Tank Journal So Far

[YOYO]

Hi everyone !
As some of you may know i have been setting my tank up over the last few weeks as ive been bombarding you with question upon question as i scratch my head for answers , well this is how it looks so far . I have had to remove the wood because of a brown hair algae out break but i will put it back when it has gone .

View attachment 35221

This is what its like with the plants in it . I have just plonked them in untill they settle down and then i will aquascape them when they are ready .

View attachment 35222

The tank perameters at the moment are
Ph 6.5
Kh 3.5
No3 20ppm
Po4 1ppm

with 60 bpm of co2
2.5 wpg of lighting of both T5 and T8 with a photoperiod of 5on 2off 5on .

Thanks for the help so far guys as i wouldnt have a clue without you !!! I really appreciate it


06/04/06
Just thought i would let you guys know how things are getting on . I took alot of advice and changed my light times to add a 2hour break for the plants , plus i put the T5's at the front for the HC to grow better , plus i uped the wpg to 3wpg . I checked my phosphate levels which were a little to high . This accounted for the hair algae outbreak , so after doing alot of water changes and adding some rowaphos to my filter to help lower the phosphate , things are looking alot better . The rowaphos will come out once its all gone , but iam glad that things are now on the up . The plants are growing like mad i cant believe it . My anubius nana has sprouted 4 new leaves in just a week and after an hour of the lights being on the eusterallis stellata in the middle of the tank starts to give off a stream of tiny bubbles from its leaves , it looks just like my co2 atomizer . Maybe another month and i will aquascape it then , all depending on the plant growth , or algae lol

 

[big mick]

Looks like you have really been paying attention, Its looking great so far, I love that big piece of wood.

 

[simonbrown403]

Looks like a good start, are you going to put the wood back in later.

 

[YOYO]

Hi everyone , This is the tank 3 weeks later . The plants are starting to grow abit as you can see and the algae has cleared up alot .
View attachment 35793

The anubius is flowering and opened up today as well
View attachment 35794

Some of the inmates thought they would stick thier faces in the picture so you cant see it very well .

 

[YOYO]

I want the HC to take hold in the foreground and root properly before i scape it , thats why it has some stones from the garden holding it down . Iam thinking of setting up another tank to try and fill the bog wood with java moss before i put it back in , but iam not sure yet . I have to pull hand fulls of the stuff off each week , so there will be a bit to use when i need it . I also fitted another filter to the tank this week and the water quality has improved alot . I put a aquapro 3 on it which has a turn over of 1000lph . The return is a spraybar placed 2ins from the bottom of the gravel , so that it blows out any debris that trys to collect behind the plants . It also gives the plants a nice swishing movement . So with the new filter and the eheim ecco running as well to skim the surface water its really cleared up alot .

 

[lljdma06]

Your plant choices in general, have a lot of potential. Very good choices. I have to watch my phosphates too, I also tend to get hair algae, especially when I get into a dosing routine.

I look forward to more updates.

 

[Luke_e]

Wow, the plant growing in the center is a great focal point for you to build around, it looks superb mate!
Can i ask what HC stands for, it looks nice!

 

[Neal]

What substrate is that if you don't mind me asking? It's just what I want when I set up my 20Gal that's currently waiting for the decorating in the place of it to be done.

Thanks,
Neal

 

[AndyTaylor]

That's incredible growth, yoyo....Looks brilliant...

 

[YOYO]

Wow, the plant growing in the center is a great focal point for you to build around, it looks superb mate!
Can i ask what HC stands for, it looks nice!

Thanks for the reply Luke i think its proper name is hemeanthus calitricoides but iam not sure .

What substrate is that if you don't mind me asking? It's just what I want when I set up my 20Gal that's currently waiting for the decorating in the place of it to be done.

Thanks,
Neal

Hi Neal the substrate is ecco complete mate hope this helps !

 

[Themuleous]

Looking good for only three weeks mate, lost of great plant growth

I want the HC to take hold in the foreground and root properly before i scape it , thats why it has some stones from the garden holding it down.

If you want the HC to carpet you'd be better off removing the small peddles (the bits under neather wont get any light and will probably rot anyway) and divid it up and plant each individual 'stem' in the substrate. Just like as is done with glosso, its a complete sod and on a tank of this size it'll take hours and the eco-complete is quite light which makes it even harder than with gravel, but you'll be rewarded with a much better carpet in less time if you do that. Check out my nano journal on my sig if you need to see what I mean and how well this can work as I have HC and eco-complete. A great carpeting choice thou mate I love mine. I trust you have decent lighting? HC needs plenty of light to carpet properly and it also tends to be quite NO3 hungry, which is why I keep mine at 20ppm, stops the leaves turning yellow.

Wow, the plant growing in the center is a great focal point for you to build around, it looks superb mate!
Can i ask what HC stands for, it looks nice!

HC is indeed called Hemianthus callitricoides

Hope this helps, keep us posted.

Sam