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but you have a 59 cent thermometer

Hey, it is $1.69 at Big Al's

So, what's wrong with this thermometer? I thought that the glass ones (which I have) are the most reliable if one doesn't want to purchase a probe. What do you have tetratech?

About the filter:
I was very happy with my AquaClear 70 (formerly 300) on my 29G tank and most of the time I had to limit the flow a little as the output created a rather strong current. When I bought the 20G tank I assumed that an AquaClear 50 (formerly 200) will do the same trick in this tank, it is supposed to have a flow rate of 200 gph. I initially set it up on the right side of the tank. Within just a few weeks I got BGA on the left side, as the current created by this filter (it is physically much smaller than the AC 70) is rather weak and never seemed to reach the left side. Switching it to the middle eliminated this issue. The second reason is design related. The intake tube has a certain length that requires the substrate to be rather low in a tank that is only 12" tall. I shaped my tank so that the left and right back areas are higher, this way gunk will flow off these "hills" and can be easier collected. And - substrate height was sufficient enoungh for plants to develop a nice root system. The substrate in the front of the tank is so shallow that even the tenellus has issues developing nice roots in it.

And that's it

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Beautiful simple tank. The new background's great. Love it !

Why are you still logged on at 4 or 5am (sorry not sure of the time difference now)in the morning ?

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

bensaf,

Oh - that is a very nice compliment. Are you sure you are not trying to just make me feel better about my large tank issues ?

What am I doing up at 4 - 5 AM? Well - I am not "still" up, I am up again. My son used to wake every day between 3 and 5 AM for the first 3 years of his life and my "nighttime child care shift" started at 3. So, ever since, I am an early riser, sometimes 3 and sometimes 5, mostly around 4. You have no idea how peaceful the house is at that time of the day .

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

LF,

What time to you normally get to bed then?

Second, Man you really think about things...

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Not much has changed in this tank since I took the last picture about a month ago. The Apistos have since been moved to the big tank, 3 male Neon Dwarf Rainbows have been added, then briefly 2 German Rams that died 3 days later and left me with a case of Ich that I am currently treating. Also, a female Rainbow from the main tank has been added yesterday as she seems to suffer from dropsy (a second one had to be put down today).

Plant growth continues to be slow, but the moss and the Wisteria in the back will need some thinning out soon. I recently thought about redoing the tank completely, with another substrate and what not, but the Ich changed these plans, or at least put them on hold for the next few weeks.

Ingo

Attached Image:

Tank this Weekend

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

O think you need to add some more solid things caves statues idk something but that just my opinion I love this tank so much to it gives them plenty of things to swim around in and it's really cool. I personally just like to see another color besides green when i look at a tank but if your a person that really likes to imulate what they have in the wild then more power to ya!

Yeah newbie, I am more into imulating what they have in nature, although tanks rarely can achieve this (think turbulent river streams, biotopes, and the such).

Thank you very much for the input and compliments, every opinion is very welcome and appreciated.

Adding another color than green (actually, the plant on the left back is orange - Ludwigia Narrow Leaf - and the one in the left front - red Crypt Wendtii - is brownish red) is rather hard as most true red plants require way more light than I am providing with this setup.

Thanks again,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ok,

So - I had a few hours to spare and decided to give the tank a make-over. The timing for it was just right, there were only the resident Platies in the tank and 2 weeks earlier I finished a two week long Ich treatment (with success, I may say). The fern had grown to a point where it needed a major trim no matter what, it was so wide that it shaded the Pygmy Chain Swords in the front so much that most of them died.

Anyway, here is the tank just before I started:

Attached Image:

This Morning

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Next, I removed half the water and filled it into two buckets. I pulled out all the Narrow Leaf Ludwigias and placed them into one bucket, followed by the three adult Platies. It wasn't the easiest way, but I also have tiny baby Platies in the tank that I want to safe. So, after the adults were removed all the remaining plants were added into the other bucket, including 8 babie Platies

The two pieces of wood with the moss and the rocks in the tank were placed in a third bucket.

Here is the tank after all plants were gone:

Attached Image:

Half Empty or Half Full ?

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Next it was on to cleaning the remainder of the tank. Getting all this gunky gravel out was pretty messy, in particular because I intended to save some of it for the new layout as a bacteria provider.

Here is the tank all empty, looks as good as new

Attached Image:

All Gone

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

After a good cleaning to get the remaining Laterite stuff out, it was time to add the gravel base layer back in. I kept it very low in the front and the sides so that it does not show anywhere above the black bottom frame.

