70L Low-Tech Set Up

[StandbySetting]

Thanks, yes one arc pod at the moment, should be two by the end of next week, I ordered another last night.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

loving the Embers.

 

[lljdma06]

The embers are coloring up very nicely. Love the random stem on the right that's like uber tall. LOLOL Snip that puppy and put him in his place!

 

[StandbySetting]

I trimmed it this morning, to the same height as the others, they were about 5 inches from the surface and this one has grown that distance in about 10 hours, I can't keep up with the stuff! The others are all normal, that particular stem grows like it's on steroids , noticed a slight bit of Cyanobacteria tonight, so I removed all that was visible, did a large water change, and dosed quite a bit of KNO[sub]3[/sub], also gave the filter a clean out to remove all of the crap inside it as it may be decaying and giving me a bit of ammonia, a few stems of Star grass have melted also, but the others are flourishing, I removed the melting ones so that is doesn't accelerate the growth of the Cyanobacteria, I figured I can replace them with cuttings from the ones that are flourishing, I presume it's just the transition from emersed to submersed that's caused it, also I have a question, will Hygrophila polysperma grow emersed? Does it flower at all? I may leave it to continue growing out of the water.

Thanks for all of the compliments.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

I had it before and it grew up out of the water and changed colour but never flowered.

 

[StandbySetting]

HC from a bubbles perspective:

 

[StandbySetting]

Here's another FTS with the second light now added, the new one has a high colour temperature as you can see, which is why I'll replace the older one as it's apparent that it has deteriorated:

And an eggy female H.amandae:

 

[Biulu]

This is a very nice scape and the plants are growing in beautifully. Are you dosing anything already regularly, or still running on the substrate that you put in?

 

[StandbySetting]

I dose EI now, I was using TPN+ as I had some left over.

 

[StandbySetting]

I came home this evening to find the Ember Tetra's spawning, fascinating to watch, the male chases the females around for a bit, then sort of pulls up along side one of them and shimmies his body whilst the Females scatters her eggs all over the Anubias and Crypts, then of course he does his bit...
The eggs themselves are like grains of sand, a lot of them are being eaten, I'm unsure on how to raise them anyway so I'll have a read over some journals this evening, in the mean time, the Hygro emmersed:

 

[StandbySetting]

Here's the latest image, I gave in and trimmed the Hygrophila polysperma, the cuttings are in a propagator now so hoping to get some quick emmersed growth from them so I can give it away on here.

The Heternathera zosterifolia has finally begun to grow!

 

[minnnt]

Blimey!! Haven't kept tabs on this topic so it is a massive change since I last had a look. Stunning mate, love it!

 

[lljdma06]

Regarding the Embers, a few fry just might survive on the critters in the tank. Raised Cherry barbs this way by also supplementing with bbs. They will also take bbs once free-swimming. Adult embers will gorge on them too.

No wonder they are breeding, it's a nice system.

Liz

 

[StandbySetting]

Thanks Liz, it appears that most of the eggs have been eaten unless there are any others lying about in the sand, or leaves that aren't visible, apparently they become free swimming after 72-96 hours so I should know soon enough, I might nip and get a pair of Rams tomorrow if the bus is running, if not I might add a few more shrimp.

 

[lljdma06]

LOL, there go the rest of the fry!