My Tank

Hope this works. This is my tank today after a water change. What do you guys think. Our gourami came out to get his picture taken lol.

looks nice
 
It's water change day for me too ...

Do you think it needs a plant in the empty corner?
I thought the empty space would be good for the fish to swim in.
Gutted the filter also. A lot of muck came out of it.

if it were me, then yes, I'd add a plant in the empty corner ... but I don't like empty spaces. We all like different things and you have to be happy with what you've created ... after all - your the one looking at it every day
 
 
Just a warning .... be careful cleaning filters. It's far too easy to go mad and over clean them and then get an ammonia spike. If you've given it a thorough clean keep an eye on your ammonia and nitrite for a few days just to be sure

Maybe my words were a bit strong lol. Took the sponges out and gave them slight squeeze and rinse in old tank water. Gently rubbed the inside of the filter where the sponges are kept.

Would you say another Nubia's or Java fern? Or would you recommend something completely different?

it's filter day for me too.. the joys..

Arcticfox1977 said:

Maybe my words were a bit strong lol. Took the sponges out and gave them slight squeeze and rinse in old tank water. Gently rubbed the inside of the filter where the sponges are kept.

Would you say another Nubia's or Java fern? Or would you recommend something completely different?

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Ahh that's okay then. I've been there that's all and gone a bit mad and then your in a whole heap of mess. This is why I run two filters now on my big 4ft tank. I clean them alternately and so if I do go a bit mad then the other 'picks up the slack' until the bacteria re-grows
 
With your plants ...you could add a different colour maybe? If you read up on aquascaping they tell you not to add plants all the same colour and to add paler greens with darker greens and even some reds if you like that kind of thing. You could maybe look at a cryptocoryne or amazon swords (swords are really easy to keep but crypts can be a bit more demanding and suffer from 'melt') Or if you like red then altnanthera can be really nice - the beauty of that plant is it sends out new shoots with roots so you can just break it off and you've got another stem ready to plant

Blubble37 said:

it's filter day for me too.. the joys..

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Yep ... I've had one of mine open to change out my phosphate remover ... it wasn't too bad even though my flow had slowed a bit but my impeller was a bit grimy so that got a clean. The only thing I hate with filter cleaning is my filter always spurts brown muck from the pipes back into the tank when I re-connect it. Thankfully today I remembered to put my net under the outlet nozzle! The times I've forgotten and nearly blown my stack in a temper 

Akasha72 said:

Yep ... I've had one of mine open to change out my phosphate remover ... it wasn't too bad even though my flow had slowed a bit but my impeller was a bit grimy so that got a clean. The only thing I hate with filter cleaning is my filter always spurts brown muck from the pipes back into the tank when I re-connect it. Thankfully today I remembered to put my net under the outlet nozzle! The times I've forgotten and nearly blown my stack in a temper 

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drain the pipes out as you're changing water, let them run into the bucket and use the filter prime button to get it going again after

I only take the pipes off about 2 or 3 times a year ... this is cos I'm a short a**e and I struggle with them. I often ask my Dad to come and help. The Hydor external heater makes cleaning one lot of pipes hard work too.
 
I've devised a really good way of cleaning them well though! I've attached a cleaning brush to a length of cord and a plant weight on the other end. I force a funnel into the end of the pipe - the other end in a bucket - drop the weight into the end of the funnel and down into the pipe as far as it will go, coil the cord into the funnel and then use hot water in a jug to 'push' the weight through the pipe. Once it drops into the bucket I can just pull the brush through and the pipes are sparkling clean 

Akasha72 said:

I only take the pipes off about 2 or 3 times a year ... this is cos I'm a short a**e and I struggle with them. I often ask my Dad to come and help. The Hydor external heater makes cleaning one lot of pipes hard work too.
 
I've devised a really good way of cleaning them well though! I've attached a cleaning brush to a length of cord and a plant weight on the other end. I force a funnel into the end of the pipe - the other end in a bucket - drop the weight into the end of the funnel and down into the pipe as far as it will go, coil the cord into the funnel and then use hot water in a jug to 'push' the weight through the pipe. Once it drops into the bucket I can just pull the brush through and the pipes are sparkling clean 

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i've got one of those pipe brushes that convenitnely falls to bits whenever you try to use it (sigh)
 
I find that taking the tap-heads off and draining the pipes out helps with the amount of crud going back into the tank, my pipes are kept fairly clean anyway so I don't suffer greatly from the problem

my pipes did block a lot when the filter was new and I was having to clean them every couple of months. I contacted JBL via email to ask why this was and they said that they add a coating to the pipes to prevent them from becoming brittle. This coating would degrade over time and the need to clean the pipes regularily would become less .... they were right. After about a year of running they stopped blocking up so quickly and so now it's just a job I do when I notice there's a lot of 'crud' (good word!!) in them

We must all be on the same schedule, it's filter day for me as well!
 
Maybe a Hornwort or Red Flame in the back corner?