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Meander - Ended As Planted 31/07/2021

have hit a plant snag, 1st time i have had swords not grow.
I think i need to buffer the water a bit. As the crypts and vallis are melting, and the swords are peppered with holes. And it is not picture worthy.
Saying that though the plant mass that has gathered in the Hydro trip is doing great/ And is a haven for all the shrimp.
I have added a few adult wood shrimp at the weekend, and took a trip to Bardills and the Japanese Water Gardens off Brian Clough Way. And have seen some very nice fish and shrimp. And they (Bardills) were saying they can order in most fish in smaller quantities now. so will be messaging them about a few things.

I feel a rescape coming soon, with some temperate plant choices.
 
Removed the extra internal, as tannins are now starting to subside. And finally saw my Amanos for the 1st time since they were added.
 
Plants have all been ordered, So rescape will be commenced once they all arrive.
Not sure whether I will Keep the Massive Bogwood in there, or change it out for something else. I will be keeping the plant island, So will pick up a suction cup soap dish to place this into - to keep it in place. And it will be nicely hidden by all the dense matt of plants.
 
Rescape was Started on Friday afternoon once most of the plants arrived.
Just waiting on a few more bits to finish it all off. And will post once settled down.
Fish have a whole lot more room now that massive bogwood is gone, and changed the position of the branch to free standing.
Plecs have spawned again after the rescape and the rams are getting frisky checking out spots in the tank. Will need to add some more flat stones for them to lay on.
Also still need to get some caves sorted for the Fire Reds, so will order some of them.
Until the perm holder for the island arrives, I am just using a piece of a polybox suctioned to the back of the tank.
 
Something is off with the tank.
Plants are just not growing and melting alot. Even the Hygrophilas Stems have been melting, and they normally grow like weeds for me.
Going to take a few readings and see what they tell me.
Lighting I think is ok, as the x3 luminaires give 72watts full spectrum and then I have the Fluval aquasky 28w.
Its strange for plants to not grow well for me. Most of the time I just leave them to it until it becomes a jungle and then remember to trim. I have been dosing 15ml each week after water change of TNC complete. Thought i would give this one a try, as had been using the Arka ones as had bought them with staff discount.
Hair grass tried that again and it melted away. So replaced with lovely Dwarf Sag, and that has almost melted away and only a few are showing new growth.
Giant Vall, has not melted, but not showing any new growth.
The only things that are doing well is the duckweed, which covers the entire surface between water changes.

On another note, The caves I ordered for the fire reds came. And they took about a week to fully sink. I got Savu Pods, and x1 is occupied at the moment by a female, and she has banked up the gravel to block off the entrance etc.
I rehomed quite a few fish, as saw some rather stunning Samurai Gourami (Sphaerichthys vaillanti) @ Bardills. So bought all they had, And I have at least one Dominant Male who colours up nicely. And they spend all day hunting amongst the Island for shrimp.
BN Male has not trapped any of the females for a while now, though he is always guarding the tunnels. Hopefully he will trap one of the Calico reds, and will get some fry. The fry from the 1st/2nd bath are doing well and can see them in the evenings eating. During the day they spend their time in the right corner of the tank munching on Algae.
Shrimp do well in the Island, and can see a few Rilli now, which is a nice surprise.
I took the island out one water change and rinsed it off a little so that I could see what else is growing in there. And I have seen Seed Shrimp, Cyclops etc, but not Gammarus, they will most likely stick to the substrate layer of plants.

Plans are afoot for a pond in the back garden, as there is a nice hilly rockery in far right corner, So that would lend itself nicely to a nice tranquil pond with waterfall etc. And there are plenty of boulders to use scattered around the back and front garden.
 
Did Some readings this morning before and after a water change.
I use the JBl Proscan for ease of use and tracking etc.
Before:
Nitrate - Orange 40
Nitrite - Green 0
GH - Red - 21
KH - Orange 1.5
PH - Green 6.8

After:
Nitrate - Orange 35
Nitrite - Green 0
GH - Red - 21
KH - Orange 1.8
PH - Green 6.3

Going to do 30% water changes for the next week and if no real change in GH. Will get a barrel of RO and start changing using that.
 
Gill, I found changing from weekly to daily TNC improved plant growth, it was a George F tip I read somewhere.
I hear you on the big bogwood, on one hand I like the look and impact, on the other, mine too took up a lot of water space so I cut it back.
Cheers
 
GH has not come down with daily 30% water changes. So before I go down the RO route. I am going to Try Seachems Discus Buffer and see what that does.
I do not want to have to commit to weekly trip for RO water albeit cheap with discount.
Had to turn down a breeding group of green dragon plecs, as did not want to add them to the tank, with the water being as it is.
 
