First Planted Tank hand holding required...!

gf225 said:

BTW it's great to see you've gotten into the hobby so deeply and quickly - I look forward to seeing the results.

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thanks! I must admit, you guys must be spot on with the advice, the plants have been pearling two nights in a row now, and the water change isn't due until Sunday!

I can see new growth on lots of the plants, some have grown by as much as 1.5", others are chucking out new leaves...I will give it another couple of weeks and then do my first thinning out/tweaking of position.

I'm particularly pleased to see my manky conker plant (dwarf lily?) doing well, the leaves have probably doubled in size!

I will take some more pictures soon!

To be honest, I really didn't think that the plants had grown much at all over the past week...but then, it was early days, and there still a lot to learn. So you can imagine how suprised I was when I took some photo's tonight and held them up against the ones taken 6 days ago and saw so much new growth!

Several plants managed to detach themselves over the course of the week, and for fear of winding the tank inhabitants up even more, I decided to let them float around for a few days. I'll get them back into position during tomorrows water change.

A few ideas are beginning to form up though...

1. I'm not overly keen on the Vallisneria (?) on the far left/rear.
2. I'm going to remove the cobbles and replace them and the open space behind them with some carpetting plants...riccia/glosso/clover (suggestions greatfully accepted!)

All the plants seem to be happy enough, I'm seeing lots of new growth on the stemmed plants, and lot's of the others are throwing out new leaves. I've had pearling now for three days too...all in all I'm really thrilled with the way things are coming along!

I'm going to give it another couple of weeks before I start getting rid of the plants I'm not so happy with the look of, and will slowly start to replce them with either cuttings of the current ones, or new and exciting ones!

Please feel free to chime in with any opinions, and suggestions for how to improve the layout..after all, this is still very much the 'first draft'!

Looking great dino,

Are all the plants youve got looking ok?

Once I'm back up and running - I'm going to try my nemsis... Combomba.... I could never get the stuff to 'work'.

Think I'll leave it a while though.

thanks smithrc...yes, I must admit all of the plants seem to be doing quite well. There is some cabomba at the back of the tank, just to the left of the wood stump, there was no noticeable growth, so I only realised how well it was coming along when I compared the two photos. I had a closer look at it for you this morning...and saw that it is sending out long roots all the way up the stem, I guess I could probably cut these sections and re-plant them. Although I imagine it's not a connaisseur's plant, I've always liked the look of it...and I guess in a nice clump it provides great protection for smaller fish/fry.

The first time for me to trim one of the plants today as it had reached the water level (and then some by about 6 or 8"). It looks a lot like cabomba, but not anywhere near as bushy, and there seem to be quite long gaps on the stem between each set of leaves.

The 'normal' cabomba is throwing out roots (?) like crazy...I guess I will need to do something with them in the next few days, although at the moment I find the veil of roots quite pleasing! I bought 5 tiny sparkling gourami over the weekend, and they seem to like the protection provided by this extra cover

The conker (aka Nymphaea sp.) is coming along really quickly...I didn't expect it to be such a fast grower! The leaves are a lovely red colour, and are increasing in size and number virtually each day!

Another valis made it's bid for freedom, and I took the opportunity to just remove it...I'm still not overly keen. I can slowly see how plants will need to be moved around a little bit, and I'm beginning to see how I can improve the look of the tank. gf's advice of chucking it all in and watching for a while was great...some of the plants now look so completely different than they did just days ago, and some that I nearly left out altogether are turning into real favourites!

I'm reading up on some of the carpeting plants...as this will be the next big addition for the tank...I might also treat my self to some fancy pruning scissors and tweezers...just don't tell the missus!

I'd be happier knowing that everything was stable before starting the Ei project!

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Whats Ei stand for?

it stands for 'Estimative Index' and is a methodology for fertilizing your plants...lot's of the more experienced people on these boards use this method, and houndour and I are having a go at it too!

I thought it was probably time to take some more snaps and let you all see how things are progressing!


The obligatory full tank shot! Things are filling out nicely, although the left hand side of the tank needs some work...


A close up of the left hand side...

a close up of the right...


the conker...(AKA Lily )


A ? (will edit with namke shortly...)

and finally, a gratuitous fish shot (not to great, focussing just off...but should get a nice one if I keep trying! If only they's stay still for a few seconds... )

Tanks looking good ND you have come a long way in a short space of time, soon the EI will be second nature to you, it took me ages to get my head around it in the beginning, so im looking foreward to a couple of show tanks in the near future.

No pressure or anything

wow, looking great ND. Love the conker! It's got loads of leaves.

I think you have the hygro plant I was on about. The only thing I have that you dont is riccia. Let me try and get it in good condition first though.

thanks everyone! houndour...which ones the hygro?

RYO said:

Zig im in the same boat as you my kh test changes colour first drop so i add bicarb in my water changes- 10 ml per weekly water change (50L for me) gives me 143.2 ppm or 8dkh

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Sorry RYO didnt see this until earlier, how do you mean 10ml, i thought you just added it straight, as in the powdered form, what is your Kh BTW, and how do you add it?

I've circled it in the pic. I could be wrong but it looks like it might be the same as the plant in my sig (the one that takes up the most room).