Azaezl's Second Attempt At Planted

[Azaezl]

Well I pretty much gave up on planted after a terrible hair algae / snail infestation as well as being ill for a few weeks and not able to keep on top of it all, so the tanks and plants went a bit downhill, managed to keep up with water changes but just wasn't well enough to spend hours fiddling about with the plants n things. I also disappeared from here for a while as I was ready to give up on fish altogether(long sad story), but after some fish were rehomed, tanks moved about and new fish added, my enthusiasm is back

So after having a good go at the 66G tank and sorting the plants out it's back to looking ok(not great just ok), I can't remember all of the plants in there but it's mostly elodea, giant vallis, crypts, amazon swords & hygrophilia;

I'm not doing much with this tank as very soon it will be gone and I'll have to move all the plants, decor, fish etc into their new tank, so I'm not going to bother with co2 or anything, just some bottled plant food(can't remember what one I have).

Next we have the 30G goldfish tank, this just has alot of vallis in it, it's growing very fast as I imagine the extra waste from the messy goldies is helping, I might try a few other plants in a few weeks but for now the vallis will do, again just some bottle stuff as again they are being moved very soon into a bigger tank;

Then there is the 15G frog tank, not much in the way of plants, some hygrophilia, elodea(small bits behind the red ornament), crypts & a moss ball molded into a cave for the frogs(behind the tall pagoda),I'm going to put some of the new growth from the other tanks in here;

and finally my latest creation the 5G hex tank, up until last night it was sat empty, with 2 fake plants and a cave in it(it was a hospital tank, but seeing as I haven't had any sick fish in months it was a bit of a waste). So 10pm last night I was drooling over other people's tanks, mainly amano's but also george's & a few others on here. by 10.30 I was fiddling about with the tank, giving it a bit of a clean, getting rid of the fake plants etc. 5pm today I was planting it, bought some amazon sword, wisteria & bacopa, stuck some mopani wood and some vallis & moss out the goldie tank in and here's the result;

Again just the bottled stuff for this tank but I do have a nutrafin co2 on it so hopefully it will grow pretty fast looks a bit cloudy because it hasn't settled yet, esp. after I just chucked the water in and the sand went 'whoosh' and made it very very cloudy.

I'm already very excited about doing the new tanks when I get them in the house, also need to get lots of stuff from aqua essentials, will probably just stick to nutrafin co2 for now until I have the cash for something better

I've also decided to do video updates, just to keep things a bit different & I get very bored sometimes

So here's the tank today;

8th November 07

The video loops until the song ends, so just watch the first minute

 

[Azaezl]

Well it hasn't even been a week and the plants appear to have grown considerably, the wisteria & amazon in particular seem to have spread out a little and are slightly taller. Here's something silly; had a look in the tank this morning and was very pleased because my wisteria seemed to have shot up by about 3 inches well I was amazed for all of 20 seconds before i realised it was floating slightly I nipped out an hour ago and got some api root tabs & some jbl plant food just to keep me going until I can get some of the good stuff from AE.

Another thing was when I got up I noticed my bubbles weren't going up the ladder but rather out the tube and straight up, don't know how it had managed to come loose but after squeezing my hand/arm into the narrow feeding slot thing I managed to put it right again. I could of taken the whole lid off but it's a pain having to unscrew it, fiddle about with the wires etc to do something simple, good thing I've got small arms / hands

 

[charlie4486]

Wow they are all looking great. I'm jealous.

 

[Themuleous]

Very nice

 

[Azaezl]

Wow they are all looking great. I'm jealous.

Very nice

Thanks I just hope it stays looking this good

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Looks cool, the hex looks really nice.

You might have to move around some of the plants in the 66g later on as some that are at the front get quite big (this is the main mistake I made with my tank). Wont hurt just to move them around later though once you see how they are growing, how big they get , etc.

 

[Azaezl]

Looks cool, the hex looks really nice.

You might have to move around some of the plants in the 66g later on as some that are at the front get quite big (this is the main mistake I made with my tank). Wont hurt just to move them around later though once you see how they are growing, how big they get , etc.

Yeah they've been in there a while(few months) but I'm just leaving them as is because that tank is going very soon and I'll be putting all of those(as well as new) plants in the new tanks, except this time I'll actually plan where I'm going to put them instead of just randomly placing them. I can't wait to get started on my new tanks, they are in storage, the plants, fish, cycled filter are all ready I'm just here scratching my head wondering where to start, guess first things first I gotta find a place for the new tanks. I really have to get working on it though because I'm having the windows replaced and the 66G is right infront of it, it's gotta go and it's only a matter of weeks before they come to do it, luckily it's someone I know so they are flexible about dates. The real pain is the new tanks(on double stand) are supposed to go where the 66 is, but I can't put them there until the old tank is gone / windows have been done, annoying!

 

[Azaezl]

Well alot has changed, mainly the big tank is empty and waiting for a buyer

The goldfish tank has changed as well, the goldies are in a new tank which sadly hasn't got a light yet, so no plants for them such a shame as the vallis grew really well / fast in their tank. This is how it looks now;

It's very empty but thta's because I put most of the plants in the panda tank. It has 4 bronze cory, 2 gold corys, 5 false jullis, 4 otos & bn plec temporarily until oli(cheesy feet) picks it up

The frog tank has changed alot too, it now has 7 panda corys, 3 otos & a bn plec(again until oli picks it up), this is how it looks now;

Here's a vid of the tank(I've yet to do one for the other's yet);

panda tank

The frogs are being housed in a 5g tank until my windows get replaced(next weekend yay!) then I can move all my tanks around and they will be getting there 15G back(or maybe bigger not sure what they will be in yet). So here's their tank;

and finally the hex tank, which I'm very very annoyed with, it's so difficult to do the simplest of tasks because of the shape / lid design so once I get the chance I'll be removing everything from this and putting it into a rectangular shaped tank. I've added some java fern to the wood but it's not sitting how I would like so I'm gonna have to get that out again, plus when I got the wood out I knocked some of the plants so now it just doesn't look right. Going to have to have a good go at it soon.

