Aquascaper 600

AilyNC said:

It's gorgeous! You've done so many beautiful scapes so looking forward to see this grow in

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Thankyou! Going to give it a little freshen tonight so will post some pics think I’ve spotted a bit of growth already!

Not too sure what the fish make of it at the moment the old tank was a proper black hole they way it was set up but this one is quite bright i think once the plants grow in and the floaters fill in again it will be ok though.

Just had a quick tidy up - few things I've noticed through the week that I just wanted to deal with. A few of the small detail rocks at the front had some bits of hair algae on and I just wanted to deal with that before it spread too much and one of the stems of Limnophilla at the back was a bit worse for wear so just trimmed that. I'll likely get some algae at some point but lets deal with that as it comes, I'll probably turn my light down a bit soon as it is bright in there and I'd like to balance that for the sake of the fish - think I'm at 55% at the moment will knock it to 40%.

In terms of growth I think some is happening, I can see a bit of extra length on the Limnophilla through the tank and I think the plants at the front that looks like its over the top of the row of rocks where as before it was a bit lower before - thats the Pennywort. The Lobelia cardinalis mini looks like it has some fresh shoots on it but not 100% they are new or if they were in the pot not sure. The Trident Fern is looking like some might melt and some brown spots so lets see how that goes, I had some Narrow Fern in before that took a while to do well but did start getting there.

Overall think I'm pretty happy with it just need to give it time, let the fish settle in see how we go. I am a little worried about the puffers... some of their teeth are looking a little long and annoyingly it feels like its happened so fast! I've added some snails in so see how that goes, I've also added in some young cherry shrimp from my 8 gallon to see how that goes as well - I have seen some hunting but I'm not going to describe that as appreciate some might not like it. But ultimately the puffers need these crustaceans and my 8 gallon has hundreds in there that would likely die at some point due to food competition so circle of life and all that...

Wills

Looks lovely Wills! I hope the puffers come out a bit more, it must be so frustrating not to see them, but I often find myself paying more attention to what the plants are doing a lot of the time and with the selection you have I can imagine you'll perhaps be doing the same! I'm going to keep my eye on your Pennywort, it's something I'd like in my tank too but I think there's way too much flow and it probably wouldn't do well

CaptainBarnicles said:

Looks lovely Wills! I hope the puffers come out a bit more, it must be so frustrating not to see them, but I often find myself paying more attention to what the plants are doing a lot of the time and with the selection you have I can imagine you'll perhaps be doing the same! I'm going to keep my eye on your Pennywort, it's something I'd like in my tank too but I think there's way too much flow and it probably wouldn't do well

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Thanks It is definitely a tank for the lurkers at the moment - really wishing I'd had more time on Saturday as if I'd have been able I think I'd have liked to rehome the Glowlight Danios and make some better choices... think I still might at some point.

Wills

Wills said:

Not too sure what the fish make of it at the moment the old tank was a proper black hole they way it was set up but this one is quite bright i think once the plants grow in and the floaters fill in again it will be ok though.

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The fish have had a long weekend without me and I turned the lights down to 40% like I said and this morning they are so much more active, brilliant to see. Shrimp and Danios out and about and the puffers are on patrol too. Decent plant growth so far I think, Limnophilla is going well and I can see a couple of new shoots all over on most other stuff. One of the Anubias Nana Coins has got a new leaf too which is quite good. I do unfortunately have a coating of green algae on the glass but not as bad as it had been in the old set up so no pics right now but water change tomorrow night so will update soon.

Bit later than planned but water change and maintenance. I do have a bit of green algae on the glass but I've left the back 2 sides as I got quite a lot of duck weed up my arms from the front 2 haha.

I trimmed and replanted the Limnophilla at the left side of it and replanted the stems front and back to thicken it out, it had reached the top so thought it was time. Quite a bit of new growth starting on the moss which is exciting as I've not had any luck with it in the past.




