Stan's freshwater 240 gallon extravaganza. Trials and tribulations of a sunlit aquarium

After a 17 day period of no water,I changed this time after 10 days. I had things to do in the tank..and it help mucho much-o to lower the tank a bit. Plus,I hadn't been topping it off..so bucketing 2" of water for this tank is many,many 3 gallon trips. Just go ahead and change,clean the filter,powerhead, and trim plant leaves. I also moved the trident ferns so I could plant more star grass in the foreground.
I drain out to the yard...refill with a shorter indoor hose hooked up to the bathroom sink. Refill with 80f water and 4 capfuls of dechlor. It takes a few hours to clear...2 days really to go in the morning and see its be super crystal clear as all that glass bacteria and or course me churning the bio filter ( homemade) so that will take a few days to be primo again. In the meantime,only very clear-ha.

Since the headline mentions sunlight? Let me tell you,its something that is so different from Aquarium light fixtures we all know and love. For example,we had an early summer like wave move in..near 90f. Lots of sun. I saw some plants getting speckles of algae. Then,we moved into a cloudy showery pattern..and that algae that started to speckle Anubias and Alternanthera,even the Sword?.just for the most part is gone.
Its like that when you take for free what mother nature gives you.

I tried moving the big Crypt balansae to the back left middle? Forgetit. It just looked like a black blob blocking the light. Back it went to the middle center. I think this tank is set in plants. What the last photo showed is how things will stay..just with somethings I want to spread a little more,some things a little larger- Tiger Lotus and Bolbitis,Swords. But,should look the same now for quite awhile. Stem plants trimmed as needed.

Added two nice ,small ,Clown Loaches. I have one that was one of the first fish I added and its been acting lonely lately. In the past I've kept up to a dozen at a time. Those were the days when I had many tanks,and I could buy them for $1 each tiny...put them in a 20 gallon and feed them live tubifex and live brine shrimp. They were among the last fish I had when i got out of fishkeeping about 10 years ago. The largest was about 6"..pretty good for aquarium raised.
So,I have a trio. Trio's are good for shoaling type fish..they have company,the hierarchy usually settles down well,and with not 10 or 20 of something..you have room in the aquarium for other types of fish.
Chromobotia macracanthus can be among the longest lived fish you keep.

A Nepenthes- Pitcher Plant- I keep on top of the tank that I brought in from the outdoors is growing its first indoor pitcher. Outdoors our cool summers meant I had to wait until September for it to grow 2 or 3 of them. The plant itself grew fine..just not the warm summer nights it needed.

Java Moss has grown well...so I raised the wood its attached to and I came up with this "Arch". The filter pump and the circulation pump cause the Cryptocoryne to wrap in a twist in the center of the tank...the Alternanthera is slow but steady and the Stargrass still working as a groundcover...if in need of much trimming and often.
I feel I'm good on plants..just want more Clown Loaches and a Redtail Shark,maybe. Some can be holy terrors and some great. You just dont know.

Stan510 said:

Java Moss has grown well...so I raised the wood its attached to and I came up with this "Arch". The filter pump and the circulation pump cause the Cryptocoryne to wrap in a twist in the center of the tank...the Alternanthera is slow but steady and the Stargrass still working as a groundcover...if in need of much trimming and often.
I feel I'm good on plants..just want more Clown Loaches and a Redtail Shark,maybe. Some can be holy terrors and some great. You just dont know.View attachment 105913

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That is an amazing scape! Good job! My scapes look like they were done by a 2 year old

Looks great, Stan!

Thanks guys Hey I got a good tip! I bought for $3 a bag of dried Krill at the local Asian market..and the fish eat it. They really took to it. The key is,you have to float a pinch of them (depending on how many and what kind of fish ,of course) in a small container of water for like 20 minutes..and they do puff up,and most important soften up, so that even small danio's can bite into them. The Angels eat them whole.
I remember seeing freeze dried Krill in a little container at the Petco and it was like $8!..my fish would go through that pretty fast.
I'm getting together a good variety of dry and homemade foods. Saves going to the fish store every week for live worms and brine shrimp like I used to.

What a twist,summer's high sun means my aquarium does not get direct sun until almost 4 O Clock,when in winter it would start at 2 pm. Only that summer here means almost all sunny days and winter can be good to bad in sunlight. At least the dead on winter mid December to mid February.
Bolbitis heudelotii is not going to be a large plant on my lighting...its growing fist size and dense.
The Marble Sword is still the only one in a home aquarium on the net really growing in the aquarium substrate...not an emersed nursery pot plant plunged underwater for the photo shoot. One more of a dwarf Lily that cant reach the surface with its pads

Huge, planted rainbow tanks are the best, and this one is a beauty! I didn't read the whole thread; looking at the pics is all my attention span can handle tonight. Great work and thanks for sharing!

Thank you very much. You know I haven't ever really posted a total length of the tank photo because the first left side 2-3' are in shade of the Syngonium and its roots. Plus- I use 48" lights for middle to right side illumination. I need to get under the house and see if I have an old 30-36" leftover Aquarium light fixture..and just use it so people can see the whole tank better..not to grow plants. Just a 20 watt or so fluorescent.
Because of how things are set...I cant block the back glass of this tank since that would cut off sunlight to the smaller plants in front. Thats ok..gives the Rainbows and Danios room to swim...and its still a green tank.

That nice red "thing" fronting the Marbled Sword? Is a true Tiger Lotus. It just will not take off. Its at least a year old. It came with a dead bulb and the top broken off. Could be the problem. Since then,its slowly added size,then one day - all the roots rotted and the top died to just tiny leaves. I use pebbles to keep it in contact with the substrate...again,it came back,re rooted. But has not gotten larger than what you see. Great color..but super dwarf.
Just hoping one day,it builds the strength to develop strong roots again.

I've had this E.grisebachii now almost 2 years in a pot. I had garden soils under 2" of sand and since I liked where I had it...decided 2 weeks ago to buy more gravel and make a raised area for it. The new gravel is held in place by some rocks I had.
I can tell you..the sword had stopped rooting in the garden soils as it had become basically ,clay. No wonder I was getting smaller growth. I removed all that,the plants rootball held together. So I put down one sack of gravel...put the Sword on top...filled in with around with the second bag of white gravel..and then used a third to expand the new "centerpiece" You know? I swear with all the new flow of water to its roots it's looking so much better now. I also moved a Rotala in pot to the left of the Sword to get even more sun and block what was a little too much window glare.
Its looking more natural..as in I get some algae on my plants leaves!..none of that aquascape perfection for me..nooooo.

My TRUE Tiger Lotus. over a year ago I ordered it. It came small and worse- the top was snapped off the tuber..worser? The tuber died pretty fast. So I pin the top down to the gravel and very slowly it started to grow....purple with metallic flecks,not red. Months go by..and again,it starts to rot after only getting 3" tall and wide. This time I think its a goner as it died back to three 1/4 inch tiny,tiny.leaves. I again pin it down on a pot in back where the sun hits most. Around then I was dosing lots of iron and it seemed to get it going once again. Only now it grew red Tiger Lotus leaves. Now,its looking good...but nothing like the tank filling show plants.. I don't get it. But here it is..slowly growing,but at least great color.