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The Celestial Swamp - A voyage through a flooded forest fringe (Shallow Riparium)

I'm giving up on the Syngonium podophyllum... it's attracts too many aphids and grows fast... the Chamaedorea elegans is actually getting too large but it is flowering... the anthuriums are getting long and toppling over... I think it's time for some new ones... the sphaths continue to rock... the leaves are getting bigger then my head in width and the roots are becoming trouble under water... the flowers dump copious amounts of pollen into the water.. it's time to do some trimming and consolidating...

And then there's the underwater section... dwarf sag is dwindling... crypts are doing well... vals as I said are going crazy but older leaves are getting BBA ext.. . I cut all the old leaves... thinned it by probably 50% or more and ripped out runners...

All in I think removed about 2lbs+ of vegetation today from below and above...

And then there's the fact I haven't cleaned the filter in the sump since nov 2019... or maybe it was 2018...
 
Omg... it's more like a massacre then a hacking...

The spath roots are unreal... these 3 containers are all mixed together... I have alot of unhappy fish watching their hiding places vanish...

I am reminded that you can only really see 1/3 of the underwater tank normally as other 2/3 is behind the rocks and wood... so much space back there...
 

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Absolute destruction.... a grocery bag full of roots and excess plant material....

I am sure I will be seeing a huge algae spike now... have to do more water changes... did about 20g so far today... the micron sock is doing overtime trying to grab all the debris... have to get all those spaths planted again... not sure if I am going to hang the planters in the tank again... probably will just keep them in the coast to coast overflow... easier to manage the roots... but of course the plants probably went gang busters because their roots were in the soil...

This was 2+ years of unimpeded growth...
 

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Finally got around to replanting the Spaths... it's looking a little barren... having issues with BGA at the moment... I need to clean that filter...

On a positive note, an Oto appeared in the tank... I thought they all died out well over a year ago...

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I fleshed out the left side with some unknown leafy plant that I have experimented with in the past and seems to grow well with its feet wet even when neglected... I added a variegated red and white anthurium to the back and plunked down some Pilea 'aluminum' on a foam raft...

The Spaths on the right side are looking sad after replanting but I'm sure they will recover...

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Ardisia humilis.... that's what the previously unknown plants is...

I have a specimen that has been growing well enough in several different neglected water setups over a year but this is the first time I've tried it in a riparium planter... if it works I may I add more...
 
In 2017 I said to myself:

"but now the bean animal drain system has been negatively affected... the riparium planters are creating a bottle neck of water flow between the siphon and open standpipe sections... the planter is blocking the most of the flow as its very close to the eggcrate which I did not account for when designing the overflow... the water is higher around the open pipe and lower around the siphon... so no matter how much I adjust the siphon flow with the gate valve I always have too much water trickling down the open standpipe creating unwanted noise... the system still works, it's just noisy!"

And now that I just filled the overflow with freshly planted Spaths in pots, guess what? I knew I had them hanging on the side of the overflow for a reason........
 
More vacation... more cyanobacteria... I need to address this problem...

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I decided to fill out the main planting area with many more Wendtii crypts... green and tropica... the dwarf sag has dwindled as of late... I also decided to add back the H. Polysperma and cut back the Vals... I missed the bright green stems...

As usual one of these days I will clean out the filter and sump...
 
Okay I know... chemicals are not the best way to solve problems without finding the root cause... I was just sick of my tank looking like blahblahblahblah...

Enter CHEMICLEAN

Despite doing 25 gallon water chances just to suck up the rampant cyanobacteria outbreak on a regular basis it keeps coming back... like total destruction... every piece of wood, rock leaf and grain of substrate covered in stinking goo... since nothing else has changed I would imagine it's the fact that I haven't cleaned the sump filter in years.. dissolved orangics are probably astronommical evidenced by the rampant mulm accumulation... the tank flora and fauna seem healthy, but something is out of whack...

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This doesn't look like much but this is after extensive cleaning...

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I left some on the leaves so I could compare after treatment...

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This is where the cyanobacteria first started... above the water...

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And 12hrs after CHEMICLEAN dosing:

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Gone...

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Gone...

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Gone...

Now at least I can relax and figure out how to deal with the root cause without being disgusted by the state of the tank and walk away...
 
SHAME!

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SHAME!

Things kind of got out of hand.... if you don't look at the tank when you walk by then nothing is wrong right?

Well 20 gallons worth of sucking out the filth, later she's looking alot better...

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Hair algae, some kind of brown thread algae and some spots of BGA had returned after 4 months of nothing.... at least the plants are doing well... the population of Trigonostigma espei has dwindled to 2 and I believe I have at least 6+ of each of the Celestichthys margaritatus and the Celestichthys erythromicron, but they are hard to count with the dense plants and hardscape... the Ancistrus seems happy... it's been along time since I had any shrimp in here... I should get some Amano...

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Almost 5 years this tank has been going... and as always, I need to clean that filter 😇
 
Like you, I find Chemiclean really good. I don't bother with anything else if cyano hits.
 
1112 days later.....

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... the filter has been cleaned again... it was filthy, but apparently Hamburg Mattenfilters using poret foam are supposed to be like that, I don't know... it wasn't clogged but now the water is cloudy and I am going to need a clean up of the display tank.. lots of goo sent up top 🙁

Only one Celestichthys erythromicron was down in the sump this time, along with the usual Celestichthys choprae sump dwellers, which seem to be very healthy...
 
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