A tale of 4 tanks

[Retired Viking]

Tanks are looking great as usual, how is stumpy doing? My frog bite did not last very long so I now have salvinia floating in my tetra tank. Your plants look great.

 

[seangee]

Tanks are looking great as usual, how is stumpy doing?

She's great and fully recovered. Last time I checked I could only just make out the scar tissue where the tail was severed. That was about a month ago so I may not be able to pick her out anymore (besides the fact that she is the dominant female ).

 

[seangee]

Well @Retired Viking - you are probably going to hate me for this but...
I ditched all the frogbit today.
Decided that I want to eradicate the duckweed and its just not possible when you have other floating plants. I initially pulled out 10 plants, cut off the roots and rinsed throughly. Was going to put them in the nano while I cleared the big tank - but just in time I realised I only had to miss one piece to create a problem where I don't have one now. So its in the bin and I will net the surface daily. If the time comes when the duckweed is well and truly gone I'll buy some new tissue cultured frogbit and start again.

In the meantime I have dropped the lighting to 70% and added tannin. Hopefully that will keep the light balance right. May have to experiment with the flourish comprehensive. I have far less plants now (should I use less?) but far more ammonia relative to the remaining plants (so should I use more as there is more ammonia and more light???). Guess I'll just have to keep a close eye on things as I do the daily duckweed hint.

 

[Retired Viking]

I do not hate you, I am just jealous of you and your luck with frog bite. The small amount I was sent started off good but then quickly disappeared. The snails or the fish feasted on it. I may try again and put it in it's own tank until it is large enough to survive.

 

[mcordelia]

@seangee love your philosophy and love how your tanks look. This is pretty much what I aspire towards!! Especially your recent picture of tank #4 is mwah!

 

[AilyNC]

Tanks are looking fantastic as ever!

 

[seangee]

A few weeks on.
#1 starting to get used to life without frogbit. The lily has shot up and I have 4 large pads on the surface. Still clear out bits of duckweed but only once a week. Its not such a big deal when there are no floating plants to get tangled in. Suppose I will have to hide the pipework now I don't have frogbit roots . Oh and the vals are back. Thought I'd ripped them all out the last time they threatened world domination. They are in a neat line behind the horizontal heater - so I will try to keep them there.

Sorry about the awful quality. Employers decided I needed a new iPhone and the camera is not a patch on the several years old Galaxy

 

[seangee]

#2 not too much change here

 

[seangee]

#3 also not much change - maybe a bit more jungle like

 

[seangee]

And last but not least #4. I have decided to stop trimming the pathway between red and green on the right. The driftwood between them should keep them separate and allow a clear distinction. The heteranthera zosterifolia has suddenly leapt into life. I had pretty much given up on it when I added the alternanthera rosaefolia almost 3 months ago but as you can see the few straggly bits I left in are now thriving

 

[Wills]

These are looking fantastic, love the tiger lotus in tank 1 and tank 4 is phenomenal. Almost looking like a dutch tank.

What do you think set the H.Zosterifolia off? I was debating between that and a similar looking Hygrophila for one of my tanks - worried Ive picked wrong now haha.

Wills

 

[seangee]

These are looking fantastic, love the tiger lotus in tank 1 and tank 4 is phenomenal. Almost looking like a dutch tank.

What do you think set the H.Zosterifolia off? I was debating between that and a similar looking Hygrophila for one of my tanks - worried Ive picked wrong now haha.

Wills

Thanks. Honestly I have no idea. Had it in there a few months and the leaves were all going black and it just wasn't growing. When I ripped out the h.tenellum I left one small piece. It did ok but has now been smothered by the rosaefolia. I'm ok with that, it was insurance in case the new plants did not take. I also pulled all the leaves off the h.zosterifolia and buried a few stems at the back of the tank and pretty much ignored them. In the pics from 3 weeks ago you can just see them popping out above the driftwood. I could not save the bits I had in the nano.

FWIW while battling BGA I ended up turning my cheapie Nicrew lights down to 40%, and everything seems to like that - but the tank is only 12" deep and I have nothing growing on the surface.

 

[Fishmanic]

FWIW while battling BGA I ended up turning my cheapie Nicrew lights down to 40%, and everything seems to like that - but the tank is only 12" deep and I have nothing growing on the surface.

If you put the nicrew on a timer, will dimmer settings and other settings be retained?

 

[seangee]

If you put the nicrew on a timer, will dimmer settings and other settings be retained?

I am pretty sure they are. But I have a Nicrew controller which handles time and intensity. Pretty cheap on Amazon and keeps its settings in a power failure (but you have to tell it what time it is when it comes back on).

 

[seangee]

Almost looking like a dutch tank.

So once the wood is completely obscured am I allowed to call it Dutch style
I am actually at a cross road now. I have enough Ludwigia to split and completely cover the left zone. So far I have intentionally left some bare sand to allow the pygmy cories some space. But in practice they love foraging through the undergrowth. In fact when the lights are out you could easily think the tank only contains boraras as (at times) everything else is hidden in the foliage