Wills

Before and after a trim today - things going well in this tank I think, plants doing well fish all happy I am getting quite a bit of green algae on the glass over time but nothing unreasonable. The duck weed grows very very fast and collects in the corner near the bamboo and this is causing light issues for the plants on this side, the Lobellia seems ok but the Hydrocotyle that was here has melted but it may come back.

Got some nice photos after maintenance tonight thought I'd share

Enjoying this tank now quite a lot, everyone getting along and doing well. Most of the plants are doing well, Limnophilla going nuts, Anubias is excellent, love the placement of my Nymphae lily its low growing still but the leaves move in a really pleasing way. The Lobelia Cardinallis Mini is doing really well which I'm pleased about - this came from a Tropica 1-2-grow pot which I think helped it. The Taiwan moss is doing well, with obvious growth which is great, I've just trimmed it and added it to a few more places around the tank. My terrestrial plants are doing well, you can see the lucky bamboo in one of these pictures. I've finally got some mesh that will work for the back wall - I've just ordered a stainless steel rod to help me make a frame that I can clip to the wall then I will probably lift the pothos and bamboo out of the water and also start to get some more plants for this back section - quite want an Asparagus Fern which will look good under the bamboo I think.

I'd still like to add a few more fish to this tank - I'm hoping for some Panda Garra at some point, the filter is quite high flow and there are high flow areas of the tank for sure so I think they will be happy. The other fish I'd like to find are Albino Cherry Barbs but not seen them for a while, just a medium-sized group of 8-10 with 3-4 of the Garras and I'll be very happy.

Let me know what you think

Wills

Looks great Wills, pleasing from every angle! My only addition would a crypt right in that nook next to the lily Cryptocoryne 'Lucens' doesn't grow too high and will make a nice little bush

CaptainBarnicles said:

Looks great Wills, pleasing from every angle! My only addition would a crypt right in that nook next to the lily Cryptocoryne 'Lucens' doesn't grow too high and will make a nice little bush

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I've been thinking that as well! I'll check out Lucens - I was thinking an Alibida Brown?

Albida brown is very attractive under moderate light, it can stay quite green under low light if I'm not mistaken but the leaves are nice on that one

Finally got round to adding the riparian background to the wall behind the tank today really happy with the results. First time in the years I've had this tank (blimey just realised its probably 3 years!) I've not had to lift the plants out everytime I do a water change. Just added some new pothos (that are floating) but once their roots get going I'll attach them in place as well.

The background is a mesh from a D&D jump guard, which is attached to the wall with some 3M wire/cabling sticky pads, there is a steel bar top and bottom that I've cut to the shape of the wall and then the mesh is attached to more of the cable pads at a few different points.

Something of a win in this tank in terms of my battle with nitrates in my tap water. Pre water change my nitrates are testing at 10-20ppm - I've never seen it this low in this tank, previously the tank was running approx 80ppm (don't judge me I've been doing my best) in one previous scape they were at approx 40ppm.

Adding in the terrestrial plants is really working! I've just added 3 more stems of Lucky Bamboo which I got from Ikea of all places - pre rooted in little pods of water too! I added 2 new mini Pothos plants to the tank as well which have not started growing so I really think between all of these now I will be down to 0.

The thing that led me to do the nitrate test was noticing my duckweed roots were longer than normal and more irregular lengths which is the same as my 30 litre tank which has 0 nitrates.

For me this is the best way to deal with nitrates hands down - I don't decry doing water changes by any means, there are many other benefits but if I can run the tank at 0 nitrates with terrestrial plants.

They only slight negative for me at the moment is that the roots from the big pothos has made a bit of a mess at the back of the tank but you can't really see them from the main viewing angles so I can't complain. It may impede the growth of some Crypt Balansae I have in that section but the rest of the plants seem to be doing a fine job

Wills

I bet your fish love all those pothos roots, though. My 150g tank consistently has 0 nitrates, and I suspect a lot of it is the healthy growth of frogbit and the emergent java ferns growing out the top.

Few pics after maintenance tonight - that straight branch thats more or less 90 degrees, might need a plant on it to break it up?