Here is the tank with the Deep River Gravel bottom layer:

Attached Image:

Empty with Gravel

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

And on we go to the addition of my newest favorite substrate, Eco Complete .

I added about 30lbs on top of the gravel and went on to shape it a little, lower in the front and middle of the front.

Here is the Eco Tank

Attached Image:

Eco-ized

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Then I went on to clean the driftwood. Once it was all clean I decided that I will add it back in without any moss attached at all. If I should not like that then I can always get some from my 29G and grow it out.

With the wood I also added two bigger rocks that were left over from my recent 40G Breeder set-up.

Here is the tank with the main hardware in place:

Attached Image:

Main Hardware

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Next I added a few smaller rocks to the sides of the big rock on the right of the tank. Also, a few small rocks were added to the left side, extending the lineage created by the driftwood.

Here is the tank with all Hardscape in place:

Attached Image:

Tank with All Hardscape

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Then I added the water into the tank. I initially thought that I may reuse the old tank water from the buckets, but given that the tank has basically only 3 Platies (plus tiny fry), that I have a seeded filter (2 sponges), and a layer of old gravel at the bottom of the tank, I decided to use fresh water only.

I added the Narrow Leaf Ludwgia, a few remaining Pygmy Chain Swords, and quite a few Wiseria clippings, most of which are from this tank but have been less visible as they were behind the driftwood.

Eh voila, here it is:

Attached Image:

All Done

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

For a better look, here is a closer shot of the tanks left side. Sorry it is not that straight, but I was in a rush

As you can see, the Platies are back in the tank, I first added the 8 fry and then the adults.

Attached Image:

Left Side

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Here is a shot of the right side. As you can see, the combination of large rock with small ones seems to work well together, except for the fact that the large one has sharp edges and the small ones are rounded. I hope this does not disturb too much.

Attached Image:

Right Side

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Here is another shot of the tank through the right side glass panel. This gives you a better idea about the available depth for the Narrow Leaf Ludwigia behind the big rock. There is also the heater for the tank. I hope the Ludwigia will be ok with the heat.

Attached Image:

Right Side Panel Shot

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

And there is one more, just for good measure

Here is a closer look at two of the 8 fry that I added back into the tank. The swim around pretty much and it doesn't even seem like the adults have any interest in eating them.

I guess they figured that there is enough space and food for all of them.

And that was it. Please let me know what you think,

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

Platy Babies

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Looks good Ingo. So you have had a busy weekend, I can see. Are you training your wisteria to creep?

I'm amazed that with so little cover your fry aren't being eaten. Lucky you.

Cheers
TW

LF,

The make over looks pretty sharp. Looks as if it was really time for a change.

Where did the DW come from?
Are you planing on keeping this the QT tank?
Just starter plants or are you going to keep these ones?

Mix of rounded and sharp rocks doesn't look bad to me. The way I see it is: the sharp rock just fell in to the river and the rest have been bouncing there way down stream for some time becoming round.

I guess thats all I have for now. Thanks for keeping the rest of us on our toes!



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

you have far too much energy

OH TOLEEDY!

To respond in order:

Robyn - thanks for the compliment. I think eating fry is somwhat related to stay within the tank. These Platies are in there since August last year (at least the old female is as the others are her kids) and have seen many fry come and go. They must know that there is no danger that more fry would conclude in not enough food.

Wings - Also, thanks for the compliment and your perception of my rock mixture. To answer your questions:

Where did the DW come from? - It always was in the tank, this are the branches that held the Xmas Moss. They are from Malaysia, if I remember that right, bought at my LFS.
Are you planing on keeping this the QT tank? - Yes
Just starter plants or are you going to keep these ones? - This pretty much are the plants for the tank, I may change things a little, maybe add some moss and maybe a small anubias, but not sure yet. In particular because this is the QT I don't want to spend a lot of effort on maintenance, given that one BAD disease could wipe it all out.

Dan - And that is coming from the man who does about 200 DIY projects on his 143 tanks at the same time. BTW< how is all of that going?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

What are you talking about DW Dan!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Very Nice LF

Looks like a very attractive layout in terms of both placement and color. My only critism at this point as you probably guessed it is the round river stones.
It takes away from the natural pleasing look of the wood and rocks. If you could find smaller pieces of the main rocks and crumble them away from the main pieces in a diminishing sequence that would really be nice.

My Scapes

Agree with tetra's take on the rocks. The rock on the left looks very similar to the main one on the right in terms of color and texture. Is it possible to break that rock into a few pieces - leaving the main chunk on left, but spreading the smaller bits around on the right as tetra suggested

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Back in the saddle!

