Beginnings Of A Jungle

[NathanPrince]

Ill try grabbing some later, my Aponogeton was looking mullered today so had to chop off all the nice long flowing leaves
 
Not sure wether its a melt or my BN's attacking it, all my other stuff is fine and the new leaves look nice and strong, hmmm... will need to keep an eye on things I think!
 
 
Cheers

 

[NathanPrince]

Bought some Red Root Floater plants from eBay, ordered 5 plants and ended up recieving a whole bag!

Theyre in floating about now but most of it just ends up in behind my spraybar rather than in "open water"... May need to have a jiggle about with it and try and get it in a position where nothing can get trapped behind

Cheers

 

[NathanPrince]

Got a few quick pictures:
 
FTS, few things have taken and grown in nicely, my Aponogeton melted though so needed a cut back:
 

 
 
Red root floaters:
 

 
Fissidens, as you can see I've glued it to some clear plastic and then tied/used some small black rubber bands to hold it to the wood.... hopefully it takes off and covers up the wood in a couple of months... if not I can just take it back off!
 

 
 
Cheeky penguins getting in on the action
 
 
Cheers

 

[greenmumma141]

Wow!!!!! I love it!!!!  You've done a really great job, it's going to look fantastic when it's grown in!
 

 

[NathanPrince]

Thanks for the kind words! Just impatient now and want it grown in properly haha

Cheers

 

[greenmumma141]

Haha yup. Now is the hard part....waiting

 

[NathanPrince]

Having a bit of trouble with yellowing on some leaves and a bit of melt here and there but I think once I've dosed the profito a few more times the extra iron should help perk them up a bit.... I hope lol

 

[NathanPrince]

Some good growth on a few things such as my tiger lotus growing a bit, crypts filling out nicely although a little yellow in places and red root floaters spreading. But most impressively my pogostemon getting bushier by the day

Not so good news on the fissidens though, that just seems to be going brown and dying off... Shame as I really wanted that to grow most

 

[greenmumma141]

That's a bummer... it always seems to be the ones you really want to grow, that turn out to be the hardest.
 
I would suggest trying the fissidens again later, you'd be surprised how much easier it is after you tank has settled in and you really get the hang of things... that's how it has been IME anyway

 

[NathanPrince]

Maybe I was too hasty in calling it a failure, had a bloody good clean of all my tank/plants/equipment today and low and behold... I have tiny tiny fissidens growth!
 
Through the dead brown bits you can see faint but bright green growth
 

 
Also my pogostemon helferi has taken off like a rocket even managed to top some of it off and replant it today, few brown bits in there but didnt wanna disturb it too much because its barely hanging on in the gravel!
 

 
FTS, as you can see I've added Purigen to my filter today and the water is stupidly clear
 

 
 
This guy had to get in on the action too, my biggest of the 4 Ellioti I got from DrRob
 

 
 
Still fighting the BBA in places but I think I may be winning... just.
 
Cheers

 

[Malex530]

If the algae situation does not clear up, add some otto's. They love algae and never stop eating! 

 

 

 

[greenmumma141]

Yep, ottos are the best little cleaners you can get IMO. Be careful though, they need a well established tank.

 

[NathanPrince]

I was considering replacing the 2 bn plecos with 6-8 Ottos. No worries on being an established tank, this one's been running for 3 years altogether

Cheers

 

[greenmumma141]

Oh! sorry, I assumed you had just set it up. I have both ottos and bns. The bns keep all the driftwood, sword leaves, and the glass clean and the ottos do everything else (which is a lot hehe)

 

[TheClarks]

Thats stunning 

 as a newbie thats the kind of tank I would love