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Shot of the right hand side of the jungle overgrowth, some 80+ stems in there.

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Right hand side after slash and burn...

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Right Side After

The center of the tank while overgrown...

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Center Before

Center shot after trim...

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Center After

Another shot from the right side of the tank...

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A close up of the right hand side after the trim. The ambulia almost created a blanket with its stolons. Heres a close up of it...

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Ambulia Ground Cover

Heres a shot of the shadow from the canopy the plants created on the surface of the tank...

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This is the ludwiga sp. after the jungle was cleared. These are now the most significant plants at the moment, in number and length.

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Ludwiga (repens?)

The alternatheras that have been with me since the beggining are now looking a bit better after almost losing them. I managed to recuperate them a bit by clipping the excess stem and replanting the tops. They seem to be doing ok now.

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Alternathera sp.

Some of the inhabitants... A cardinal tetra

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Cardinal Tetra

A Neon Tetra...

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Neon Tetra

Marble Hatchet... It still seems to have a bit of infection of aeromonas on the tail fin. Just recently sprouted and melafix is doing its job presently.

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Rineloricaria sp. This is the remaining riney that has developed odontodes on its back, barely noticeable on this pic.



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This next inhabitant needs no introduction...so without further ado, the star of the show!

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Mr. Hoplos

Hope you all enjoyed the pics. Thanks again for all the input provided along the way.

Much love,

James

Hi,
The next time you attack the plants, save the tops and
replace the rooted base with the new tops. Over time
the bases will turn a very dark green and become very
"woody" not producing the normal vibrant growth that
you used to have.

After removing that large a quantity of fast growing stem
plants, watch your water chemistries and for a possible
outbreak of algae. You removed a huge "sump" that was
absorbing nutrients out of the water.
If you have been adding fertilizers, be sure to reduce the
quantity, as the plants that needed them are not there now.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

James , Wow you really did take the sword to the Ambulia . I have to back up Frank .
I had the exact problem with my Ambulia going all woody at the bottom and useless
for getting new growth. In the end I took it all out after it got infected with a
particularly slimy algae . My own fault I should have got rid of the bottoms earlier
and used only the healty growing tops.

Glad to hear your disease probs are starting to abate , sorry about the riney though .
Nature is ruthless sometimes

Tank looks great , if a little bare after the forest fire . .


Garry

Oh no Red!
I don't understand? You had such a lush forest. I can see where it needed thinning out, but why did you cut almost all of it out? Why didn't you leave some tall strands? I know I'm new to planted aquaria & don't understand a lot of the reasoning behind things. In the long run, I know it'll be ok, as that stuff grows fast.......like having a bad hair cut. I'm just curious as to why you went to such an extreme?

Sorry for the loss of your fishie. I know you've had more than your share. You seem confidant that your tank is coming under control now, so I really hope it all keeps improving for you.

Thanks for the pics........now I REALLY can't wait for the next ones, where everything is grown in again.

Hi Frank and Garry,

Thanks for the tips. The tops were saved from the ambulia, all 125 of them, and the bottoms I left in the tank thinking that they will sprout new growth with all the strength of a well rooted plant. Seems my rationale was backwards though hehe, typical me.

My intention though was to rid the tank of older plants that had more algae on them which may be collecting or harboring bacterial or fungal organisms. In an effort to promote good circulation and hopefully provide for a healthier environment.

The fish loved the jungle as did I, cant argue with that. But I truly thought that by trimming (or hacking away in this case) the plants at the bottom, I would promote fuller growth from the bottom up. Ill follow your suggestions for the next trim.

Ill keep a close eye on the parameters as well, thanks for that heads up. About the algae well, we can make a little room for it but the UV has been keeping that growth at a good level.

Fertilizers, well I havent used any for about two months or more, but after the trim I added a half dose of Nutrafin Plant Grow and a quarter dose of Tetra Flora Pride in an effort to boost growth on the newly trimmed ambulia. This was done after a 50% WC took place.