Never good enough,

Well, I mentioned a little earlier that I will probably draw criticism for the rounded stones, and I sure can rely on you guys to rub it in

I have a few spare rocks of that kind, I will see if I can smash them.

Thanks for the compliments otherwise, glad NowherMan6 found his way to this log,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I have a few spare rocks of that kind, I will see if I can smash them.

A nice hard smash against the cement outside should do the trick.

In terms of scaping (should you go this route) I guess you can either go for a more planned out Amano look with the stones, arrange them in a group of three kinda and create a balance over there, or you can use a bunch of smaller ones to just drop them along randomly, chaotically.

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Back in the saddle!

A nice hard smash against the cement outside should do the trick

Now when you do this... make sure to yell a lot about something or another. It will help to keep the neighborhood thinking you're the crazy German nextdoor.

Maybe try something like this:
~The next time you show up with that friend of yours, Roll. I am going to send you right to bed rock!

P.S.
Sorry tetra and Nowher are against me on the rocks! I think they need to step out side the box of rocks and have a little more fun!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Never good enough

To be honest unless your photography is fooling me , this is the best work I've seen yet to come out of that bada bing fishroom.

Your finally not worrying about the corners of the tank (not yet anyway) and the result is a more natural laybut within the space.

My Scapes

Nice comments guys,

Just keep in mind that this is a QT, probably the prettiest QT you have ever seen , but still. With this I mean that I will not put a huge effort into the tank and use it as a playground to experiment only with it when there are no fish in quarantine.

Thanks again, if you here me yelling that means that I am smashing,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

this is the best work I've seen yet to come out of that bada bing fishroom

Tetratech,

I haven't seen your entry until right now, you must have added it while I was adding my response to the other guys.

Well, thank you Sir

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I like the overall shape and can see what you are trying to do. But 2 things I find off putting.

The two very obviously different pieces of driftwood bug me. They are different shades and types of wood and I can't get past it.

The other is, yes, the round rocks. Works better on the right side where they are more overgrown and partially hidden. But ideally smaller pieces of the same rock as the big ones would work so much better.

Be interesting to see how this one works out.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

I hear you on the wood and rocks.

To be honest, I didn't even notice the different colors of the wood until I had all the moss stripped off and added them bare to the tank. For the time being, this will have to do as I don't know when I would find a nice replacement piece.

This week I will try to smash some rocks. I remember trying this already with the rocks that are in the big tank, but throwing them about 15 feet in the air and letting them crash down only concluded with dents in the pavement

And otherwise, grand-master Bensaf? Is there anything good to say about it ?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

So, the new layout is now one week old, things are going ok and the tank pretty much has not changed during the week. I didn't have the time to smash rocks yet, so the round ones are still in there

Attached Image:

Tank 1 Week after Redo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

What I did though this weekend was to add some clipping of Wisteria from the 125G into the tank to raise the back vegitation a little. Interesting to me is how the green plant in the left back creates this green aura around it. This is not the case if you look at the tank directly.

Attached Image:

Latest Picture

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Here is a close-up of one of the few Pygmy Chain Swords that I saved from the last setup. They are all very small and barely hanging in. I hope that they settle and become somewhat larger.

Attached Image:

Pygmy Chain Sword

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

And here are two (one in focus) of the Platy fry that I saved last week. In all, I saved 8 but already one day later I only could find 3 of them. I have to say that some of the saved ones were rescued from the HOB filter, so they may have been damaged. The 3 that I can find are all swimming around in the open, although they could serve easily as a snack to the adults. I would guess their age to be about 2 weeks.

Attached Image:

Fry

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

As I said I really like the way you laid this one out. The hardscape position I thought was exceptionally nice (other than the 2 wood thing brought out by the Grand Master).

I used the same method to break up rocks. I threw them straight up in the air in my garage and got a nice dink in my garage floor (keep it between us, the wife doesn't know)
You might be able to weaken the rock structure by using a screwdriver and a hammer (use protective eye gear) and then threwing it up in the air again.

Back to aquascaping. IMO if you let the ludgwia grow too tall on the right it will not look as good in the layout.

My Scapes

I used the same method to break up rocks

Great minds think alike

I am not gonna tell the wife about your holes if you don't tell about mine

Thanks for the compliment on the tank, we will have to see how it evolves over time. I am not too worried about the growth of the Ludwigia, all plants in this tank are growing really slow. Although, maybe this will change with the Eco now, we will see.

