Recent content by noahm

Thanks. It's been a pretty fun system to get up and going. It took several months to stabilize, but it really is pretty easy maintenance. I never have to clean glass or deal with algae. Mostly it's dumping about a half quart of floating plants every week, and trim about once a month. I set up...

On a general note, it's in a pretty steady-state. I wound up taking a lot of the smaller rocks out and am now filling that area with Crypt. parva. The Bacopa was a more recent addition and I really like that it stays fully leaved even on a tall stem. I plan on using it to mask the overflow...

I bought some Ammania gracilis and it struggled and looked poorly for months. I finally just pulled it all up and stuffed it in a single area and left it alone. It is slow to get going, but is magnificent once it begins to take off and continues to grow at a decent pace. In my 75 I now just...

I cleaned the filter pads in the sump yesterday and the de facto shrimp nursery had to be cleared of babies in the process. I had to have moved at least 50 into the DT and fuge (most in DT). The funny part is I can hardly see any difference in shrimp density in the big tank. Overall, things...

Updated pic. Everything is growing in. Starting to need a trim routine on the rotalas. The algae is starting to settle into a manageable light spotting. I added 10 amanos (up from 4) since they actually tackle some of the filamentous types. One interesting thing, my 1st stage sump chamber...

While not advocating for minimal water changes, it does show how much more forgiving a well-balanced tank is. Tank looks great.

Some updated pics. Plants are growing in! I think I may have overdone the reds in that area, so will be moving some of the Rotala indica into that area. Hair grass spreading nicely (and a smidge of hair algae). Monte Carlo has been doing well, but there are some areas like this that...