Patty and Doe,

A haircut huh? I think I may need one myself, starting to look like a hippie. But a bad hair cut patty? I had plenty of those, Im probably just laying of some of the frustration from past events, lol.

Lush forest it was but was not having enough circulation and at this point I need clean water everywhere and no stagnant areas whatsoever in order to help out the fish in their demise. Plus it was getting a little ridiculous to the point that I only had a window in the middle of the tank to watch the fish, sometimes farlowella would go unnoticed for days at a time. Im sure the fish loved the break from seeing my face every day though.

Extreme, well Patty that is just me, going from one end of the scope to the other, always black and white. I do like the grey areas though, but they seem a little hazy sometimes. So clear cut or lush jungle and in between the balance, which the tank will reach by itself in its own process and I will be there to enjoy it.


Thank you all for your sentiments towards riney, it was a hard blow. He was a great fish and will always be remembered.

I will keep you all posted on how the ambulia grows out during these next week or two. If estimates are correct I'll have plants reaching the surface in two weeks.

All the best and thanks for the great input and feedback,

James

Hi everyone,

Its been a long time since my last update.

Ill begin by saying how right you all were for recommending I replanted the tops of the ambulia instead of maintaining the lower, older growth.

After this time elapsed the ambulia never really took off and stayed small, not going past the halfway point of the tank in most cases.

So lesson learnt, I did another trim to the tank, this time I uprooted the old system of limnophila and replanted the tops on the left side of the tank and kept a smaller lower growth of the old ambulia on the right hand side.

Nontheless, I took out most of the patch on the right side of the tank and replaced the corner area with clippings from the ludwiga.

The anubias seem to be doing nicely on the wood and gravel on the left hand of the tank.

While the Echinodorus was almost lost due to shading from the ambulia. They were replanted and two small plantules remain of these species.

The Swords still wont thrive but the leaves growing out are nice and lush.

The Java Fern does not seem to want to settle in, and most leaves are turning dark all over. I wonder what defficiency can cause this on java ferns?

The alternatheras suffered from lack of light,melting in lower leaves and prescense of small holes on leaf surface. This partly due to the ludwiga shading over them but also I think the juice in the bulbs had worn out.

Thus the bulbs were replaced with 3 newer Sylvania Oktron FO30T8's of 30 Watts each.

Here is the result of the new trim:

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Right Hand side...Notice the new section of ludwiga in the right back corner.

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Left side of tank...

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Heres the star of the show...

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His friend the rineloricaria...

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And some local fauna...

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Red, those plants are looking great! Those Ambulia are looking so lush & full after you planted the tops of them! I do see the holes in the Alternatheras. I hope they recover for you, as I know you like them.

Your tank changes so much. I'll be glad when it finally gets settled to where you are happy with it.
I'm also happy to see Mr. Haplos is hanging in there for you. I know you're especially attached to him.

Well, I'll await more pics later & see how your tank has changed again I wish you the best of luck with it.

James , Nice job , should grow in very well for you .
Garry

James

I am glad the ambulia is doing better. I do agree that replanting the tops has made a difference in the look of the tank. Good job

Shane

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

Hello Good Friends,

Thanks for your nice comments on the tank, always greatly appreciated.

Heres another photo session of the tank and its inhabitants. Yes Patty, more changes happened, but only minute ones...hehe

I changed the hardscape a bit and brought forth a piece of wood that was hiding in one of the corners behind another piece of DW. Thanks to Patty, who pointed it out and made the suggestion. I think it looks a lot better, what do you all think?

Also cleared out the frontal left corner of ambulia and transplanted them to the left back corner. Its a bit of a shaded area but hopefully the ambulias will take to the shade.

This allowed the plants in the left corner to be appreciated and now we can see the swords and the nicely growing anubias.

The ludwiga tops are sprouting new leaves after recovering from clipping and replanting, hopefully they will stretch upwards and start covering the corner and hind walls of the tank.

The echinodorus has also shown some improvement after clearing out some of the shade from atop of them.