Over time I may replace some of the older Wisteria with new clippings as the old one is not in the best shape either. I can tell that I neglected the fertilizing regime in that tank. But I had a reason: I didn't want to stress new arrivale with elevated nitrates, so every time when new fish were QTed I didn't use ferts and Excel for at least 2 weeks in a row.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I actually think that the Platy fry pictured above is no longer available for photo taking. Either they have been sucked up into the filter or they paid a price for swimming in the open. I didn't feed the tank on Friday and forgot it yesterday (came home late), so maybe the grown ups got too hungry. So this morning, when I fed them, there was only one fry left, and that was a smaller one than the ones pictured.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

And by now there is no fry left. I assume the way the tank is layed out does not really lean itself to fry surviving long enough to not be eaten.

Oh well, I assume I don't have to worry too much though, I for sure have enough platies

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Too bad about the fry. I still have not had any fry survive, if I leave them in the tank. Sometimes I think they might, cause I see them everyday for a week - but never for much longer.

But, you have a lot of platies, so we know you'll soon have more

Cheers
TW

Thanks Robyn,

Yeah, I don't have to worry about the number of platies I have, I would say that so far I purchased 5 all together (3 sunset 2 twin bars) over a span of 1.25 years and I probably had overall maybe 40 (some died, some were given away, some were culled).

Thanks again,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Here is a new shot of my 20G, after having had a week with basically no power for 48 hours (see 125G log for details). All plants seem to have survived the situation just fine, maybe the Wisteria has suffered a little as a few leaves are melting (but I don't think it is anything to worry about).

Attached Image:

Full Tank

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

This one is an experinent. After my last redo of this tank there was a tiny fragment of Xmas Moss left on the wood (in 2 spots) and I decided to keep it there.

Now I am wondering how long it will take until it will take over the wood again

Attached Image:

Moss on Wood

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

OK,

Recent events brought a trio of Apistogrammas into my posession, details about this can be found in My 40G Breeder Log. Also there is the introduction that lead to the events that I will describe here.

The male was so agressive that I had to change the scape to give the females more hiding space.

Here is the tank before the change, notice the flower pot design , an attempt to make the tank more Apisto friendly.

Attached Image:

Before Change

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I forgot to mention it, but in the previous shot you can see the female Triple-Red in front of the driftwood and the fins of the Double-Orange male just to the left of the thermometer.

Next, I removed wood, rocks, and plants from the left half of the tank. I decided to keep the right half as is, it seems to have enough hiding spaces over there.

Here you see the female Double-Orange on the left, and the male on the right.

Attached Image:

Half Done

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Then I placed the wood back in, I also added another piece that allows to hide underneath as it is a form of a bridge (the one in front, happens to be from Jeff Senske ). The I added a rock in the way back left corner and another one in the middel of the tank, basically as additional screens.

Last but not least, the plants were added back in.

Attached Image:

All Done

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

The initial plan was then to put the male in a breeder net, but so far, in the last hour or so, all 3 fish are swimming around. There is still some pushing by the male, but the females are not fleeing for their lives.

I plan on leaving the male in to see how it goes, I can always put the breeder net in if I seem it fit (I built it already).

Here is the Triple-Red in the left front corner of the tank.

Attached Image:

Triple-Red Female

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi,
I don't think I'm in favor of that whatever it is in the
left front. It's too massive and instantly draws all my
attention to that "thing." Perhaps if it were further
back into the tank, with some plants in front of it to
break it up, or if it was draped with some plants, and
further back into the tank, it would not be so distracting?

Frank


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

And here is the Double-Orange female above the Senske wood, I guess she likes it

Most of the time the females currently take turns in the front left corner, and if a decision has to be made on who gets it then the Triple-Red is the clear winner.

Attached Image:

Double-Orange Female

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

And last but not least, before I respond to Frank's input, here is the reason for the change, an over-the-top ready male, young and inexperienced one may add.

I hope the females have enough spots now and I can keep them all in there without having to resort to the breeder net.

Attached Image:

Double-Orange Male

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

OK now, on to Frank's comment:

Frank, you may not remember, but this is my QT. All fish that enter the Ingo household have to go through here

As such, it's primary purpose is to get fish healthy and then transfer them to whatever tank they are slated for.

Part of the time, the tank is empty except for the permanent Platies, but other times it has to accomodate its temporary guests. If this includes a temporary distrubance in the design, so be it.

In this particular case, increasing the number of hiding spaces has 100% priority over looks, and I am sure that you are the first one to agree.

And don't make me tell Jeff Senske that you call his wood a "thing"

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi Ingo,
You are absolutely correct. I'd completely forgotten that
this was a QT tank. Actually, it's taking on a life of its
own and could easily become another show tank.
Sorry....

