200L Low Tech

[lljdma06]

Just installed an external filter to replace my internal filter. That has solved the plants getting pushed around.

The plants however are mostly dead by the looks of it. I have been dosing liquid ferts, had a lot of root tabs for roots yet pretty much all plants seem to be dead or dying. The water is also cloudly (maybe just due to moving things for external filter) and I have very high nitrites. Any ideas?

Careful, you have crypts in the tank. If there has been upheaval, then they will most probably melt, "cryptocoryne disease". They will usually bounce back, but look absolutely aweful in the mean time. Also, if you have plants with emersed rather than submerged growth, namely your swords, they will need time to shed their emersed growth and adopt submerged growth. Again, they will look like they are dying.

Keep up with your maintenance and wait. Remove dead or decaying leaves.

 

[mikka23]

Tank is looking a little healthier today for some reason. Here is a pic of the tank (not sure why its so bright+blurry). Hopefully add some new fish soon.

 

[flyhawk]

for your pics, i have found with a bigger tank like yours
take pictures looking up from the bottom, i did it for the first time(its been a long road-flyhawks jounal pg 8)
and there was way ledd litghing ofn the plants anyways...
tank is looking good

waht type of fish do you have?

 

[mikka23]

So far just 6 penguin tetras. Looking to add new fish a species at a time. Some glass cats may be next on the list.

Thanks for the tip about the photo.

 

[mikka23]

Bought a piece of bogwood and have attached an anubias to it. Also bought a couple rainbowfish. Have been dealing with some major brown algae so gave the tank a bit of a clean and removed some of the dead looking bits of plants. Will post some pictures shortly when its looking a bit better.

 

[lljdma06]

Bought a piece of bogwood and have attached an anubias to it. Also bought a couple rainbowfish. Have been dealing with some major brown algae so gave the tank a bit of a clean and removed some of the dead looking bits of plants. Will post some pictures shortly when its looking a bit better.

Welcome to the world of diatoms. They usually go away after a while, but you can help things along by being up on the waterchanges, as they are caused by spikes in ammonia. This can create an issue with stable CO2 levels, but in my experience, it was better to get the ammonia spikes eliminated early by doing more waterchanges, than maintain stable CO2 by not doing waterchanges. Once the tank stabilizes and diatoms go away, you can begin to relax the waterchanges to encourage more stable CO2.

 

[mikka23]

Here are some pictures of the tank as it looks now. Cant find any settings on the camera to get anything decent.

 

[ian]

the bottom pic is really good quality. I have a 12m mega pixel and i can't get a decent pic for toffee on it! I can get a half decent pic on the iphone though. But the tank it looking good Mikka.

 

[mikka23]

Next time I will try taking a video using the tripod. Thanks for the kind words. Need to trim the tall plant soon, also looking forward to the anubias growing on the wood.

 

[ian]

as for the CO2 thing, are you running any?

If not I would recommend using Easycarbo, if you don't want the hassle with the CO2 set up. I have been dosing now for about 3 weeks and things are going great guns, the Anubias has been sprouting new leaves every couple of days. It cleared up my Diatoms as well.

Tis a good investment

I like the tall plant in the back, i would leave it if it was me.

 

[Biulu]

Nice growth! Yes, I would give the Egeria? a trim too and replant the cuttings.

 

[mikka23]

Just bought 3 Hara Hara catfish today (was sold as butterfly catfish). Will trim the egeria a bit more and post a photo/video tomorrow. Hopefully also pick up a couple Bolivian Rams.

Plants seem to be doing okay, quite a lot of growth but still a lot of diatoms. Also the catfish look just like a root tab which has puffed out.

 

[lljdma06]

Just bought 3 Hara Hara catfish today (was sold as butterfly catfish). Will trim the egeria a bit more and post a photo/video tomorrow. Hopefully also pick up a couple Bolivian Rams.

Plants seem to be doing okay, quite a lot of growth but still a lot of diatoms. Also the catfish look just like a root tab which has puffed out.

Take some pictures of the catfish, I'd love to see them. Yeah, you have to be careful when doing any substrate work. When I kept smaller ones, they would bury themselves in the sand, and I would be surprised when I would shift the sands. Out would pop out a little catfish. They also get stuck a lot with those pointy pectorals.

Unfortunately, my h. jerdoni did not do so well with the move to my 36g. Too much current for them. Shame really, as I really enjoyed them in my 8g. Good luck with the hara hara.

llj

 

[mikka23]

Here is the best pics I could get. Don't know why the color is so poor. Very hard to get a picture of the catfish, could only see one which was resting on the wood.

Hara hara, hard to see, blends in with the wood.

Red rainbow, still young:

Tank and cat:

 

[lljdma06]

Hara hara, hard to see, blends in with the wood.

Oh yes, I see it.