Well Its A Rescape... *update 10/09/09 Fish Added*

[Geoff1991]

They are and i love how unique crypts look, only thing that annoys me is when they melt for no apparent reason...

co2 has now completely run out so ill be leaving the lights off until my FE gets delivered. Hoping it wont be any longer than around 3-5 days...

Edit:

The stem plants are really starting to take off now, im noticing new growth every time i look at the tank after work...

 

[loraxchick]

im in love with crypts too. be patient with them. theyll bounce back. again, the tank's lookgs soooo nice!
cheers

 

[Truck]

im in the same situe as you mate...ive run out of ferts, 2 or 3 hours wont hurt IME

 

[Geoff1991]

i did a blackout for 3 days and nothing happened so im not bothered, won another fire extinguisher on ebay for £2.50 which is coming this week and ill get the other one refilled so ill have a backup for next time.

Im going to stock up on TPN+ when i next order from AE (i just wait until i have a lot to order otherwise postage gets expensive) i have about half a bottle left

 

[AdAndrews]

crypts and anubias IMO have to be some of the best species of plants in the hobby

ditto, crypts for me, absolutely loads of species that do well in a hoast of conditions, even brackish!
looking good geoff

 

[baron von bubba]

nice tank dude,
i do like the moss suggestion a bit earlier in the thread. it would soften the transition into the wood. :0)
when i look at the piccie my eyes seem drawn to the base of the wood.

there are many types other than java moss tho. pretty easy to grow and get hold of.
consider flame, peacock or christmas moss they would all look great in your tank IMO.

 

[Geoff1991]

Thanks for the replys, got some crypts and stuff hopefully coming tomorrow. So ill see how it looks before i buy anything else. Fire extinguisher came today, so expect a small update when my plants get here.

 

[Geoff1991]

it seems my diatom/brown algae problem was more then crypts melting. Was doing a water change today and noticed a couple of dead leaves, so i had a better look and found that most of the bottoms of the stem plants werent doing so well, looked like the side shoots from the polysperma had been blocking out light, so i had a lot of dead/yellowing leaves, but ive got them all out, removed damaged leaves/ the worst of the algae infected leaves and thinned everything out a bit.

But at the same time i ordered more polysperma and some of the red/pink variety... So ill just have to keep on top of it all bit better, as i need dense planting for my silent cycle, but i guess i let it get too dense.

Edit: Maybe a silly question but are there any tips on planting stems so they dont block light? Like plant in a figure of 5 or something? Or do you just have to keep pruning so they dont get so compact that they block light?

 

[aaronnorth]

plant in single stems, about 2cm apart.
wait until they reach the surface then hack right back again, this will produce side shoots and it will bush out.
If you want to get the stems growing straight up, then uproot, cut off the bottoms and replant again.

Eventually, you will need to uproot and replant the whole lot as it gets to dense, i had to do it with my HM after 6months,

 

[Geoff1991]

Cheers aaron, tank looks a bit bare at the moment, but new plants arriving next week. Question, if theyre immersed, they'll take a bit longer to get going, right?

So should i leave the first lot of fish until they get going, or just carry on with the plan of getting them on thursday?

I still have a fair amount of hygrophila and ill be doing daily 50% changes anyway, so im thinking it will be fine.

 

[aaronnorth]

yes but stems in a high tech tank it still wont be long (1 week at the most).
you can still get the fish, as the plants are still growing even in emersed form.

 

[Geoff1991]

Thanks, ill update next week...

Anyway, i have a bar to tend for a wedding at work so ill be off...

 

[Geoff1991]

Well harlequin rasboras and shrimp are in...

Did a little water test and my ammonias about 0.5, daily water changes for two weeks now.

 

[Geoff1991]

Got a few pics

I ended up with 5 harlequins as one was DOA, not sure where the 5th was in that picture

10 amano shrimp who are doing an awesome job of cleaning all the algae i must say. I didnt bother cleaning the algae off in the end, i just left it as i dont mind it and its a free food source for shrimp...

 

[Jallen]

OH MY GOD

YOU TOOK A PICTURE OF THE ELUSIVE ALGAE ELEPHANT!!11!!
THAT IS WORTH HUNDEREDS

But seriously, I see an elephant or a monkey or something

Also nice fish and shrimp