So, we started a planted tank .. in 2018

Love the anubius on the wood.
Also love the shrimp on the snail Pic.

[I don't generally have any plants out of the water but one has recently started to grow out the water so I've decided to leave it as such for a bit in case it helps with the algae.
Will look into liquid nutrient tests.
I've also raised the light slightly and will be a bit stricter with sticking to 8 hours per day.]

 

He ships apparently so let me know I'll pm you a number

 

Part 6

trying to be creative by jamming wood between two rocks with the plants glued on top.

Introduced some new fish and bought a wavemaker to help with circulation.

2019 September


Installed a coconut cave for the Apistos to hopefully breed, October 2019.
The corey were introduced to help keep the substrate clean. They dig up new plants whose roots aren't established yet - lesson learned. They were moved to another aquarium later.

And then I stopped taking photos of the tank until well into 2020 after having added 2 large amazon swords. All the stem plants have been removed and binned. There might have been some Val left over here but the days were numbered.

Blanket introduced between back of the tanks and the window to prevent overzealous house sitters from opening the curtains and inviting algae.



TBC

 

Oddly enough this happens quite often. Shrimp love to hitch rides on snails

 

Good to know!
Was definitely planning to add some coreys to my new tank when I eventually get it set up. Will make sure my plants have settled before adding them!

 

It's been running for more than a year and it helps to distribute the CO2. I use it on the pulse function, quite slow and with the longest interval between bursts. I like it because it attaches with a magnet rather than suction cups. Whether it's more or less beneficial than the always on types, I can't say but I'm never frustrated by hardening suction cups coming loose and finding the thing at the bottom of the tank digging up the substrate

 

Part 7

Christmas Day 2020:

more attaching plants to hardscape


I bought a nice piece of wood, about a meter long and had soaked it for almost 2 weeks to get it water logged. Once the wood was happy to lay at the bottom of the bath without weight, it was time to remove all the plants that were going to be moved and rearrange.

Before:

Sword in a clay pot. Very happy with the growth of the crypt with a root tab.



After:


January 15th:

added the dwarf hair grass

I like the current look more than the previous carnage but with changes comes algae again. Currently trying to get on top of a BBA outbreak most likely caused by the new wood having an outer layer that came loose. Green spot algae on the glass is food for the hill stream loaches so I don't mind that. I need to move the bristlenose male (+ albino female) if I want to prevent cave digging under the hard scape on the left. Also found the lotus bulb we had planted at the back of the tank.

Life stock from beginning to today:

Past:
Dwarf Neon Rainbows - possibly victims of CAE
Rainbows (moved to 6ft tank with congo tetras and various cichlids)
Apistograma - possibly victims of CAE
Chinese Algae eater (rehomed)
Flying Fox (rehomed)

Current:
Amano x14
Cherry Shrimp x20+
Otocinclus x4
Neon Tetras x22
Cardinal x1
White Cloud Minnows x10
Pencil Fish x8
Hillstream Loach x2
Bristlenose Pleco x3 + 100 (the two albinos will be moved soon)

 

Thanks, we went head first into this. Never got near the planned layout of an island. There are so many wonderful plants and perhaps if we had trimmed the stem plants early on, we may have stuck with that. If we planned another tank I think I might use some of the design ideas I've learnt of while watching the masters but I'm so fish orientated that the plants are always decorative for me.

Speaking of fish, I added something new. Will try get a photo

 

Thanks, I'm hoping with a few weeks growth, excel and some extra water changes the bba sorts itself out with the current livestock but I'll put a feeler out for a flying fox

 

Be warned that flying fox and siamese algae eater are not the same thing. Flying fox is often mistaken for SAE, but true SAE is the one you want.

 

Since they mislabled most of the time it's a lucky dip though?

 

True, though always good to do as much reading up on both beforehand as possible so you can try make sure you get a true SAE.