Craynerds Planted Tank Mk.2

[craynerd]

Well this is what 6 days does with high CO2 and just less than 4wpg light.

It has grown into a jungle!!

I know it seems logical and our thought to leave for 3 weeks to bed in, i know Amano does it, but someone suggested cutting the rotala to about 4 inch pieces and replanting. 1) to thin it out a little so it can get more light and 2) to keep in the growth pattern and size of the other plants (rotala was a little bigger to start with)
I decided to take his advice, since he has been right with everything so far, and boy am i glad i did.
From 4 inch long pieces, in 5 days while i have been on my hols it is now at the water surface again!!! It is mad!

Contrary to Neils opinion :wink: the hair grass is also growing. All the original is dead with LOADS of new strands. So basically it is still sparse since as yet it is only replacing what is dead, but i can see it really blossoming in the next few weeks.

The algae i got on the wood i have removed, and so far so good, with the CO2 back to a high 4bps. Time will tell over the next few days.

Here are some pics.

Comments on pruning and maintenance would be welcomed!

Regards

Chris

 

[Themuleous]

Yeh think a trim might be in order!

 

[George Farmer]

Nice progress Chris. I'm surprised your hairgrass hasn't developed further though. You could try trimming the ends again.

 

[craynerd]

Neil said the same thing!

All i can say is we will have to wait and see, but i know 100% that what is there now is all fresh new green shoots. You can’t tell off the pictures, but when i first planted it was all dark green and brown. These are still there but slowly rotting away and virtually everything you see now is new bright green shoots with runners.
Agreeably, maybe it should have spread faster, but I can tell that now it has established in the clumps the runners are being sent out.

As I said, time will tell.

Now regarding pruning, i don’t know if I should start yet or stick more to my original plan of leaving it another week (3 weeks total) or is it getting to big and blocking the light.

Regards

Chris

 

[Themuleous]

Guess you could leave it, the light seems to be getting through ok based on the picutre. You dont want the bottom bits getting to leggy though and loosing their leaves.

Sam

 

[Gill]

It Looks Fab, Leave it another week just to let them grow that bitmore. Its up to You.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Chris,

Just wondering how your water reading have settled over the past week or so since you had the big ammonia spike ?

My new tank with ADA substrate seems to be going through a similar cycle after 5 days.
Just taken some readings (prior to a water change) and ammonia is up at 5ppm with NO2 at 0.3ppm. (PH and KH have also taken a dip)

I'm sure this is expected, I seem to remember an article in Aqua Journal about the changes in water chemistry over the first 3 weeks. I've not got any fish or shrimp in there at the moment, so not overly worried.

Cheers
Al

 

[craynerd]

Yes ammonia has dropped from the initial spike. I have recently lost a few shrimp, but now the ammonia conc. has gone down, they all seem fine.

I got some advice from another forum and with that and my own judgement decided to reduce the CO2 rate to just below 3 bps. The shrimps seem to be a lot happier, they are out in numbers now. I`ll have to leave it now and wait and see.

Chris

 

[Gill]

if your still thinking about fish, Why not go for Gold WCMM or the Vietnamese WCMM alot more colorful.

 

[Themuleous]

WCMM being?

 

[MoreCoffee]

I think that'll be White Cloud Mountain Minnow ....

If it is, I've never seen the 'Gold' ones.

 

[Graeme Edwards]

Im thinking maybe something like Tetra's, i cant remember the name of a poticular tetra i like but theres a nice one called the lemon tetra.

 

[Qays]

wow a lot of growth there!

Btw, i have a new favourite fish. These fish are amazing:

Rummy nose tetras

They are probably the best schooling fish i have ever seen. they will look great in there. They have 2 very distinct features, bright red face, and a zebra sort of tail.

http/animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/char...myNoseTetra.php

They look very striking when you see them in person though. Especially the way they school. If you have a nice sized school of them 7+ They look great.

Good luck in choosing your fish.

 

[craynerd]

I like rummy nose tetras have considered them. However, i feel they grow a little large! I know in comparison to most fish they are small but for my tank with a very "full" aquascape i feel they will get too big.

Are there any fish that stay small as adults?

Chris

 

[RadaR]

Sparkling/Pygmy Gourami (Trichopsis pumilus), likes groups and is 4cm when adult. Never seen one that big though.