My Planted Tank Journey

[Mcbenthy]

Gravel out and vast majority of the water as well. Next I moved the tank out and hovered behind for the first time in years - yuck. Also added the black self adhesive film which was a little tricky but looked pretty good when done.

Hoofed in the large bucket of cleaned cat litter and slapped it in - so far so good. Next - fill her back up.
Oh dear - not as clean as I thought!

I was expecting to be able to put the plants and fish back in at this point but decided to let it clear before. So filter on and I put a heater in the bucket containing the fish.

It's a nice day so we went out for 3-4 hours.

Got back and it was starting to clear so in went the plants. These are by no means their final place but it looks ok for now. After splitting the crypts I ended up with 12-15 small plants. Have put these in a group and am hoping these will fill out over time. I may move them closer as I'm sure it will take some time to fill out.

Any long roots were trimmed which should encourage new growth. I split my vallis up creating a nice patch at the back and grouped the swords together - still no real improvement on these but their roots looked good and I will be adding root tabs tomorrow.

A while later it had cleared some more so not wanting to leave the fish in a bucket any longer, I put them back in. They all seem to be doing ok admiring their new carpet.


So there we are - cat litter in and hopefully tomorrow the water will clear again. I will check my params every day.

LMFAO!!

Organised chaos...

Ha ha - I ain't changing substrate again for a loooooong time.

Looking fantastic!!

 

[paulc]

Looking fantastic!!

Thanks Mcbenthy

looking good! snip those sword leaves off mind, will help promote new leaf growth.

Thanks Tizer - snipped.

Journal Entry

Tank has cleared up nicely this morning so thought I would take a quick snap. I will try and get a better picture later on. I have added 10 root tabs in and around the plants so hopefully that will give them a boost and I also found a nice bit of wood for a fiver which had been in my LFS's tank for a while.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Love it! What is the short grassy plant on the front right?

 

[paulc]

Love it! What is the short grassy plant on the front right?

Thanks Almost, It wasn't named when I bought it but after getting it back I looked it up and I think its fountain grass or dwarf fountain grass (Ophiopogon japonicas). If it is then some sites say it's not an aquarium plant and some say it is.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Well I like it! Maybe one of these other geeks will chip in and let us know

 

[paulc]

Journal Entry

Today i've been thinking about my stock. My current stock is as follows:

11 Lemon Tetras
2 Female Dwarf Gouramis
4 Neons
5 Red Wagtail Platy's
1 Pleco (2")
1 Mickey mouse platy
2 Harlequins
6 Peppered Cories

I did have a Nertite snail but he plonked himself on my diffuser and overdosed on co2

During my substrate change I was going to take the Mickey Mouse platy and harlequins back to the LFS to tidy up my stock but just couldn't bring myself to do it, but, I want to add a couple of bolivian rams. From what i've read, they should be compatible with my tank so long as I add a nice cave for them and some smooth rocks but what are your thoughts on stock levels.

The pleco is going to go soon as it will be getting to big for my tank. So if any member is in Kent and would like to give him / her a good home, please raise your hand.



Now, do you think I have room for a couple of Bolivians with the pleco gone or would I have to re home the harlequins and platy?

 

[minnnt]

Why are you getting shut of the Plec? Looks to be a female BN so it would be fine in your tank long term.

 

[paulc]

Why are you getting shut of the Plec? Looks to be a female BN so it would be fine in your tank long term.

Because I was told that it will grow to 10-12" which is pretty huge. Is this not right?

Edit: just looked up female BN's and max size is 5". Guess that would be ok but I think unless I remove some fish I won't have room for rams. Guess this is why people have multiple tanks

 

[ian]

5" max...i would tend to agree with Minnnnnt and go with a female BN.

anyways, it looks loads better, there also looks like there's some artistic touch gone into the layout. When it grows in it will look even better!

 

[stu40]

I like it

 

[paulc]

Thanks guys - much appreciated

I need some more plants but am going to wait until I can get to MA. Any suggestions on this great fully received.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

The short grassy one will stay like that for a while then melt unfortunately, nice looking which is a shame, I had it once and mistook it for crypt costata.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Boo!

 

[paulc]

Boo!

AHHHHHH!

 

[paulc]

Journal Entry - Help with plants please

Ok, now i need to think about additional plants and arrangement and would really appreciate your advice. I have mapped out the areas of my existing tank below as a reference point:



KEY

BLUE - These are swords. I am hoping that these will grow pretty tall and will hide the intake pipe. Root tabs have been added in this area to promote growth.

GREEN - Vallis. I bout three bunches and have separated. Runners have been produced and it seems to be doing ok so that should at some point cover that area

PINK - Crypts (not sure which type). During my substrate change I split my two large crypts into smaller plants and have used as a foreground plant. As these are slow growers, I am thinking of moving these closer together - could I have your thoughts on this please?

CYAN - There is some grass like plant here at the moment but have been reliably informed that these will not last. So I am thinking of using Staurogyne Repens here as a carpet plant. The plant specs suggest this would be perfect for my tank.

RED - Anubias. This I have had for a few years and the bit of wood it is holding onto will need replacing soon. I think this looks pretty good here and the fish seem to like the hanging roots as a place to hide.

ORANGE - This is a non aquatic plant and will go soon. Here I wanted to fill with some tall plants. One thought was some large java ferns - my thoughts are a) Its under the outlet so there is flow - maybe a sturdier plant is required? b) Java needs to be attached to wood. This corner of my tank is where I am trying to create the fallen branches effect so more wood would be fine.

YELLOW: No idea what this is (I know its a plant). It is a stem plant and is currently two bunches in their weights. I am leaving them in their weights until roots start to show where I will spilt them up and they should hold better in the substrate.

I feel I am missing the mid ground out here. Possible plants would be Ludwigia peruvian (dark been leaves and red stems), Lobelia cardinals (nice light green)

I'm not sure if what I have suggested would fill the background either - maybe a good bushy plant (may be some ambulia?)

I'm also contemplating some moss on some of the wood.