Frank


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

See,

You made the best compliment that a QT can receive, that someone doesn't even recognize it as a QT.

No need to say sorry, Frank, under normal tank conditions you would have had a very valid point

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

It's too massive and instantly draws all my
attention to that "thing."

Now where did I hear this before??

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Now where did I hear this before??

Somehow I was hoping you would not come across this thread, Wings. There was no way that you simply could have ignored that, wasn't there ?

Well, comment is in post above

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hehe, that really is a "thing", it looks like it could be hidded a bit more with the plants as soon as you get some growth and not be so invasive.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Ok, here is another look at the Thing, not to defend my position, but to explain further. The Apistos are not the only fish looking for a hiding spot, half the time the female Platies hide out as well. Reason is the same, a pesky male. Here you can see the smaller male Platy chase after the larger female, he does that hours in a row. At the same time, the second female (not pictured) is hiding in one of the new nucks.

The spot in the pictrure where the female Apisto is enables the fish to swim under and through the Thing, reaching the next level of defense, aka more driftwood hiding spots, without having to come into the open. Actually, pretty much the whole left side of the tank is now covered with wood and rock, there are only a few spots left into which I planted the Wisteria.

Ingo

Attached Image:

Thing

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Somehow I was hoping you would not come across this thread, Wings. There was no way that you simply could have ignored that, wasn't there ?

Well you see I didn't know how to take it right off the bat. I thought about just laughing and saying haha LF has a thing! But I resisted.

Speaking of the original "Thing", you should read about it in my log.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Thanks Wings

Otherwise, this tank is still involved in the gender bending mystery of my Apistos, and I have no clue as to what is going on.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

One quick update shot of the QT this weekend. Since about a week or so I added a few additional "Hiding Options" to the tank. Given that I didn't want to lose any plant area I stacked a rock and a pot on top of the wood. I know it is not the prettiest, but at least it assures that even the most scared Apisto is getting some food.

On that frontier, all is the same - meaning that I believe to have at least two males, maybe even all 3 are males.

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

Full Tank

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

What pot

Errrmmm, looks very ummm...functional is the word I think.










So how are the ?confused? apistos?

EDIT: Oh, do I see some of the bolbitis in there?

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

What pot
I would much prefer you stand the pot upright and have some clowns head with flowers on it pop out every few seconds.




My Scapes

Yeah yeah, just keep on using my desparate situation to make fun of my setup, but I don't want the male gang in there to kill each other.

With regards to the Apistos, I added some comment to your offer in my 40G Log, as they are still confused.

And yes, I added some small pieces of Bolbitis (and micro swords) to this tank as well, just for the fun of it (and to see how it does under non-high-tech settings.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

What are you using for lighting and CO2 on that tank?

Mike,

The lighting on this tank is an AGA double flourescent strip light, with 2 x 20W 6,700K. But I ordered a new Coralife 65W PC strip for it which I hope to put on next week. Not because I really need it, just because

CO2: When the tank is not housing fish in QT (except the resident Platies) then the tank gets 10ml of Flourish Excel once a week after the water change (50%). Sometimes I only change the water every other week, depending on my time availability.

Well, I removed the pseudo female Apistos this week, and added Matty's real females. As such, the enormous structure on the left was no longer needed. Here is the tank now:

Attached Image:

Tank Now

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I still have two AquaClear 50 hanging on the tank, and if the neighbor asks for his filter then I will give one of them to him. I ordered another one anyway as I like the idea to have less current but with the same filtration effects.

Here is a closer look at the left tank side I like the little Wisteria in front of the wood that almost looks like a palm tree (didn't get light in the lower parts as it was smacked between the wood pieces).

Attached Image:

Left Side

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Here is one of the two female Cacs that I got from Matty, thanks again for that

They seem to settle in ok, although they still have problems identifying the white flakes that float in the water column as food. They rather wait until the flakes are on the substrate and then pick them up. All my Apistos started off like that until they realized that they get more of the food if they feed on the surface.

Attached Image:

New Female

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And lastly, here is a closer look at my Narrow Leaf Ludwigia. I have never seen it becoming so red in my 125G with way more light and CO2. Maybe redding has not so much to do with light as assumed

This plant, originally transported into the tank from the 125G as clippings, is now the sole survivor of Ludwigia in all my tanks as I got bored of it in the big tank. The leaf size is maybe half as large as it was in the big tank which makes it look quite a bit better, IMHO.

