First Planted Tank hand holding required...!

gf225 said:

I'm getting bored of my sag, I may be calling in that Glosso favour soon

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Just shout when you want the glosso George, I'll pull a runner or two and let it float for a few days to 'beef up' for you!

Sam, I dose 5ppm NO3 and 0.25ppm PO4 every other day and yes, the baby tears is really coming along nicely. It seems to like bright light and I wouldn't say it was the fastest of growers either. I'm hoping to use that quite extensively across the middle of the tank.

As far as overstocking goes...I haven't worked it out but if they all reach maturity then probably!!!

7 Harlequin Rasboras
5 Red Panchax
4 Platies
3 Apistogramma Trifasciatum (1M 2F)
4 Otos
1 Farlowella

I figure that with a 50% weekly water change, close monitoring and stable pH that goes hand in hand with keeping the plants...I probably get a bit of leaway (sp?) with the stocking. It's a fairly eclectic mix, but the tank is in my daughters room and she just doesn't seem to like her dads choices of fish....she's stubborn like her mother and always wants to choose

It is my aim to set up a second tank at some point in the not too distant future, so some of these inhabitants may move across.

nodding_dino said:

Just shout when you want the glosso George, I'll pull a runner or two and let it float for a few days to 'beef up' for you!

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Thanks mate.

I find your dosing regime very interesting. It's virtually the same as mine, even though you run higher lighting, more CO2 and have more plant bio-mass. I would have assumed that you need would to dose higher than me - or perhaps I am running more "luxury uptake".

Average over week

NO3 10-20ppm
PO4 1-2ppm
CO2 30ppm

Any ideas? zig perhaps?

mmmmm I had been thinking that I could go slightly higher, but things seem to be quite happy as they stand. What are your NO3 and PO4 levels at tap?

NO3 <5ppm, PO4 >5ppm!!

for me

NO3 10
PO4 2.5 (i'sh)

gf225 said:

nodding_dino said:

Just shout when you want the glosso George, I'll pull a runner or two and let it float for a few days to 'beef up' for you!

[snapback]908192[/snapback]​

Click to expand...

Thanks mate.

I find your dosing regime very interesting. It's virtually the same as mine, even though you run higher lighting, more CO2 and have more plant bio-mass. I would have assumed that you need would to dose higher than me - or perhaps I am running more "luxury uptake".

Average over week

NO3 10-20ppm
PO4 1-2ppm
CO2 30ppm

Any ideas? zig perhaps?

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Some plants are nitrate hogs and your Java Fern is one of them, its also a large Java Fern.

zig said:

Some plants are nitrate hogs and your Java Fern is one of them, its also a large Java Fern.

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Thanks zig, never knew that. I always assumed because it's labelled as undemanding it wasn't really a high consumer.

I caught someone lounging on a lily pad (how Sunday afternoon is that!!!) and thought I'd share

Great shot ND. Your camera sure has a good macro!

I'm ready for the glosso now BTW. Did some "super" pruning yesterday!! I'll post some pics in my journal soon. I think the new look will go down well.

well an update to this thread is long overdue, and to be honest it's not great news. Working away for an extended period followed by a nasty bout of flu that had me laid up for more than a couple of weeks resulted in very neglected tank.

After more than a couple of months I managed to finally get some time to dedicate to the tank. It was *very* dark inside. When I opened the hood I was greeted by some very pretty purple flowers and a huge mat of glosso. No wonder the light hadn't been reaching even the middle of the tank!!!!

I pulled out HANDFULS of the glosso, followed by no end of vallis, the only plant that seemed to continue to grow in the virtual darkness. A major water change and filter clean and the although a lot brighter, the tank is looking in a very sorry state.

Armed with the fact that it will look worse before it gets better, I left it as was. This weekend is going to see phase II of the grand clean up. The remaining valis is going to be pulled...if I'm honest it was always a little invasive for my taste...another large water change and a general tidy. I placed an order with Greenline earlier in the week and tru to form, the plants were delivered yesterday.

Some baby tears, dwarf clover and Heteranthera Zosterifolia (star/sea grass depends on who you talk to ) which I was so impressed with last time.

These new plants will be added, and I am going to plant up some of the glosso plantlets that I saved from last weeks cull. I'll give it a couple of weeks with the CO2 and shop bought ferts before building back up to the normal EI levels.

A sad state of affairs, but in fact quite interesting for me to have gone full circle with the tank. The fish are all fine, just goes to show we're right when we say it's harder to keep the plants than the fish!!!

Glad to be back 'on-board' and to see a few old faces again...talk soon,

ND

back dino

go one... post a warnig piccy...

"When planted tanks go bad"

I knew someone would want to see....it's not pretty...! I'll see what I can rustle up later on

<off topic> hows the plec breeding coming along?</off topic>

Wow!!! great thread, taken me ages to read and i cant blieve that all those plants grew that fast!!!

Im in the process if setting up tank again and will look to this thread once im closer to the project as im heading down the same root!

Never been great with plants, but back then i was a bit silly! time to have another go!

Well done on a great planted Tank Dino!

glad you liked the thread swart...I must admit, it was nice journalling the project, as it really enables you to see how the tank progressed.

yes i agree, and u always have your notes to go back on!

I was just reading up on the spec of my lighting that came with my tank....its got 2 x 30W light fittings which according to the stuff i have read on here is a about .9 WPG unless my maths is wrong, which to me sounds extremely low for the setup i want!?