Evolution Of A 19 Us Gallon

[simonbrown403]

I said you where ahead of me, i've only just got the water in lol

Keep up the good work.

 

[Bloo]

Okiedokie - time for an update !
It's still very much "work in progress and watch this space" (as all planted tanks probably are) but this is what I've done in the past few weeks.
This is nowhere close to the aquascape I actually have in mind.
A few months down the line when things settle and the tank finds some balance, I will start leaning towards a "nature" look - yet to be decided exactly what, but I have plenty of time

The transition went very well, but it was back breaking and very hard work.
Especially as the tank is on a high chest of drawers.

The Dennerle black quartz wasn't exactly cheap, but I like it a lot. I was surprised at how much lighter it is than sand.
I tried to build it up towards the back of the tank, but that might not be that easy to see in the photos.
I still have plenty left and have used some for my little fry tank as well.

I ordered the plants from Greenline and I'm well aware that some of these are best suited to floating as opposed to anchored.

This is some of what's in the tank - but there's plenty more I'm not sure of, as I also ordered a £5 lot of "quick grow" plants - so not really had time to check out and look up what they are.

M.pteropusWindelov
Heteranthera zosterifolia
Sagittaria natans
Bacopa Caroliniana
Ceratophyllum demersum
Mayaca-fluviatilis

The bogwood I know is unsuitable and doesn't help to create any balance whatsoever - but for now (and until I can find a suitable alternative) it acts as a "sofa" for the Farlowella.

Internal filter replaced, and now have over filtrated external Eheim 2213.

I am completely open to any criticism because whichever way, I will take it as constructive.

Photos in order:
1 - rip everything out !
2 - place fish in bucket
3 - clean tank and add Rena 15W heater cable & Laterite First Layer 1.5kg
4 - add Dennerle black quartz 2 - 3mm
5 - add water
6 - add plants

 

[zig]

Nice update bloozoo, good to see you up and running, the tank looks bigger than a 19 gallon, and i really like the black quartz looks fantastic, really good job so far.......well done!

 

[George Farmer]

Great to see an update. I look forward to the progress.

I love the Farlowella.

Impossible to give any constructive critisisms yet as it is so early on.

Layout etc. will come with time as the plants become established. It should become fairly obvious what plants look good where etc. by their sizes, colours and textures. I'm sure you have artistic flair, if not I'm sure you'll get some good advice on here.

 

[jimbooo]

good job mate, as george says too early to critisise. great start and love the sterbai's theyre so cute.

 

[simonbrown403]

Looking good, can't wait to see the updates.

Keep up the good work.

 

[jimbooo]

dont forget your weekly update piccie Antonet, i'm looking forward to the update. is all going to plan?

 

[Bloo]

Ah okiedokie - good reminder
Just did a tank clean tonight and had to do quite a bit of pruning - it was turning into a bit of a jungle ! I should have taken a pic before, but alas.....

I'm starting to see what's not going to work (for now). My Bacopa has been chomped on quite nicely and I can only suspect the Twig catfish. She's definitely staying though (and Bacopa is out). I've already taken the two little bristlenose monsters back to the shop.
Sadly little flounder obviously didn't like this new planted tank business, and is no more
I replaced it with a bamboo shrimp and hope to get a good quantity of some amano shrimp in a week or so. Not sure if the bamboo will get along with the amano ? If not, I'll shuffle Ms Bamboo - she's lovely though

Anyway, here are some of the pics taken just a little while ago - and some of the tank inhabitants
Though looking at the overall shot, you'd think I have no fish !

Ps: sorry about the bubbles - should have waited till tomorrow, but I know I won't have time for a good few days - and by then things would have changed again.

 

[zig]

lol.....I just went straight to the pictures without reading the text, and im looking at the last picture going WOW thats a massive amount of pearling as i look at the picture even harder..........and then of course i read the text and you obviously did a water change..........thats a really nice shrimp i havent seen one of those around these parts and i still like the black substrate, next time i do a tank stripdown im going to go with black for sure.

 

[Bloo]

haha serves you right for not reading first !
The plants do constantly pearl a lot, but not that much

I must say the tank does look a bit like a colourful Christmas tree at the moment, but that's *not* what I have in mind a few months down the line.
(touch wood) no algae to speak of (should I insert "yet" here ?) though I did have a slight bright green fuzziness on the front of the tank glass where the outflow is directed. Nothing I can see on the plants though.

My PO4 hovers around the 2ppm mark without EI dosing at this stage - and Nitrates around 10ppm.
CO2 around 35ppm. I have all my EI goodies ready to roll, but unless I'm missing something, don't see the need to use it at this stage ?

So I'm just keeping a regular eye on things to see how things go. But I am dosing Nurafin Plant Gro. Not sure if what I'm doing is right, but it seems to be ok ?

 

[jimbooo]

coming along nicely mate, your cory's are so cute.

those bubbles are easily removed with a magnetic algae scraper if you have one. a 2 second swish around the front and they'll vanish. just another of my shortcuts.. for future referance.

plants look very healthy, well done.

 

[George Farmer]

Great start with nice, healthy growth. Exactly what you need to combat any potential algae issues. BTW I seem to remember you having K2SO4, are you dosing it yet?

Cute close-ups.

 

[lljdma06]

Bloozoo, that tank is looking great! It's come a long way! Can't wait to see more updates as the plants continue growing.

 

[Bloo]

It's that time of week again
We've encountered a tiny problem - the dreaded blasted Hair Algae

Not much ! And I think I know what the problem is, so hopefully I can nip it in the bud rather quickly.
NO3 = constant 10ppm without EI
PO4 = constant 2ppm without EI
pH - 7.4 and this is where my problem lies, as
kH = 11 which makes my
CO2 = 13ppm

I haven't paid too close attention to my pH over the past few days and not entirely sure why it's up at 7.4 when it should be 7. So I've upped the CO2 output ever so slightly and hopefully will be able to bring it down slowly over the next day or so.

Today I've also added 11 Amano Shrimp (Caridina Japonica ), but they are really teensy still.
I hope they beaver away at any of the budding algae !

I've also pulled a few more of the small Mayaca Fluviatilis which doesn't seem to be doing wonderfully well.

The first 3 pics were taken before my water change tonight - and the pearling is very good.
The first 2 pics will show no hair algae on 99% of the plants, whereas it seems to be mostly on the tips of the Java Fern (which I've subsequently snipped off).
Fourth pic is post tank clean - hence all the bubbles again - sorry !
Fifth pic is new Amano shrimp

 

[zig]

Its auctually staghorn algae bloozoo one of the easiest algaes to get rid of, its an indication that there is a shortage, all algaes are an indication something is out of balance but with staghorn its nearly allways the macros or co2, in your case obviously the co2, increasing the levels are all that should be needed to get rid of it, i dont think any fish will eat this algae but its easily removed by hand.

Other than the staghorn everything looks lovely and healthy in your tank, i hardly see a blemish on any of the plants.