 

[Azaezl]

Well it's been a while since I updated this, it's as bad as my live journal, that sees an entry every few months lol. Oh well better late then never

Not much has changed to the 2 cory tanks, have added a few new plants(java fern & hrygrophilia siamensis) and some more gold corys, goldfish are yet to have a planted tank because I still haven't got them a 'real' light, they just have a desk lamp at the moment and some fake plants but hopefully in the next few months they'll be in their 4ft planted tank.The major thing that's happened is the hex tank is gone, hooray! even though it was going quite well it was a nightmare to do anything to it because of the design of the lid. Anyway on to the important part, the pictures

The 15G panda tank;

Stocking - 6 Panda corys, 3 otocinclus & 6 amano shrimp
No Co2, up until I got my shrimp I was using jbl ferropol & api root tabs, have ditched the ferropol because it contains copper, I've yet to order some dry ferts so will have to get some bottled stuff to keep them going until I do.

And here is an old video of that tank;

Next is the 30G mixed cory tank;

Stocking - 5 gold corys, 5 trilli corys, 4 bronze corys, 4 otos, 6 WCMM & 7 amano shrimp
Nutrafin Co2 system(diy mix) & same ferts situation as the panda tank.

video and video of the bronze breeding


Here's the goldie tank with the above tank below it(double stand)

And just for fun here are 2 pics of my frogs because I love my frogs

There's a video of them breeding here which is part of my video collection I'm building covering every aspect of the frog from general movement / swimming to feeding & breeding.

I'm hoping by the summer I'll have my double 4fters setup, here are my plans;

Tank 1 - 4ft x 1ft x 18" - 40G
Stocking - 8 gold corys, 8 bronze corys,8 otos, 12 threadfin rainbows(still not 100% sure about getting these) and a dozen amano shrimp.

Filtration - Aqua pro 2, 800l/ph(rated up to 80G)

Substrate - Seachem flourite black sand

Lighting - At the moment I'm considering T5 lighting from a german supplier on ebay but that may change by the time I get around to buying(I may snag a bargain in the meantime). If I get that it will be 4wpg or 2.7wpg if I only have the 2 bulbs on and then have a midday burst with the 3rd bulb.

Co2 & ferts - pressurized(fire extinguisher), dry ferts from AE

Tank 2 - 4ft x 1ft x 15" - 35G
Stocking - 2 fancy goldfish, 3 dojo loaches maybe some hillstream loaches as well haven't decided yet

Filtration - Aqua pro 3, 1000l/ph(rated up to 130G)

Substrate - as above

Lighting - Just ordinary standard T8 interpet tubes(I think that's what's on the tank now), I'm guessing I'll have a little over 1wpg

Co2 & ferts - I'm not sure if I'm going to do Co2 with this tank now, last time I planted the goldie tank the plants grew very fast and very well so I'll play it by ear, if the plants look like they need a little extra something then I'll add a few yeast systems and either use dry ferts or Tropica AquaCare Plant Nutrition+

Then the pandas will be moving into the 30G, the trillis & WCMM will be staying in there but I'll be upping all their numbers, probably 8 of each of the corys,12 WCMM, 6 otos & around a dozen amano shrimp, I'll be upgrading the 3 internal filters for an external before I bump the numbers up, I might try a fluval external this time, although the aqua pro 2 I have is fantastic, it's totally silent so wouldn't wnat to risk getting a noisy external.

The 15G will become my african dwarf frogs new home and I'll get a few more of them, make a group of 8 or so, I'll keep their old 5G for the eggs / tadpoles.

Then I'll just have the 35G left that the goldies are in now, thinking of going with cichlids, just haven't decided what yet.

 

[Themuleous]

Both the planted tanks look to be coming alone nicely

Sam

 

[Azaezl]

Thanks sam

 

[Azaezl]

I've finally got a decent light for the goldie tank, so I can plant it again now Bagged a bargain on ebay last weekend, got a 4ft tank & stand which came with a T5 light & external filter.

So the goldies have the T5 light and a few plants nicked out of the other 2 planted tanks, so all 3 are looking a little bare but I'm hoping to get some more plants at the weekend.

This is before when I just had a desk lamp for a light;

and now with the T5;

Here are the 2 goldies, firstly kuuga;

and poor little one eyed ryuki;

Here's the 2 tanks before;

and after;

No idea why the bottom tank is so blurry and yellow looking, but that was one of the better pics I took, must be having a shaky day lol. As you can see the T5 light is a 4ft and it will be going on the 40G 4ft tropical tank when I set it up, the goldies will be back to ordinary T8, or I might upgrade to T5(depends on how much £££ I have) I'm desperate to get those 2 4fters setup but I have to wait and save and do it right.

 

[charlie4486]

very nice. much better with the new light.

 

[Azaezl]

Thanks I think the dull light from the desk lamp is nice as well though, just nowhere near as good as the T5! Think the plants agree as well

 

[TammyLiz]

Hi! I'm feeling jealous of all you people with planted tanks. I'm going to have to start up another one soon.

I noticed you mentioned you didn't know why the bottom tank looked so blurry and yellow. Probably a different color temperature on the bulb. Your new T5 looks really blue in the picture. Is it? You might have an algae problem if the K value is too high.