Very handsome fish
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The Nymph's Spring (EA900)
- Thread starter shangman
- Start date
Very handsome fish
Thanks! Mr Daffodil is my little prince 🙂
Just a little update, but a good step - all the new plants I've added (and the old plants too) are
1) not dying
2) putting out new shoots
So definitely getting better! Hooray!!
I lowered the light on Monday to 40% and the growth has been the same/better so that's grand. I've noticed the illusive giant kuhlis are out way more now, will just keep it at this level forever (or at least 6 months). I actually quite like the lowered lighting moody look, it works with the scape vibe and looks a little more natural, the fish are using the top 50% of the tank more which is great.
I've still got MAJOR spiro - I need to do a big maintenance on the filters and getting extra mulm and stuff like that (as well as getting as much spiro out as possible), will do the really big clean with the next waterchange before trying a blackout. The only annoying thing about a blackout is it makes my lotus stems really long and then it's really hard to get them to grow compactly again, otherwise I'd do one now. Anyone got any tips on that?
Lastly I added some cooked courgette this week and was surprised that not only did the otos love it, the kuhlis and the pygmy corydoras did too! The baby kuhlis are like long wiggly racoons, they'll eat anything! I also noticed the baby kuhlis are living all the way up the wood amongst the mosses and buces, they look like tree snakes and it's awesome. The fish behaviours only get more interesting!!
1) not dying
2) putting out new shoots
So definitely getting better! Hooray!!
I lowered the light on Monday to 40% and the growth has been the same/better so that's grand. I've noticed the illusive giant kuhlis are out way more now, will just keep it at this level forever (or at least 6 months). I actually quite like the lowered lighting moody look, it works with the scape vibe and looks a little more natural, the fish are using the top 50% of the tank more which is great.
I've still got MAJOR spiro - I need to do a big maintenance on the filters and getting extra mulm and stuff like that (as well as getting as much spiro out as possible), will do the really big clean with the next waterchange before trying a blackout. The only annoying thing about a blackout is it makes my lotus stems really long and then it's really hard to get them to grow compactly again, otherwise I'd do one now. Anyone got any tips on that?
Lastly I added some cooked courgette this week and was surprised that not only did the otos love it, the kuhlis and the pygmy corydoras did too! The baby kuhlis are like long wiggly racoons, they'll eat anything! I also noticed the baby kuhlis are living all the way up the wood amongst the mosses and buces, they look like tree snakes and it's awesome. The fish behaviours only get more interesting!!
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Had the honour of being invited to be part of the Aquascaping Type's second video to talk about what aquascaping means to me!! So if you want to see me wax lyrical about aquariums even MORE than I do on this journal (which is already a lot in-between the frustrations) then watch the below vid! The Aquascaping Type is a really great series by people who are really getting to the heart of aquascaping and trying to grow the hobby. ☺️
Two little updates...
Just opened up the tank after a 4 day blackout. I've only got the room light to tell, but I think it's done a really good job on the hair algae, and the fish are all fine! Huzzah! Looking forward to checking with light properly tomorrow after a big waterchange and filter cleans. Possibly tragic but I really missed my fish, very happy to see them gambling about again (they were very enthusiastic about their first dinner in 4 days).
While waiting, I finally started working on my stand again. The doors were standed and painted quite a few times to get a relately smooth finish, but then I went and gold leafed it which shows up every bump anyway lol. The gold leaf actually looks great though, the tones work so well with the tank and the botanicals, and I like the imperfect texture of it. This isn't the end for the stand yet, I am currently working out what I'm painting on the front, I know it will be an aquatic scene inspired by <Japanese painted panels like this>, with dramatic wood, some buces/ephiphytes and moss with a few lovely fish, but it's quite a daunting task so need to research and practice each part cos I haven't painted in agessssss.
Here's the tank tonight with gold doors and less algae:
Just opened up the tank after a 4 day blackout. I've only got the room light to tell, but I think it's done a really good job on the hair algae, and the fish are all fine! Huzzah! Looking forward to checking with light properly tomorrow after a big waterchange and filter cleans. Possibly tragic but I really missed my fish, very happy to see them gambling about again (they were very enthusiastic about their first dinner in 4 days).
While waiting, I finally started working on my stand again. The doors were standed and painted quite a few times to get a relately smooth finish, but then I went and gold leafed it which shows up every bump anyway lol. The gold leaf actually looks great though, the tones work so well with the tank and the botanicals, and I like the imperfect texture of it. This isn't the end for the stand yet, I am currently working out what I'm painting on the front, I know it will be an aquatic scene inspired by <Japanese painted panels like this>, with dramatic wood, some buces/ephiphytes and moss with a few lovely fish, but it's quite a daunting task so need to research and practice each part cos I haven't painted in agessssss.
