Pest Controls First Planted Journal (Updated 2/3/2011)

[Ben M]

thanks, yes she's absolutely bursting with eggs, but i don't have the room for her in my tank. when my brothers baby kribs have grown up, i think i'll swap the female from his tank with my fat one, and see how many babies they have.

i've planted the plants that people have kindly given me. i think that i've got enough plants now, so i'm just going to let everything grow. i am having a couple of algae issues, and i'll explain below. everything is growing well, and i am going to add some red cherry shrimp soon (when i've given my kribs to my lfs, unless someone here wants them).

pics:

A couple of full tank shots. do you think the layout is good? i've left an open foreground for the corys and kuhlis.

on the right of the tank i've put some plants in front of the bogwood to stop it from looking too over powering. i've also put the baby java ferns on the lava rock, and cut off the oldest leaves. i've stuck the older leaves in the sand to stop them from floating about and there are some more tiny plantlets growing on them.

On the left of the tank, i've planted the crypts and Alternanthera at the front, with some more stems behind them. the kuhlis seem to like playing under the crypts.

In the middle i've left the front open for the kuhlis and corys, and planted the tiger lotus and some Hygrophila polysperma at the back.

There are new leaves coming on the java fern already; is it normal for the tips to be translucent at first?

The Aponogetons are growing back nicely.

The tiger lotus is doing really well, and ads a bit more colour to the tank.

Unfortunately, i'm having some algae growing on my anubias and bogwood (although you can't really tell on the bogwood). is there anything i can do to get rid of this?


any comments on what to do now, or should i just let everything grow? and any answers to the questions?

 

[ian]

Ahhhhh the dreaded anubias algea, the same happened to
mine, and I did eveything other than adding c02. I had to bin mine cos it was getting so bad. I did spot does easycarbo for a week as suggested, but it didn't make a difference. Let's hope you can beat it. Btw the tank is looking stunning!

 

[Ben M]

thanks mate , i'm really annoyed that the anubias has algae on it. do you reckon the cherry shrimp will eat it?

 

[ian]

Is it bba? Because my shrimp didn't touch it, niether did my Otos or snails

 

[lljdma06]

Is it bba? Because my shrimp didn't touch it, niether did my Otos or snails

First, tank looks great. Good job!

Where are the anubias located in the tank? I find that when I shade them, I do not get this outbreak of algae on them.

llj

 

[Ben M]

thanks, i'm really pleased with it now. i keep looking back at what it was like when i started the journal, and i can't believe how much it's improved. and i never thought i'd be able to grow stem plants, normally they all died.

if you look at the bottom right corner in this pic, it's behind the moss balls. it isn't shaded, but i can't find anywhere to put it where it is shaded. maybe when the java fern bushes out it'll cover it.

and i've just noticed a kuhli trying to get into this pic

cheers

 

[Biulu]

I had the same with my anubia and put it under my amazon sword. Now it is ok, no more algae. Maybe you should consider putting the alternanthera in the back or at the side only as it is a stemplant which will grow quite large. The tiger lotus can stay more in the front. I think your lay-out is great and the open space for the kuhlis only makes it look more natural in my opinion.

 

[Ben M]

hi, i haven't updated here for ages, because i ran out of ferts, so nothing was growing, but i'm hopefully ordering some ferts tonight, so i thought i'd update now. i just looked at this journal last night, and i didn't realise how much had died off. but hopefully with the ferts coming soon i can get everything growing again. a couple of things are doing well, including the lotus and the sword. and the java fern seems to be growing ok, but i'll have to give it a trim soon, as some of the leaves are getting babies on them again.

pics:

full tank shot. i'm going to get some dwarf hairgrass when i'm sorted with ferts, and will hopefully get a carpet going at the front left of the tank, curving around to the start of the Hygrophila. also, i'm hoping that the crypts will grow really bushy, but they aren't growing ATM, do you think it'd be worth getting some fert tabs to put under them and the dwarf hairgrass i'm getting? you may have noticed that the Limnophila has disappeared, it died off, but i gave my brother a load before, so when i get the ferts i'll nick some back when he isn't looking.

the foreground here will be covered in a hairgrass carpet soon.

i replanted some short stems of Hygrophila, as the bottom lost all of its leaves due to a lack of lighting because of my floating plants (which have gone now, but i have saved some riccia and red root floater that i will return once i have scooped out the last bits of duckweed).

i am hoping that the java fern will keep growing and bush out a lot more once i get the ferts.

i know it's looking a bit bare ATM, but do you think it's ok?

cheers

 

[angelfishguy]

i think it looks great,
well done

 

[Biulu]

It does look a bit bare compared to before, but the good thing is that you don't seem to have any algae! I am sure the plants will pick up again once you start fertilising.

 

[Ben M]

thanks, i'm hoping so. when i ran out of ferts, i left all of my floating plants in, so after a while i had about 1" thick, so hardly any light was getting into the tank so no algae.

 

[Ben M]

Hi, I thought I'd update, now that I've been dosing my EI ferts for a couple of months. Everything is going well, and the plants are recovering.

I had the Tiger Lotus floating until yesterday, because It hadn't got any roots, but now that it has loads I have planted it again. I borrowed some Limnophila sessiliflora from my brother and also a bit of Hygrophila polysperma, both of which are doing well. I have taken out all of the floating plants except form the Riccia fluitans and the dwarf riccia, as the plants didn't have enough light. I've attached some more normal java fern and some needle java fern to the bogwood and put the lotus infront of it to stop it looking too overpowering. The vallis has gone mad, although you can't really tell in the pics, it's spreading everywhere.

Here are some pics:

What do you think?

 

[ian]

love it mate!

It's very pleasing on the eye, great placing of the bogwood, well done mate.

 

[Biulu]

Very nice! ANd your plants look amazingly healthy. No probs with algae so far?

 

[Ryan12]

I love the dwarf hygro, it adds a nice touch to the tank. Good job mate.