A journey back to my happy place

[Jen]

Thank you!

I think I had pond snail, and assassins have eradicated them!

Which plants? In the cave/Krib pic is Java fern.
Taller are ludwigia and then there are random crypts.

 

[Jen]

It’s been a bit apparently
Tank is still progressing and evolving nicely. This summer I bought a ton of driftwood from a guy in a local aquarium guild for a steal and designed a wood heavy scape. I'm still looking for more actually.

I also upgraded my lights to better quality LEDs as suggested by a few of you and the difference has been very noticeable. I can actually grow plants now, and some of my crypts have developed a nice red colour.

It's very dirty right now so pictures aren't the greatest but I wanted to show my krib babies

I'll take some better pictures soon at night so there are fewer reflections and after a water change of course

 

[GaryE]

Everyone needs a few happy places. I loved it when my kids were little, but when they were asleep, the tanks were another, different happy place. A calmer and quieter one!

 

[Rocky998]

It’s been a bit apparently
Tank is still progressing and evolving nicely. This summer I bought a ton of driftwood from a guy in a local aquarium guild for a steal and designed a wood heavy scape. I'm still looking for more actually.

I also upgraded my lights to better quality LEDs as suggested by a few of you and the difference has been very noticeable. I can actually grow plants now, and some of my crypts have developed a nice red colour.

It's very dirty right now so pictures aren't the greatest but I wanted to show my krib babies

I'll take some better pictures soon at night so there are fewer reflections and after a water change of course

Looks good!

Everyone needs a few happy places. I loved it when my kids were little, but when they were asleep, the tanks were another, different happy place. A calmer and quieter one!

Lol, yah... I could say the same with my brother

 

[Jen]

The fry are out swimming freely today

 

[Jen]

It’s been a rough year, and I’m down to one krib and the clean up crew.
Between health stuff and 2 very busy littles the tank keeps falling to the bottom of the list. I'm ready to disassemble and sell but the 4 year old was too sad when I mentioned it, so I'm going to turn it into more of a low maintenance community kids tank rather than my dream planted tank. I'll still have some plants but the focus will be on the fish for them.

 

[Jen]

A few days away from the big substrate change, so I did a good clean. My anubias is the happiest plant in the tank, and I'll attach it to some of the wood when it's all out. I'm really happy with this wood placement so it's giving some inspiration for the new layout.
The shrimp are thriving in there and I think I'm up to 13 from my original 6.

I want to turn it into a fun tank for the kids so there will be miss matched decor that they pick out and hopefully plants will survive with gravel in there instead of the nickel slag

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I find that low-tech, heavily planted tanks are a bit more work to set up on the front end, but very easy on the maintenance once they get going. Hope you can find a good balance. My kid thought the fish tank was better than TV when she was a baby.

 

[noahm]

There are definitely some very easy plants to do in a very low-tech community tank with very little care spent on the plants themselves. I have had very good luck with crytps and anubias and java fern just letting them go in pretty much a no-extra-care environment. There are others, but those usually do well and look very nice if you just leave them alone. Amanos, cherries, and Otos will do most of the cleaning for you and are fun to watch.

 

[Jen]

I'm very excited to see this take shape!

 

[emeraldking]

I'm very excited to see this take shape!

Curious to see this tank once it's filled with water...

 

[Jen]

Curious to see this tank once it's filled with water...

Your wish is my command!

 

[emeraldking]

I love those anubias...

 

[Jen]

I love those anubias...

Thank you. It was about 10" long so I decided to cut it in half. It's the fist times I've had one flower

 

[Jen]

Settled and water cleared up. The kids picked out their new decorations and while it's not my aesthetic, they are over the moon. Hubby fixed the heater so it's 81° instead of 71°

I added 3 amazon swords and lots of e. Tennellus. Will add fish next week, most likely live bearers but we'll see what the kids pick out