The Grass Is Always Greener On The Other Side

[alex.wardle]

Hello all.

The background of this tank.
Its about a year old now and has had a lot of scapes from the very 1st time I pretty much just thuw the gravel and plants in alone with the fish with out knowing what i was doing or even in fact about this forum.

Started with the standard running equipment that came with the tank lights heater filter etc... some plain beach washed medium gravel and a few bits of bogwood from the net and some basic plants.


It looked alright and the plants did fairly well (except the non aquatic ones) Think it was Super Coley that ID them for me.

Stocking consisted of 2 Angels, group of guppies and some phantom tetra and 2 gourmais
Some ware along the line i discoverd proper filtration, better lights, Co2 and the benefits of proper turnover of water using powerheads.

So i now have a Fluval 305 and a power head giving me probably around 25X turnover to t8 bulbs and a DIY Co2 kit (3 bottles 1 changed each week)

Moving swiftly on it went though another very scapes until about 5 weeks ago when me and my girlfriend moved into our 1st new house.

This is when i discoverd I would spend some time finding the wood i wanted and getting a layout that suited the tank and plants and flow of it all.
All of the plants were removed trimmed and put to one side whilst the tank was scaped.

The substrate is one layer of Tetra complete substrate toped with a mixed layer of the complete substrate and black roman gravel and then finally topped off with a plain layer of black roman gravel.
Any way enough of the typing hers the pics


View attachment 63329









The plants have been in now for only about 2-3 weeks and are already Kicking out new leaves runners and shoots, Some of the crypts had a little bit of melt but are all bouncing back with new leaves.







At the moment the tank is stocked with around 25-30 Galaxy Rasboras and 2 Firemouth chichilds I am looking to up the numbers of the Galaxys as they are so ruddy beautiful.






I do apologise for the poor quality of pics as i am still using the Iphone camera as the good one is still in a box some ware from the move.

 

[lljdma06]

And your firemouths aren't eating the galaxies? I'm surprised.

This is a good start. Don't worry about iPhone 4, with practice you can actually get some fair pictures from it. What is the background, it's cool. I like the jutting moss...

Liz

 

[alex.wardle]

Not even given them a look in, I have ben keeping a close eye on them and they really dont seam interested, Hopfully there will be a bigger tank on its way soon so the firemouths will not be in there 2 long term. Still operating with the old iPhone 3gs

The background is a jewel 3d one. its been in the tank for around 4-5 months now so has lost the brightness that had to start with, looks really natural now its been there for a while.
I am in 2 minds about the moss on the petruding bits of bogwood, because its in the main flow from the filter is collecting alot of debris on it. Shouldnt be to long now before the plants fill out and start to act more like a carpet, I am in 2minds about trying a HC carpet up and around the main bits of wood.

 

[alex.wardle]

 

[alex.wardle]

Ha. Joys of the iPhone all the pics look quality when viewed on the phone on the net but on a full sized mac screen they look like mess.

What does everyone recon I should plant (rap) to the wood. I think I will keep the moss on the bits pocking out of the back wall but would like something different on the main bulk of the wood. Jarva fern maybe or something a bit different.

Come on the green side I no one of you must have some good suggestions

I am also thinking of a very ambitious moss wall the hole way across the back as my 35l tank is now nearly just full of it

 

[alex.wardle]

OMG please can some one tell me what the Frick happened. Came to my tank today to add my normall dose of easy carb and found all of my Anubis had died. I thought it was bullet proof.
All of the leaves had come off all the basses and there was a White snotty substance all of the base on removing it all the basses smelt like pure rotten eggs. Non of them were berried they were all tied to the pieces of bogwood. Some advice would be great. all of the Anubis had been in the tank for at least 3 weeks now and 2 of the bits had been in my tank from day one so that makes them a year old.
Has this ever happened to any one before or has any one herd about this happening

 

[snowflake311]

Not sure what would case the Anubis to die. I have put excel right on my Anubis as a spot treatment with no problem. The smell might be dead bacteria. How is your water. Nasty slim sounds like fungus.

Something is off in the tank. Have you done anything different at all?