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Narrow Leaf Ludwigia

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In the last week the tank has seen one of its new filters go to the legitimate owner of it, my neighbor. Today, I added a few goodies to the tank, one being another new AC50 to replace the one given away. I like the idea of having 2 filters on the tank and run them at slow speed.

The other treat for the tank is a brand new 65W light unit that I bought. Of course Coralife, and of course 6,700K. We will see what the tank does with that much light, like what - over 3wpg?

Anyway, I just remembered that this tank is now a little over one year old and I think I would like to show some full shots that reflect the tank's changes over that year.

Here it is 2 weeks (or something like that) after initial setup:

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After Setup

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Then the tank saw some minor changes in the plants that it contained, you will have to read through the log to find out why things are the way they are at the individual stages:

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Growing

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Growing of these plants worked out so well that there was soon nothing left but plants and what seems just like a little water,

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More Growing

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Then the tank saw its first major change, the complete redo to contain moss and wood, getting a little more styled.

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Starting to Style

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This basic setup persisted for quite a while, I liked it and it gave the shy new fish a welcoming home. Nevertheless, it was not easily maintained as the moss needed constant trimming and the tenellus in the front didn't grow that well either.

Here is the tank with the same layout at a latter stage:

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Later Stage

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After another major overhaul, the tank got its current layout, although it went through some changes in order to house a few gender confucsed Apistos:

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Current setup

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And here is the tank now tonight, with the addition of the other second filter and the new light. I think my fertilizer routine for this tank has to be more stable now.

Attached Image:

New Light

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Last but not least, the whole tank again, this time including the entire light unit. I like the look of such a system more than I like the double flourescent fixture that I had on it before.

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With Light Unit

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Nice chronology of a planted tank. O.K. so now that this tank joins its other high-light cousins what are you going to do with dosing, etc. The tank will have to at least get a daily shot of excel and regular ferting to keep algae away.

On the current scaping, I've always liked the simplicity of the tank and the placement of wood and rock seemed to work, but now the rock on the left seems to have disappeared (or it appears that way) and it looks like there is wood only on the left and rock only on the right.




My Scapes

Thanks tetratech,

Not too many people come lately into my small tank logs, I guess I don't perform overhauls on them often enough

Yeah, more ferts are needed, I realize that. I will see how it all works out.

The tank, for the time being, will stay like this and once the Apistos are moved out I will do some minor changes to the layout. For example, moving the rock back to the area, as your keen eyes have already identified as changes

Thanks,

Ingo

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I noticed the left side, right side as well, but I did see that rock in the center of the tank. I think another one there would do nice. Much better than the round stones there, as much as I like the river stones, they just seemed out of place. I agree, those coralife fixtures are pretty sleek. I think I need some legs for mine to help spread the light around the tank more. Looks good.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Much better than the round stones there

I agree, and I only had the round ones anyway because I am too lazy to split a larger rock of the type that I have there. I still have round rocks, but they are hidden in the vegitation by now. I probably will take them out to fit more "green" into the tank

Yeah, the legs make such a unit look more high tech, and help with the cooling of the system.

Ingo

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And lastly, here is a closer look at my Narrow Leaf Ludwigia. I have never seen it becoming so red in my 125G with way more light and CO2. Maybe redding has not so much to do with light as assumed

I am playing around with the same question with my sunset hygro. In the 40G with lots of light, high ferts and CO2 it stays green. I put some in the 29G with no CO2, low light, and no ferts yet and it starts to turn redish pink. Therefore it is a posiblity of three things. I guess it is time to start eliminating one to see and for me thats going to be ferts.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Besides the fact that the growth form of the Narrow Leaf Ludwigia is so different from exactly the same plant (as it is clippings from that plant) in the 125, THE major difference is how close the plants are to the light. Much much closer in the 20. I am sure that has something to do with it. A few stems that I have all the way on the right of the tank are by far not as red as the ones to the middle as they only get some of the light.

Ingo

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I am sure lighting has something to do with the color but I don't know how much. I am really thinking that ferts play a pretty large role. At least in my case with the Hygro.

BTW I have never had good luck with the Ludwigia in my tank. I don't know what I do wrong with it.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

I have never had good luck with the Ludwigia in my tank

Well, how did you not have good luck with it? I found it rather adaptable to different tank conditions, with one exception: When placed in a tank with a weak current, and being located far away from the water input, then it started to get algae on the leaves, BGA in particular (at least in my tank).

Ingo

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For some reason it never takes off like other plants in my tank. It normaly just fades away, often rotting at the bottems. I can grow the stuff at work just fine but I bring it home and it dies.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Ok then,

This tank needed a major cleaning, with all the gunk generates with me making it "Apisto Friendly". So while I was at it, here is the first step of cleaning:

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All Gone

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That's right,

It was time for another Ingo-Style tank makeover. Everything had to go, the tank was vacuumed, refilled, revacuumed, and refilled again.

