2 levels, they dont like change just as much as being moved ;)
 
Ah right, thanks Aaron! I know it's shocking - that's part of the reason why I really want to start injecting CO2, because I'm so jealous of the amazing growth rates that everyone is getting lately.

Good point about the Crypts - I forgot about that. At least with CO2 injection they'll grow back faster though! :lol:
 
The tank is looking nice Tom :clap:

When I had my cherrys, I noticed the males "fighting", and my females were also pretty plump, but it never came to anything :( . I didn't have them for a long time though so you never know ;)
 
This is need of some serious attention! (The journal and tank!)

I've been so preoccupied lately, and haven't dosed the tank in about a month. Everything seems to be alright though! It might be because of high stocking, there's now seven Ember Tetras, five Cherry Barbs and two Peppered Cories dumped in there. I also haven't done a water change for a few weeks, but will do one this weekend and take some photos.

From lookin at the last photo it's a lot more full in there! Since then, I've added some Sagittaria, more H. Polysperma, E Accicularis (although this seems to have dissapeared), Hydrocotyle somethingorother, Java/Weeping moss, more Crypts and Java Fern with loads of floating plantlets!

I'm thinking of having some sort of rescape, but not sure whethere I should just stick with things for the moment. :? I'll see how things go, but like I said, I'll get a few photos within the next few days.
 
I just looked over this whole journal and can't believe how much it has changed! Even from the last photo, it looks empty compared to the jungle mess it is now.

I have seriously been neglecting this - to the point where sometimes I forget I even have an aquarium! :oops:

Here's what's happened since the last major update:
- Moved the heater to the back
- Added a lot more plants (ages ago) sagittaria, hygrophila cuttings, java ferns - one normal attached to the wood that you can't notice at the back and some narrow floating at the moment, more crypts)

So yeah, I haven't dosed the tank, done a water change - anything apart from feed the fish for at least two months now. Everything seems to be alright, a few dead leaves but the tank is a mess anyway. I don't think there's been any runners but that might just be me not searchign hard enough, although you can see things have grown/filled out a lot.

I have some free time on Saturday, so I'm going to do the first major prune, attach the floating ferns to wood, remove some plants (possibly) like the Hygrophila, Sagittaria. and just generally have a tidy up. Then it's water change time and I'm going to start dosing again to see what happens. I'm thinking of rehoming some or all of the fish too, just so I can get somethin that'll intrest me more. I might also remove the central peice of wood to allow things to really jungleise, take off and get a bit more room in there. Oh yeah, and get a new light :) the current one looks a bit dim to me.

So yeah, I'll take some before and after photos on Saturday! :) That's all for now.
 
So, here's what I did earlier today:
- Had a trim of the Sag, a couple of dying Crypt leaves, Java Moss (removed the stones because it had attached to the wood) and removed the H. Polysperma (most of it anyway)
- Did a massive water change
- Had a general tidy up
- Started dosing again (0.5ml of each for a week, then increase lighting for the first time to 7 hours and dosing to just below 1ml of each daily)

I still gotta attach a couple of ferns that are currently in a bucket to wood at some point and possibly get a new bulb but that's it. I've also got some Manzi wood brances floating to get them soaked. I think the scape needs them. It's not that apparent in the photo, but there's a U-shaped composition evolving here, I think I'm going to stick with that but see what happens anyway.

It's nothing award winning but I quite like and enjoy it anyway! As usual, not the best photos because I couldn't really be bothered or have time to faff but you get the idea. :)

Before...

DSCF6204.jpg


After!

DSCF6206.jpg


Comments and critiques more than welcome as always. :)
 
Thanks Mark, but the wood isn't staying like that. Sorry I didn't make it clear. I'm going to have it poking through the plants and stuff towards the surface supportin the U-shaped composition.

It's an interesting idea though... The Cherry Barbs seem to like it anyway, swimming in and out of the roots. I remember readin that they live amongst diverse root structures.
 
Just in case anyone is even a little bit interested, just thought I'd update everyone on the situation with this tank. I seem to be so busy lately, so as ou can guess after my promise of keeping up dosing after the last post it stopped after less than a week.

Butbutbut.

Last night I spotted a completely new plantlet right at the front of the tank! It's quite bit too so must have popped up quite fast but I don't know how long it's been there - I don't tend to look at the tank too often nowadays. It took long enough eh? :lol: So anyway this has inspired me to keep on top of things, I'll get a photo up soon enough.
 
I'm astonished at the rate at which the plantlets are growing! I only look at the tank a few times a week, and each time I look the growth is visibly noticable. There's two plantlets - one with three leaves and another with two. I feel like a proud father. :lol:

I'm really enjoying this tank at the moment (well, when I actually get a chance to anyway) and will keep it going for at least another three or four months. I'm going to re-decorate my room in summer of next year though, and I think a nice 60x30x36 opti-white will be on the cards. 8) I'm thinking swords, crypts, anubias, ferns, maybe some moss, low-light/tech. You know the drill. :)

Anyway, as I said this will be going for at least another few months. It's great to see things evolve. I'll definately get a photo up by the end of the week, so keep your eyes peeled.
 
So this has been going for what? 13 months now. I haven't updated the journal in months so thought it's about time for an update.

This tank has suffered a log of neglect over the last few months, what with me trying to juggle a full time job, going to college full time and all the rest of life! :lol: (As you've probably noticed from not being as active.) Literally the only thing I have been doin is feeding the fish every once in a while. They obviously suffered because unfortunately they seem to have died :( I'm not sure why, but am not suprised. The MTS have grown in numbers and there's still quite a few Cherry Shrimp doing their thing.

Anyway, the tank is looking fantastic. There's quite a bit of algae on the glass, wood ans substrate etc but it all adds to the natural look. I'm really pleased with how it's progressed, having not even had a chance to actually look inside the tank for weeks.

So I'm going to clean the glass up, give some of the plants a bit of a trim, clean the filter (which I'm not looking forward to at all but it really needs it - hasn't been done since I started up the tank) and just have a general tidy up. :) I'll get some photos up some time during next week anyway. :) I'm also going to get a few Ottos so help with the algae and restock the tank with (probably) Hengli Rasboras. Having left college now it's time to make a real effort again now that I have the time. Just thought I'd let everyone know how things are going and that the tank is still going strong.

So yeah, hope everything is okay with you guys and keep an eye out for said photos!
 
Hmm well over the years ive gone through periods of loosing some interest in the hobby, seemed to be a summer neglect thing. But when i say neglect i mean less interested, not looking at it every day, not trimming as often. Although water changes would only slip to every two weeks and i didnt really lose many fish. Automatic feeders are a great help thats for sure.
 
Okay so this has been running for what...nearly two years now?! That's a long time. I literally haven't touched the tank for months now, but all seems well apart from the glass being somewhat algae-ridden but it's nicely grown in and everything. I'm planning to give it a tidy up and re-stock it with livestock to give it a kickstart again. I'll upload a few photos when that's done. :)
 
Not usually one to drag up an old thread, but I would really like to see any updates you may have in this space, I too have a similar setup. I have planted heavily with various crypts, java fern / moss and recently added some dwarf hair grass and amazon sword.
 
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