3 tank

For some odd reason, it seems that helanthium tenellum really doesn't like osmocote capsules. The small test area i used right in the front left has almost all died and melted away. The more carpeting plants i try, the more i realise that carpets are a nuisance...

 

Due to a generous donation by @rsa , i now have a truly staggering amount of s repens. Thanks!

I pulled out the dying clumps of HT in the front left, and moved as many of the stems of s repens there as I could, just to get them started on the transition from a high co2 system to a low co2 system.

He also gave me some moss. I decided my vendetta against moss was unwarranted, and glued it to the driftwood to give it another try. Also, a small piece of anubias had broken off one of the clumps, and i found a handy hole running through the driftwood close to the HOB output, so i wedged it in there and surrounded it with moss.

I haven't even managed to use all of the s repens, the rest are still sitting in a bucket. Hopefully, come April, i can get that dirted tank going and plug it full of s repens

 

Your tank is looking really amazing!

Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk

 

@fux940510 . Was only a pleasure !! Tank is looking great ,keep us updated .

 

Thanks all

 

That is stunning, great job....I agree totally on the moss but it can be really nice

 

I decided to remove one of the lengths of driftwood separating the crypts from the helanthium tenellum, and i'm experimenting with one of the crypt wendtii green clumps by chopping off basically all the leaves and seeing if i can maintain a more compact growth. I've also swapped out the Tidal 55 filter for a Dophin C1000 that i had lying around, which i think was a bit of a fail. The filter is super loud, and took forever to get primed

 

Well, lockdown madness became a thing...this tank is basically no more. I got a bee in my bonnet about the nuisance of carpets and the BBA that was taking over everything, so i have pulled this scape apart completely. Everything that was rooted has been pulled out, leaving just the driftwood and aquasoil.

I took a layer of clay from my garden, baked it until completely dry, then crumbled it and put it through a sieve. This was then put in the base of one of the 45p-ish tanks. I had some leftover osmocote capsules, so i popped them open and spread the prills all over the clay dust. I then capped/topped off with Langa aquasoil from the destroyed 2 foot tank. The large rock, originally from the 2 foot tank, is the sole element of hardscape. All the crypts from the 2 foot tank have had their roots and leaves trimmed to about 4cm, along with the dwarf lily. Foreground was going to be some of the s repens i got from @rsa , but it all seems to be melting. I'll leave it for a while and see if it regrows. If not, then i'll see about finding something else that will stay relatively low and bushy to fill up the foreground. It currently looks terrible, so for the sake of my vanity i'll post photos once the crypts have grown out a little

 

Oddly enough, all the fish except for the betta seem to be preferring the new, open and uncluttered, "scape". Green neons are exploring the whole tank, cories are far more active, and the sparkling gourami is even out and about. The betta just sulks next to the heater though.

I did a very thorough clean of the 2 foot tank before taking the photos. All fish and remaining plants were put in a bucket with the biological media (in a mesh bag), and set up an air stone under the media. All aquasoil was removed, placed in a sieve and rinsed under the tap to remove all the mulm and other detritus. Tank was scrubbed inside and out with tap water. and dried with paper towels. Filter had a thorough scrub, as the muck stirred up by the destruction had clogged it emphatically. The driftwood had the anubias plucked off, and it too was then scrubbed under tap water. It was mostly to try and get rid of the nerite eggs, but that didn't work too well.

I had a spare terracotta pot lying around, and i've seen videos of these being used in some tanks, so i thought i'd give it a shot. I placed some filter floss in the bottom of the pot, and topped it up with the leftover aquasoil. The s repens were then placed in this pot.

I placed the new pot and freshly scrubbed driftwood back into the tank, not worrying about any rules or appearance, rather ease of maintenance and fish requirements. Then put in a thin layer of the rinsed aquasoil, probably about 5mm thick on average. I put the heater and filter back in, let it run for about an hour to get up to temp and settle a bit, then re-introduced the fish. I think there might have been some temperature shock, as some of the fish started lying on their sides at the bottom of the tank, but slowly got better over about an hour. Lesson for next time is to include a heater in the bucket.

For the 30 litre tank, i'm considering moving the equipment over to the right side, to try and hide behind the stone. The plan is for this to eventually be a dense, chaotic jungle for the betta. The crypts are putting out some new leaves, and the melting s repens is putting out new leaves too. The lily has some strange film growing around it, but there is a sprout, so will keep an eye on that. I've introduced a nerite snail to help keep the cycle going.

I got over my vanity, so attached some photos

 

Will the sticker on the pot not cause issues? I've heard sometimes the glue can sometimes be an issue.

It's a cool idea though putting the plants in the pot though! To over it a neat and clean look

 

That is a valid point...i'll pull it off now.

I had a strange idea, based on this and how ADA puts their large scapes together quickly. If you get a bunch of food safe plastic containers, about 8cm deep, and grow groups of plants in them, you basically have portable wabi-kusa bundles

 

Yeah - just make sure you have holes in the containers on the base / sides .... helps with move water inside the container. Works best if they are breathable.

Later Ferdie

 

Also true - drilling a bunch of holes and covering with filter pad should work, no?

 

Hi guys in need advice please I want to take this plastic plants out of my 2ft community aquarium and put in real plants I'm still new to this please advise as to what could work nice for me I've got 9 guppies, 2 mollies , 6 dani's, 2 rio tetras , 2 emperor tetras , 2 lemon tetras 2 angels , 2 plecos and a algae eater in this tank

 

Before you start investing in plants, please read up on those Rio tetras you have.

 

Hi @Geoffre ,

Welcome to the Forum

Your tank looks very nice
Great that you considering live plants but first check if some of the fish you have wont eat the plants

If I may suggest, start a thread just for your tank... tell us a bit about yourself and your plans on that thread and then you can ask all the questions and get loads of advice on it
Being yor own thread you can go back on it year after year and see the progress of your tank over time which is awesome

 

Thank you very much for your input I'm still figuring out how things work here