Having only my 3 platies in the tank, I thought "what the heck, let me play a little. I got some sticks that I collected over the year on the various beaches, scrubbed them off, and shoved them under some rocks so they don't float up.

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Fish Sticks

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Then I moved the sticks around some more, replanted the Wisteria, Tenellus (which did bad in the last installment), Ludwigia, and some micro sword all the way to the right.

Here is the finished tank:

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Eh Voila

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I know it is not my best work ever, and I assume the sticks will rot away rather sooner than later, but I wanted to have some fun.

Even if it is only for fun, let me know what you think. Here is a "Matty Shot" of the tank.

That's it for now,

Ingo

Attached Image:

Matty Angle

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I kinda like it. It's different at least. To me they either look like bones, or palm trees. Could be an elephant graveyard, or possibly a desert oasis. I like the tighter grouping of ludwigia in the corner, and the ground plants are nice and tight to the ground. Looks good as long as one can accept the fish sticks.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Thanks Matty,

Yeah - overall I had worse designs, but I think the last two I had before this one (not counting the Apisto specific modifications) had been a little more "natural".

As in - no graveyard or Laurence of Arabia

But I like the term Fish Sticks, Fish Skewers may work as well.

I am rather certain that this design will be short lived, but the tank really needed a good cleaning.

Oh, almost forgot: for the last week and a half I had quite a bit of duckweed in this tank, from my duckweed production company in my 125. I addded it as I saw an increase in algae since using the higher light. I have not been a good boy when it comes to ferting this tank, I will have to work on that. This duckweed now had to go as it either bunched up under the water return in a ball or it got stuck on the filter intake. Not so pretty and usefull.

Ingo

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Could be an elephant graveyard

I like the plants & will just need a little time to decide on the fish sticks. Looks like you had a lot of fun playing around in there.

Cheers
TW

Whew... that is quite some change... I really rather liked the previous setup. For this one... Mhmmmm, I don't know, ask me again in about two or three weeks when the plants look like they actually like the place

ask me again in about two or three weeks

I don't know if this design will survive that long though

As I said, I felt like playing and I had nothing to loose. I always get carried away with this small tank, it is sooooo easy to redo the whole setup.

Ingo

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Hi,
I see... It looks like "Mr. No Body" Lives in your
home too. Somebody dumped some kindling from the fireplace
in the tank!

It'l will be interesting to see how the tank matures.
Frank


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

Very funny Frank, but will have no chance to see this tank mature.

The makeover of the 125G required me to strip some of the wisteria in here and as such I did not have enough left to make for a decent ground cover. On the other hand, I had some plants left over from the large tank that I could not use there anymore, like some hygro and narrow leaf java fern.

Here is the hoth-potch result:

Attached Image:

New Design - Yet Again

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I know, it is not the prettiest, but that was not the point. I spend quite some hours (maybe around 16) on the tanks this weekend and I had to get the show on the road.

Here is a Matty angle:

Attached Image:

Angled

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Make sure you see the latest design in full tank view on the bottom of the previous page

Also, one cannot forget about the permanent residents in this tank, my twin bar platies. Here is one of the mothers, with me for quite some time now and the producer of many many batches of fry:


Attached Image:

Mother Platy

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Here is one of her older children, maybe around 3 months old. By now he is already after the ladies and may be the producer of the latest batch of fry.

Attached Image:

Young Adult Male

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And here is one of the fishies from the latest batch, it could very well be that the male in the last shot is his/her brother and father

Matty, this one is not a challenge for you

Attached Image:

Fry

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Where is it

Yeah, I'm not sure about those sticks. It looks a little more natural without them. They sure where interesting though. This tank sure gets changed around frequently, hard to keep up. I think the left side of the tank currently looks good with a nice solid buncg of ludwigia, and the right side as you said is a bit hotch potch, but should look good when it fiils in. Tell those chain swords to grow too.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

These chain swords are typical representatives of my original batch these days, at best they stay static in all of my tanks. At worst, they die off. And I still don't know why. I tell you, my best bet is on the constant replanting that they have seen over the last year.

Ingo

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I can't say I agree. I had mine for almost two years in my 38 gallon tank, and replanted them every couple months because they would start growing over themselves and shading each other out. They usually respoded positively to a thinning and replant. They did well right up till the end.