I uprooted the alternatheras and replanted them by burrowing the naked stalks deeper into the gravel and leaving only the tops showing from the substrate. New leaves coming out nicely, a bit shriveled up but nice looking in color and thickness.

I got a new plant from my friend El Tiburon Tailandes, many thanks go out to you Tib. The thing is, I really dont know what type of plant it is since its very little and only recently has been showing normal growth patterns. We will call this plant X and if anyone has an idea of what type of plant it is please let us know.

Ive been ferting with both Tetra Flora pride and Nutrafin Plant Gro for the last 3 weeks, hoping that this will help my pityful java fern, the leaves turn black and start to seem like they die. Any ideas on what may be causing this behaviour?

Hope you all enjoy the pics.

Thanks again,

James



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Left side...

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Center...

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Right side...

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Anubias...

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Swords...

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Echinodorus...

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Java Fern...

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A beautiful clump of algae...

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Alternathera line...

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This is plant X, first a full shot...

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Plant X close up...

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The lot of them marbles...

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Riney...

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I couldn't see the fish, so I played around with one of the photos. Nice fish.

Nice pics, plant x is rotala indica( rotundifolia). Love your hatchets.

Brengun thanks for the touch up on the photo of the hatchets. Greatly appreciatted.

Thank you as well, clownloachfan, for the ID on plant X, I was looking it up and Rotala rotundifolia seems to be the precise plant species. The term indica pertains to another plant though different from the R. rotundifolia.

Great help, thank you guys!

All the best,

James

Oh yeah Red....... point the finger at me in case no one likes it.

But you're right! You DO have other plants on the left side of your tank besides the ambulia.
I can see them now.....very pretty plants!

Well, now that I can see your other piece of driftwood, I'm going to name it camel-back. I had no idea it looked like that. Leave it to you to find odd driftwood. Now you have a camel-back & a Nessie.

I like that new plant. I like it's different shape, like fingers reaching upwards.
Once everything grows in (someone grab Red's scissors) I think you will like this look a lot better. If not, you can always change it around again.
Personally I like it better myself.

James , you have something new for us to look at everytime I peek at your tank . Tank looks interestingly different if a little sparse compared to what it was , no wonder Patty likes it .

I like the Hatchets too, very different looking fish .

Your Java fern problem is interesting , how long have they been in there ?
Shouldn't be a light problem so its either Carbon or Macros , How do you take care of these ?
It shouldn't be micros , but do you add any Flourish or similar ?

Any way love to help if I can .

Garry

Hi guys,

Well its been a while, sorry for not responding back in such a long time.

You will be happy to know that I havent "trimmed" since my last post and the tank is looking much the same.

The plants are growing very slowly. Ive continued to use Nutrafin Plant Gro that contains some micros and sometimes add a bit of Tetra Flora Pride but I think these ferts stop short on my plants requirements.

I have been advised to use Hydroponic fertilizer for the micros, this is what most everyone here uses, but Ive been reluctant to introduce non fish intended products in my tank.

Thanks for you comments Patty and Garry, they always put a smile on my face.

Garry the java fern has quite a while in there, Id have to say more than 6 months, but it hasnt really have a good foothold on the wood. I have retied it and now its secured with 12 pound fishing line hoping that the roots will become one with the wood.

The new leaves of the fern roll out and are nice and green but soon after turn very clear on the edges and then those edges turn into brown.

I add no CO2 to this tank, its only 1.8 WPG, do you think I should start running some addition of this in order to help the plants out?

Your help and all of the others support is greatly appreciatted.

Thanks again,

James

Well, i am glad the tank is still going great, keep up the great work. If anything changes, post some pics

Hi James,
I'd stick with the fertilizer routine that you are using
now. The plants all look well "fed." Generally speaking
it is only when one starts "driving" the plants with
light over 2 wpg, that the addition of CO2 becomes
a necessity. It would not hurt, and the plants would
appreciate it, but they won't give you the huge increase
in growth that would be commensurate with your money outlay.
To get that, you would need the injected CO2, and around
3 wpg. Then, the plants would "take off."
Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--