My Main Display Tank

Hi

It's time for an update. I tried some different camera settings last night. I think the pictures look a bit better now.

Firstly, some pics of the P. Scalares:









I got 2 apple snails last week:



I am winning the algae battle. I only have some GSA on the glass every now and then (which is easy to deal with) and then I have this nuisance green carpet like algae on the older, green leaves of Ammannia Gracilis. Most of these older leaves were on the plant when I bought it; clearly emmersed growth. So they are probably in the process of dying off in submerged conditions. Shall I just leave them to fall off or shall I trim them all? The new submerged growth is a nice healthy pink; the way it should be.



A closer pic of the algae:



Can somebody identify this type of algae? I know the picture is a little fuzzy, but I tried to zoom in as close as possible without losing too much focus.

And finally, a few full tank shots. I am actually quite happy with plant growth at the moment, I just want to get rid of the last little bit of remaining algae.





Regards
Lauré

 

Love the full tank shot It is beautiful I wish one day my tank will look the same I will be starting my planted tank at the end of the month so laure if you have any advice please share with me

 

as always this tank looks stunning

 

When my tank grow up i want it to look like that... minus the algae tho.

 

Laure, I have exactly the same algae on my crypt and Hygro Polysperma. Been battling with it for over 2 months. Increased Co2, O2 seems to have an effect on it

NO3 - 5-10ppm
PO4 - >5ppm :wondering:
8X39w over a 600 deep tank

I see you also have a blue tube. Actinic by any chance? I also have one, but its only on for about 6 hours

 

Is your PO4 test kit reliable? Which one do you use? I don't have one, but I am looking at buying the Red Sea kit. A LFS is now stocking the complete range of Red Sea accessories and you get 60 tests for R170. I was just wondering if it is any good and will it actually expire before I perform 60 tests? I don't really test much, other than NO3. I prefer to look at the plants and the algae and then I know if something is wrong. This helps me to gain some knowledge too, not just trust test kits. I look at mostly algae, because they react pretty quickly to a change in parameters. Plants take a bit longer. What I mean is if there is any green algae, then very likely PO4 too high. But if it is GSA, then NO3 is too high. Have a look at the other forum, I commented in your thread.

Also check the link from APC I posted in the "Ask the Professor" section. I think you will find it very interesting.

I don't know what actinic really means; it came with the tank. It's blue and its 10000K. :smile1: It is not on a timer. I feed the last meal of the day 10 minutes before lights out, and during this time I switch it on. Lights out is at 9pm. I just switch it off manually before I go to bed, usually between 10pm and 11pm. So never more than 2 hours per day.

 

Actinic is generally >15 000k and is blue to purple. I also have 2 10 000k and they are definitely not blue, more white/yellow.

Test kit is Hagen/Nutrafin drop test

 

OK I am probably wrong. It's been well over a year since I actually looked at that tube in such detail.

 

:bigsmile:

You Riccia carpet looks very good BTW!

 

Thanks I must admit I do like it very much, as most other guys are doing glosso and HC and micro swords, etc. Not many people I see around these forums use Riccia, so I wanted to try that just to create something a little different. And it does work nicely. Only thing: it's hard work! Monthly you have to uproot the whole thing and place the Riccia back underneath the net. But it only takes about 20 minutes. So it's not such a big deal. Then the rest of the month you keep clearing lose pieces of Riccia from the surface and I collect them and place them in a separate tank. I got tons right now...

 

The tank is looking good Laure!! I think you will win the battle of algae, keep at it. I love the scape and the Riccia looks very healthy. Good work.

What is that big leaf plant just right of center?

 

Nymphaea Tiger Lotus (but not very red in my tank for some reason )

What I find is that it send leaves up to the surface with the typical red speckled colouring, which I cut off at the base because that is how you "train" this plant to stop doing that. The other leaves that remain submerged are green with a light red speckle. The idea is that eventually it will stop sending the leaves up to the surface and hopefully then I will have red leaves with black and green speckles!

 

Hi all

I need some suggestions. I need to move that very large Ceratopteris Cornuta right in the front. I was not expecting it to grow just about 45cm high...

What can I replace it with? I am looking for a light green rosette type plant that grows no taller than 25cm. Any ideas? I can't put a low light Anubias or Cryptocoryne species there, as it would not be getting any filtered light and will probably not do very well.

 

Some sort of sword? Mayaca or Rotala Rotundiflora?

 

Mayaca fluviatilis, hmmm. Looks nice. Also a fast grower, which is handy in any tank. I haven't seen that advertised anywhere. It should contrast quite nicely with the Cornuta in the back and the dark green/reddish sword just in the centre.

 

If you willing to wait a couple of weeks, I can send down some stems. With high light and Co2 its growth is comparable to some Hygro's

 

Well I'm not in a terrible hurry. I am also thinking of replacing the Limnophila with possibly Myriophyllum mattogrossense. So it would be great if I can see who can organize the latter for me and then I can have them all shipped down to PE together. You in JHB, right?

 

Yip in JHB. No idea who has Myriophyllum

 

Possibly the easiest is if I buy it from a shop up there and then you just take some Mayaca to them and ask if they can ship it all together to me. We'll make a plan!

 

Hi

Time for a quick update. I have now purchased an additional external cannister filter, TetraTec EX1200 and so far I am very impressed. It comes loaded with media, but I discarded the carbon and in its place I added Sera Siporax. I actually had to throttle it down a bit on the output valve, as the plants started to resemble the trees here in PE!

I am also moving one or two plants around and will post updated pics soon. But I am desperately looking for Marsilea Crenata. I think the Riccia Fluitans carpet is now coming to an end. Just far too much maintenance. Looked great, but not really something one can sustain longterm.

How much light does one need to grow Glosso? I have 4 x 54W T5HO tubes and my water column depth is 45cm. I don't think I have enough light to grow Glosso, but perhaps I am wrong?

Regards
Lauré