A Few Pics Of My Tank

[curlyriff]

This isn't a Journal or anything just wanted to share a few pics of my attempt at a planted tank. It is still a little poor looking but I am literlly dosing nothing and all plants are growing via water changes, very low light and the fish bioload.

Anyways any comments welcome on how it is going. There a few things I would like to change like the lighting. Am wanting to try those Arcadia Eco Lights. At around £80 a piece and needing 4 if you take into account a new Ballast, T5 Tube and relfector they are not that badly priced but need to get my new Cichlid tank sorted before doing more to this tank.

Hope you like.

Kind Regards,

Adam

 

[Jamepsss]

Looks really good to me. Nice rainbows too

 

[BIG BAD BARRY]

Looks great!

What fish have you got in there?

 

[ian]

how long has it been planted for?

Looks good, nice Rainbow!

 

[curlyriff]

Its been planted for about 3 months now. Thanks about the rainbows. They were given to me by a friend who didn't like them.

There are a real mix of fish as most are rescued. I have:

1No. Red Rainbow
2No. Bosemani Rainbow
3No. Red Tail Sharks
3No. Pristella Tetra's
2No. Adult Doctor and 1No. Baby doctor when they spawned in tank
6No. Stairlight Pleco's
9No. Botia Loaches
2No. Dwarf Gouramis
2No. Kissing Gouramis
2No. Hatchet Fish
3No. Amano Shrimp
1No Cherry Barb

I know that the Tetra's should be in bigger group but these are the original 3 I got with the tank, same with the Cherry Barb.

The Kissing Gouramis are the GF's.

At moment the Sharks seem to be happy and 2 have actually paired up and showing mating habits which as far as I have read up is very odd and I only brought 3 cause there was a deal at my LFS and I am planning on rehoming them to friends but depends on how this mating couple get on.

The doctor fish, the rainbows, the hatchet and Amano Shrimp were given to me.

Thanks for the comments, most appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Adam

 

[Joshwainwright]

I love it. It looks like you're had excellent results from not dosing ferts.

I also love the tall piece of bogwood!

 

[curlyriff]

I love it. It looks like you're had excellent results from not dosing ferts.

I also love the tall piece of bogwood!

Thanks for the compliment. I have been surprised about how well the plants are doing. They are a little slower to grow but still seem to have good colour and depth.

And on the bogwood. I really wanted something that was slightly taller but the way this arches is much more interesting than the straight taller piece I was to go for before.

This was my first ever tank so has all my learning curve mistakes in it as well so still need to see what works and what doesn't. The Pogostemon hasn't done much in the month it has been in there and I need to get some more Bolbitus Heudelotii to place on the bogwood to the right.

Kind Regards,

Adam

 

[Joshwainwright]

It's always nice to get a bit of height to create a few contrasts within your tank. Rather than having one large piece of wood in my tank, I've managed to stack a few small pieces up nicely to create an off-centre focal point. Personally, I think it looks okay.

I think your tank is missing a slight covering of Java Moss.

 

[flix_cw]

Nice, what are the red-topped plants in the centre foreground, and the larger plants, centre background?

 

[curlyriff]

I think your tank is missing a slight covering of Java Moss

I kind of like the contrast of the wood to the plants and rocks. Plus moss is rather expensive from lfs. May have a go once I am settled on the scape. Still needs some work before I am happy. At moment just letting it grow.

Nice, what are the red-topped plants in the centre foreground, and the larger plants, centre background?

Thank you and the front central plants are Ludwigia Peruviana, they are ment to be mid to background plants but in low light with little to no ferts seem to do well as forground. The plant at the centre rear is Hygrophila Guanensis. This plant has been great and what you can see came from a total of 3 pots to fill that area.

I also have Heteranthera zosterifolia in the back left that has only been in the tank a month now but seems to be doing well from 3 pots. The Bacopa Amplexicaulis is at the rear right of the tank and that taller parts are from my first pot I ordered to see how they would do with the rest from another two pots.

I have also tried Eustralis Stellata but this didn't like my tank much for whatever reason. My Acorus Gramineus pusilles hasn't done much either which is very front left but has kept its good colour and shape for the last month so will have to see with that.

All the plants you can see have been brought from aquaessentials and have been great so far.

I am using fine quartz gravel in case anyone is wondering. Filtration is via a ehiem pro II and a seperate little 550lph pond pump with spray bar you can see top right.

Kind Regards,

Adam

 

[markandhisfish]

i like it . also the fact that you can acheive that without ferts also gives me hope for when i dip my toe in the water

 

[Joshwainwright]

I kind of like the contrast of the wood to the plants and rocks. Plus moss is rather expensive from lfs. May have a go once I am settled on the scape. Still needs some work before I am happy. At moment just letting it grow.

Great idea. It's always nice to plant the tank and then to leave it and see what the growth is like. It's rather hard to keep your hands away though, you have to have the best self control ever!

 

[curlyriff]

i like it . also the fact that you can acheive that without ferts also gives me hope for when i dip my toe in the water

I would say that without ferts it is a slow process. I have used the same plants in another tank dosing TPN+ and Excel for about 2 months and the plant quality was higher. These plants are very slow growing without anything. They are also not as lush green or full bodied as the ones I used TPN+ with but I decided just to try it to see the difference long term.

I will go back to dosing ferts as I think based on my bio load and how well the plants are growing I have hit almost the limit within this tank. Dosing would be minimal. I would be looking to use around 25ml of TPN+ every 4th day. This should give enough to make all the plants grow just that little faster and more full bodied without going made about dosing or anything.

Great idea. It's always nice to plant the tank and then to leave it and see what the growth is like. It's rather hard to keep your hands away though, you have to have the best self control ever!

Me, I have really bad self control. I am forever wishing things would grow faster in there so I can fill it out more. When I can see the basic shape of the plant is growing I can generally work out if it needs adjusting to give better balance to the scape but with things growing at different rates planning for future growth is important.

I am desperate to see how this Heteranthera zosterifolia goes as it has only been in tank short time and it should grow tall but I think it needs to have dosing as it is growing very slowly and ever so slightly yellow rather than green.

Also want to see what the Pogostemon gets on as thats only been in tank short time too. It has been pulled out by fish twice so hasn't established all that well at moment.

Kind Regards,

Adam

 

[Joshwainwright]

Possibly start dosing ferts then? Or is it a project that is focused on seeing what you can achieve without them?

 

[curlyriff]

My plan is to run it for about 6 months to see how things grow and how the plants adapt with the conditions I have grown them in. This should give people idea on what is and isn't possible. As said will then move on to dosing TPN+ at stated amount to see how much that has an effect over say a 3 month period. Again changing nothing else to see if the plants are able to adapt and how much better the growth could be.

Then depending on how that all goes that is when I will work on changing to LED lighting like the Arcadia Eco Aqua lights. Reason for that choice is at moment they are similar in price to that of a standard T5 set up if you take into acount Ballast, T5 Bulb and Reflector.

The Eco Aqua are waterproof self inclosed and come with required ballast.

Hope this clears up the idea of the project. I will try to get photos up on a monthly basis assuming I see any significant changes with it.

Kind Regards,

Adam