Have been continuing with the water changes and using seachems discus buffer.
And the GH has come down to 14°d now. So that is alot better than before.
Plants are still recovering and still the elodea has been growing aswell as the island plants.
Anubias and buces are still looking grim. And all the crypts melted away, including the Flamingo so was gutted. They may come back but will see.
PH has stabilised at 6.8, so happy with that.

Going to wait a few more weeks for all the stabilise before adding more plants etc. As don't want to waste the money. As my wabi kusa balls melted aswell, and did try to save them. So that was alot to waste. Though the monte carlo has not been affected which was weird.
 
Things are looking better and plants are doing much better. The Discus buffer is working and now at a stable GH level.
Still crypts grow and then melt, but hopefully this will improve over time. Swords are still a little ropey, but have improved upon the last new leaves.
Discus still spend most their time amongst this.
Going to have to rehome the Pearls, as they are all females and are getting a bit bossy with the Discus. And don't want that.
Took the island out of its holder and weighed it down, so that all the plant mass of stems could start growing etc. And this is now happening, so have some nice bushy stems reaching for the surface.
Have ordered some repens to try out, and see how that fairs.

The Guppies ordered have turned out to be lovely, and some of the females have a lovely elongated dorsal fin which tapers out into a sword. I have added Scarlet Endler Males into the mix, to see how they affect the genetics and colouring of the subsequent offspring.
Pipes are doing well, and hunt all day looking for something to predate upon. Taking frozen brine well, which is good. And one has been pecking at the dry foods, so that is a good sign.
 
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The Neo Inlet/Outlet set arrived from @Aquarium Gardens
Will fit it later when I do a water change today. Hopefully it will be easy enough to get it in and under the corner bracing.
 
So this was just a bit fiddly, but managed to fit it OK.
Now the bonus was that as its all in sections.
I did not need to turn off the filter.
I just removed the current inlet/outlet and fitted this onto the outlet elbow. This took a bit of finagling to get just right, so that the angle was just right to get the flow right. And I fitted the skimmer to see if there is any benefit in my tank.
Now the brackets were another ordeal. I am all fingers and thumbs. So took a while to get it all set right. And then had to use needle nose pliers to tighten the nuts as too fiddly to do with fingers, due to the limited space in the bracing.

The inlet strainer just push fitted onto the existing inlet pipe so that was really easy.


Now I am not sure what the logic was behind the double sided outlet to begin with, As why would I want the flow to be directed backwards down to the inlets path. After some fiddling discovered that you only need one on the back part and then leave the front open. And thus the back strainer acts as another suction to increase flow dramatically once you get the right angle.

This is a very good set and solidly made. Once you work out how it works properly. And the fact it fits onto a standard 13mm set of pipework was a really nice surprise. And made the change over easier.
@Aquarium Gardens Thank you for the speedy delivery, hopefully more companies will start making sectional lilly pipe sets.
 

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I also took the opportunity to plant the Repens in the foreground. Left it floating to acclimate etc, as recommended by Korey at AQCoop. It supposedly helps to minimise melting etc with newly arrived plant cuttings. And it seems to have worked, all the stems have nice new growth and roots. And only had the trim the bottom stem from one stem.

Also put some Balloon Mollies outdoors this evening, they are just in a B+Q builders bucket full of rain water and teaming with mozzie larvae etc. And plant trimmings from the tank. Bucket is in a shady spot behind the bins. will leave them alone and check on them in a few weeks.
 
This was Torn down this morning. I was at my witts end with the plants etc.
So after £100 in plants at Bardills - Rescaped it all with Fake plants. Did keep all the Java Ferns and Giant Vallis, as those are growing well after an initial melt. Everything Else was thrown in with the Mollies outside.
I am actually Almost happy with how it looks. as Covered the substrate in those fake grass matts. And then lots of tall plants to hide the uplifts etc.
Need to go back and get a few more accent plants and then that will be it. Can just enjoy the fish without the constant tinkering to get plants to grow.


Also Seperated out the best looking guppy pair to try and keep those colors/finnage going. As this female has a very long trailing dorsal fin and slight sword in her tail. And the male with the biggest dorsal and swords etc.

Also already looking at larger tank, preferably a Corner tank due to the space. So have a few alerts setup for Juwel and Fluval corner tanks on Ebay, Gumtree, Classifieds etc. And hopefully with a stand for space for a fry tank in the middle shelf.
 
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Shame about the plants Happens with no obvious reason sometimes Send picture of set up now when its settled in
 
This is how It looks for now, still a few gaps I want to fill.
I am happy with it, and sometime in the future I may decide to have a larger planted tank. As will need to upgrade for the discus etc.

Need to attach the thermometer again, as it's been dislodged while I have been away at the HP studio tours the last few days
 

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