Here's the tank tonight with gold doors and less algae:
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aec34
Member
This is stunning. Looking forward to the doors!
John q
Member
Wow.. looks like something you'd see on a James bond film. Love it 👍
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Thank you! Fingers crossed it'll be even more fabulous with the painting, it's really fun working out how to paint everything in the right style 🙂
My perfect song inspiration! 😛
So after the blackout it's even more obvious that my stem plants are tragique
I'm thinking maybe a giant echinodorus or two at the back? Something dramatically big to play with the scale. Ideally it would grow emersed so want like 50cm+ high. Would grandiflorus work?
Any any other recommendations for fab easy plants LOL. The front is looking much nicer, the wood is becoming a star with all sorts of interesting plants on it so as long as the background is lush I don't really care any more what it is.
I'm thinking maybe a giant echinodorus or two at the back? Something dramatically big to play with the scale. Ideally it would grow emersed so want like 50cm+ high. Would grandiflorus work?
Any any other recommendations for fab easy plants LOL. The front is looking much nicer, the wood is becoming a star with all sorts of interesting plants on it so as long as the background is lush I don't really care any more what it is.
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killi69
Member
Lovely tank, so natural looking. Really like all that space under the wood. It feels like most of the tank space is below the wood. The apistos are gorgeous. Its looking great
I used to have Echinodorus Parviflorus in the back of my jungle tank and that grew pretty huge. It was growing out of the water and that tank is 2ft deep! The only downside is you'll likely see mostly stems because the leaves will be up top. I think regular Bhleri is good for big leaves that span the height of the plant.
Thank you!! The space under the wood is my fish's favourite place, they seem to love the shelter of it. It's made me want to make the tank really overgrown and wild at the top to create even more of that protected feeling that the fish thrive in.
Aha! Perfect. I'm happy with just stems in the back for one or two plants, I want to experiment more with emergents and get something with big scale in there. I think I'll try one or two other "big" echinodorus in pinks/purples as well to get it lush, and maybe some more crypts too.
My dad pointed something out to me last night, that all the plants not in the soil are doing well, and all the plants in the soil are struggling or growing VERY slowly, except for a few older established echinodorus. Now I'm wondering if there is a problem with the soil, which was mixed new ADA, and old ADA I bought second hand (they'd used it and dried it) cos I was being cheap. I'm going to add some root tabs to see if that helps the growth at all, but it is an interesting, slightly worrying thought.
I wonder if it's compacting at all. I noticed when I dried old aquasoil and rehydrated it, it was like cement after a short period. The roots really struggled to penetrate it.
I think this is def possible, I'm gonna do an experiment in the front and replace the soil and try to grow a new carpet, and see how it goes. I have a small bag of mini tropica soil left to try. I think will leave it in a bucket for a few weeks first (with water) to get out extra ammonia first tho, and do a waterchange every few days on it. I've also put some root tabs in the back amongst all the echinodorus and crypts too, so hopefully they'll take off!
Been having a play around with the camera again, now the tank is starting to look cute. My boyfriend has a few different lenses so there's lots of experimenting to do! I think this side of the hobby is the next thing to work on, it's so hard to capture how nice the tank is with my phone. Note to self: clean glass first next time!
I'm not great at focusing with this giant camera, but I don't fully mind... it still captures the mood which is what I think is most important. Really wish I had a macro lense!
I'm not great at focusing with this giant camera, but I don't fully mind... it still captures the mood which is what I think is most important. Really wish I had a macro lense!
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Thanks! My phone takes quite rubbish photos, I'm too cheap for an IPhone! Maybe one day, it would be great to do nice videos 😅
I am very lucky, my boyfriend used to be a unit stills photographer (takes photos on film/tv sets producing assets for billboards and other promo), so he has a few cameras and lenses to try out. Annoyingly because of his specialism none of them zoom and almost all are for taking big shots from far away (or at least not tiny things up close), so it's almost impossible to get a FTS because my tanks are in small rooms! Apparently the wide angle lense could work, so will try that out tonight.
Just tried out the wideangle lense, it seems really good. Finally I can take the FTS I know you've all been after!! I'm a real aquascaper now 😀
The branch in the front is a giant dried flower stalk I cut off a neighbour's palm. I know it doesn't fit BUT I DON'T CARE I LOVE IT. I am now obsessed with sourcing my own interesting botanicals, but that's for a future post...
The branch in the front is a giant dried flower stalk I cut off a neighbour's palm. I know it doesn't fit BUT I DON'T CARE I LOVE IT. I am now obsessed with sourcing my own interesting botanicals, but that's for a future post...
Absolutely lovely shot! 😍
I was about to ask what that Fern type leaf was at the front left? So what exactly is it?
I was about to ask what that Fern type leaf was at the front left? So what exactly is it?