 

[alex.wardle]

Not sure what would case the Anubis to die. I have put excel right on my Anubis as a spot treatment with no problem. The smell might be dead bacteria. How is your water. Nasty slim sounds like fungus.

Something is off in the tank. Have you done anything different at all?

Well I had to scrap it all and chuck it in the bin as there was next to nothing left.
Nope nothing has changed since the rescape. DIY Co2 kept at a light green yellow. 8ml of easy carb each day and 9 hours photo period each day

 

[ian]

i have heard of this happening to anubias owners every now and again. I think it happened not so long back to Ryefish in her journal. There are many theories behind these including low PO4 (i personally don't believe that), to bacterial infections in the rhizome of the plant. You hear about Crypts doing the same thing, they can be in a tank for a year or more and all of a sudden they just melt away. Whether these are brought on by bacterial problem with the plant, i'm not sure.

 

[ian]

ps, 8ml of easycarbo is quite a lot for a 125ltr. That's 4x the recommended dose, I used 6ml on my 190ltr and this was plenty enough. Is there any reason for using this amount?

 

[alex.wardle]

ps, 8ml of easycarbo is quite a lot for a 125ltr. That's 4x the recommended dose, I used 6ml on my 190ltr and this was plenty enough. Is there any reason for using this amount?

Sorry Ian I meant I use 8ml of Easy Life ProFito every Sunday after a 30% water change, I dose 5ml of Easy Life EasyCarbo daily.

Cant believe they all just died of, What would you recommend as the next step,

Do a massive water change tonight as aposed to my regular 30% and leave it a few week before introducing any more plants and add any new Anubis one bit at a time and keep an eye on them

 

[alex.wardle]

I have had a idea about the tank and its next step.
In my second tank I have a shed load of moss and it is in need of a massive haircut.

Now for the question.
Do I
A. try an ambisious moss wall across the back?
B. rap piece of wood A
C. rap piece of Wood B
D. rap all the wood and then when i have enough moss again do the moss wall as well.

2 more full tank shots to show the growth over the past week
last week

this week

Side on
last week

this week

The grass is always greener on the other side

Has been some fairly good growth over the past week just really annoyed that nearly all the Anubis died off.

Any way enough of the updates. Piece of wood A is the long slender bit that branches into 2 at the end

Piece of wood B is the twisted piece with the Anubis in the middle

Idealy i would like to do the wall and the 2 bits of wood but I dont think there is enough moss to do it in one go.

 

[rlon36]

Tank is starting to look very good...one thing I'd do, regarding that big piece of driftwood and the part where it rises up to a point. I'd either put moss or ferns all over the top of it, giving it a tree-like appearance. If you use ferns, use narrow leaf and some superglue. Make it look like a palm tree or soemthing...that's just what comes to mind when I think what would make it look even better.

 

[alex.wardle]

Tank is starting to look very good...one thing I'd do, regarding that big piece of driftwood and the part where it rises up to a point. I'd either put moss or ferns all over the top of it, giving it a tree-like appearance. If you use ferns, use narrow leaf and some superglue. Make it look like a palm tree or soemthing...that's just what comes to mind when I think what would make it look even better.

Cheers for the suggestion but i really want a very natural look to the tank and the palm tree under water prop would not achieve that But I am going to drag ferns up it eventually

 

[alex.wardle]

Well i had a few spare hours today so I took the plunge. I made the start by giving my Nano a well over due trim.

(Sorry about the reflection couldnt be helped, such a sunny day today)

I was so impressed with the depth of moss up top that I didnt need to use it all and I didnt even have to touch the bottom bits which hopefully means that in a few weeks i recon I will have enough moss to do the back wall.

I went for the super glue option to attach the moss. So the bits are in soak at the moment.

but here is some pics of it.

Heres the Nano after its short back and sides. It may look a bit raggerdy ATM but the moss will bounce back in now time, Best thing is tho I didnt have to touch the bottom

I was gob smacked at how much shrimp Poo and other much that came out of the moss when i disturbed it, I assume thats why the moss is doing so well. Its being (Fertilized from the inside out)
The wood and Moss will be going back in the tank soon so will add some pics ASAP