It is true though that continually uprooting plants(without breaks inbetween) can kill them, but I've never seen it happen personally. I wouldn't know what else to guess though. So I guess constant replanting it is*shrugs*.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Yeah,

I blame the constant moving because I ran out of other explanations.

Initially, I thought that in the 29G the tank ran out of usable Laterite as it was about a year old when it started. But even with the change to Eco nothing has improved.

I can't blame any specific fertilizer routine as all tanks are so different, from EI in the 125 to underfertilization in the smaller tanks.

Then I thought it may be a light issue, but switching to a new unit in the 20 as well as replacing the bulb in the 29 did not cause any changes.

And I don't know what else could be the culprit

Ingo

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Somehow, over the last two weeks I lost all Platy fry. I have no idea where they went, but gradually I went from 8 to none . I only can assume that the adults got a little hungry.

Anyway, here is the tank now, I added a little group of Micro Swords:

Attached Image:

Tank Now

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Here is a closer look at the Micro Sword. I am not certain if this is a good spot for it, but whatever. Overall, I think this plant looks actually pretty nice when added as a small group in a foreground.

Attached Image:

Micro Sword

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And here is a closer look at the 3 remaining tenellus. Somehow they neither die nor flourish. As you may see, the older leaves look pretty bad while new ones are still coming out. I always think that the plants will improve, but eventually the new leaves start to look like the old ones.

Weird!

Attached Image:

Not So Pretty Tenellus

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IMO your tenellus might be stunted due to lack of macronutrients. You can either fert more regularly on the tank(especially excel) or maybe drop in a root tab by each. The tank I take care of at work has tenellus that do the exact same thing because I only get to look at the tank and do maintenence once a week. I'm pretty sure it's because the tank bottoms out every week and the CO2 levels fluctuate due to evaporation/splashing filter. They should continue to live like that indefinitely if you don't have the time to pay your QT tank more attention.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Thanks Matty on your opinion why the tenellus is what it is. And I bet you that you are right (at least partially). It is not so much that I neglect the tank, it is more that I contiously opt not to fertilize in certain situations, like when I have new fish in QT. Also, I have never even thought about a proper fert schedule for the non-high-tech tanks (this one and the 29G), I usually dose 1/4tsp KNO3 and a pinch (not literally) of P, plus 10ml of Excel and about 6ml of micros - once every week (or other week). That, most certainly, is not consistent.

Ingo

EDIT: BTW, nice new colors

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Not too much new to report about this tank, except that it has 2 fish in QT again and that it got a few more plants based on redos of the other tanks.

Here is a shot of the current setup:

Attached Image:

Current Setup

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And here are the new residents, for the time being. A new pair of Cacs that I simply could not stop myself from buying. There are more pictures of them in the 40G Log.

Here is the male checking out the female.

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

Cacs

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Not quite as flaming orange as your last, but still a very nice lookin' fish. I do hope he does well for you.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Very nice re-do LF. I prefer it without the sticks, but I never really thought you'd leave them there too long.

I'm sorry to hear all your platy fry have gone - maybe because there is a lot of open space, so the fry can't hide so well. Still, I have never, never never had fry surive - no matter how densely I planted the tanks. I was going to blame your apistos, but I see they weren't added till later.

Your new male looks very nice & I hope he proves better behaved with his offspring (when the time comes).

Cheers
TW

Not quite as flaming orange as your last

Unfortunately I have to agree, but I also think this one may be still a little younger. And so is the female, maybe that is why she hasn't fattened up yet as she sure is eating away.

I'm sorry to hear all your platy fry have gone

Well, I am not . I have more platies than I care for as it is anyway. If one or the other makes it in this tank then he/she is transferred into the 29G.

I was going to blame your apistos, but I see they weren't added till later

Maybe it was the Apistos. During last week's water change I did not see any fry and the following day I bought the Apistos. Good chance that, if any of them hung out in the tank before being sucked into the filter, the Apistos got a snack (the older platies seem to tend to eat the fry after they have grown a little).

Ingo

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the older platies seem to tend to eat the fry after they have grown a little

Ahh, so they like their meals with a little more fat.

Still, I have never, never never had fry surive - no matter how densely I planted the tanks

Re-read this & thought I should correct it. I meant in my community tank. My krib fry in their species tank are still going strong. If I have lost any, then the loss is too few to notice.

Cheers
TW

Wow,

I can't believe I didn't have an update on the tank in over a month, but here is one:

I had another one of the Ingo-Redo events last Sunday after I had been given a few plants during the NJAGC meeting in my place.

Here is the tank before the change:

Attached Image:

Previous Layout - Last Sunday

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