Back to black

Water change done. Frogbit roots trimmed right back as they had reached the substrate. I may have to start trimming half every week so I always have a good selection of trailing roots.

The swords have been moved into the dark and a new anubias has magically appeared. I think that means the 3 plants I bought in late spring have now become 15 - spread across my 3 tanks, and the biggest one in the nano is in desperate need of splitting. It can wait till next week but I did also split one in the loaches tank yesterday.

Edit: Oh and I moved the temperature probe for my heater controller to the bottom of the tank. The white sucker was a bit garish where it is visible, but more importantly it means I no longer have to turn the heater off for water changes

2 weeks since the last pic so here we go. As you can see the lotus is out of the woods and showing good red growth. Must confess there were times when I was tempted to just buy a new one, especially when the bristenose started paying it attention. The sword in pic (taken from a tiny cutting) is also doing well. I have moved the striated swords behind the anubias / wood and they seem to be doing better in the dark.

My planter for the vals is not working out exactly as planned. The vals are doing nicely and are noticeably higher than the last pic. One option may be to get some more sand and properly bury it, possibly also using a dremel to reduce the height of the tray. The sand is only about an inch thick so this may be viable.

What has impressed me most is how well the anubias respond to being split (and being in the dark). In the past I have always waited for them to get really large to the point where they looked like they need to be split. For the last few weeks I have been splitting at least one a week. The cuttings seem to grow much faster for the first few weeks after being cut. I think I have enough now so will leave them to fill out further.


Oh the angle of the roots is not due to excessive flow. This was taken a couple of hours after today's water change so the roots are still a bit squashed after being pushed down into the substrate when 75% of the water was out of the tank.

I have noticed that since I switched my 10 gallon tank from gravel with an undergravel filter to black sand with a HOB filter that the plants which had barely been hanging on for the last year have really taken off in growth and put out a bunch of new leaves. They are amazon swords and were barely living before I changed the substrate and removed the undergravel filter. I also have hornwort, anacharis and moneywort in that tank and they are all growing well. It looks kind of messy in there with all of the plants but the fish really like it - there are pygmy cories, endlers, dwarf rasboras, at least one cherry red shrimp - were others that are either dead or hiding - and a lot of snails. I wish I could have frogbit that looks as amazing as yours.

Close up of the dark side this evening to show how much the anubias have spread. Have to look at the reflection to see what the swords are doing in the dark.

Corys decided on a football match with the algae pellet halves and managed 2 goals into the smaller cave last night. It was quite amusing watching large quantities of tetras and pencil fish going into the cories cave. Then the BN wanted to join in but discovered he didn't fit. No problem - he head butted the coconut shell until it got out of his way and is seen here protecting his pellets. Sorry I didn't get the phone out of my pocket in time for a video.

Extended the frogbit to cover 2/3 of the surface. After all they are forest fish. Planted out the vals now that I know they are ok in the light area so the silly tray has gone

I'm going to have to trim again soon. The roots are now hitting the substrate and starting to tangle the vals. They have also begun wrapping around the anubias. I added 10 little sterbais yesterday and the lone adult is much happier. In truth I have no way of knowing how happy he is , but he does spend a lot of time hanging out with the little guys and seems more laid back. I also planted a little bunch of hygrophila corymbosa siamensis, you can see it behind and left of the middle coconut shell.

seangee said:

I'm going to have to trim again soon. The roots are now hitting the substrate and starting to tangle the vals. They have also begun wrapping around the anubias. I added 10 little sterbais yesterday and the lone adult is much happier. In truth I have no way of knowing how happy he is , but he does spend a lot of time hanging out with the little guys and seems more laid back. I also planted a little bunch of hygrophila corymbosa siamensis, you can see it behind and left of the middle coconut shell.
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Looking good Still cant get over your frogbit growth, its a proper little jungle.

Happy for your cory

In fairness I think its more luck than design. I have just happened to hit on the sweet spot in the nutrients / light / CO2 equation for this tank. Here's tonight's water change in progress

Yeah it sounds like youve got the right balance alright. Mine was doing pretty well in the big tank but theyve started to go downhill a little in the smaller tank. Maybe down to no Co2.

Do they grow as well in your smaller tanks?

Russjw said:

Yeah it sounds like youve got the right balance alright. Mine was doing pretty well in the big tank but theyve started to go downhill a little in the smaller tank. Maybe down to no Co2.

Do they grow as well in your smaller tanks?

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Frogbit works in all my tanks but not as fast. There are other plants that don't work in all my tanks. I have never managed water sprite in this tank, floating or planted, and that's supposed to be about the easiest thing out there. The tanks all have different lights, just what came with each tank. I suspect the biggest difference for this tank is the high bio load.

Please note that I am not suggesting this as a strategy but a well known stock calculator site suggests I am at 240% of capacity and woefully under filtered. My nitrate never reaches 5ppm between water changes - so its not hard to figure out where all that ammonium is going

seangee said:

Frogbit works in all my tanks but not as fast. There are other plants that don't work in all my tanks. I have never managed water sprite in this tank, floating or planted, and that's supposed to be about the easiest thing out there. The tanks all have different lights, just what came with each tank. I suspect the biggest difference for this tank is the high bio load.

Please note that I am not suggesting this as a strategy but a well known stock calculator site suggests I am at 240% of capacity and woefully under filtered. My nitrate never reaches 5ppm between water changes - so its not hard to figure out where all that ammonium is going

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Whatever it is, its working for you so keep it up

It can bit hit or miss with any plants really its just trial and error sometimes. Ive tried a few new plants this time around like Hornwort and its just a case of seening how they go.

The hygrophilia I added last week remains missing in action - I suspect its gone. My homemade frogbit barrier is working exactly as planned. I haven't bothered to thin them out on the surface for the last 2 water changes as they just become more bunched up over part of the tank. I have avoided cutting the roots as well. Growth has slowed down and I avoid tangling the plants by running my hand across the bottom a couple of times a week and directing them towards the light side. Any roots that overflow into the light area can then just be lifted and cut at surface level.
Here it is during todays water change:

After the w/c things didn't look much different - the vals have grow a couple of inches

Of course its not all good. Last night I thought spotted a dead cory. It was just sleeping in a hammock made of roots. If I do lose a fish I guess I'll never know.

Another scary moment at lights out. It was a non feeding night 30ish corys headed up to the surface to forage on the underside of the leaves. Mostly swimming vertically or upside down. They were fine

Really good idea with your light/dark side

Your lotus plants looking good too. Mines exploded into life the last few weeks since putting it in my large tank. They are pretty cool at adding extra colour to the tank.