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THe Chain Sword field which looks pretty disturbed , the unavoidable result of removing the Hairgrass.

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Giant Hygro Stems planted to hide the Equipment for the time being

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The Giant Hygro reaching the surface again , I swear this stuff grows in the dark

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The New Hairgrass Area

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The Trimmed Wisteria

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The Water Sprite trimmed and showing the Bacopia/ Pennywort ?? and Ovalis growing nicely

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Just realised that I didn't post the Right and left side shots .
So here they are : Right Side

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The Left Side .
Thats it for the plants this week , next a few shots of the new residents .

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A few Fishy Photo's , The New Dwarf Loaches

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One of the Golden Barbs

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The Rainbow Shark

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The Red Tail Shark

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Lastly a couple of shots of the Rainbows , First one taken with the flash .

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This shot showing their more normal colours .

Thats it for this week , Thanks to everyone for the comments and if anyone has any ideas or suggestions please don't hesitate to let me know .

Enjoy
Garry

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Garry,

Sorry I havent visited in a while. I have been busy. But I am back to admire your log and work on my panda log

Anyway, the tank seems to be doing great, not sure what your algae problem is, seems the hairgrass is being affected the worst by it?

You have some great fish shots there! The barb shot was my favorite. Congrats on the loaches too, I want some.
What kind of camera do you have?(Lol you knwo how much I ned a new one, just seeing the kinds I like)

You arent afraid the floating plants will be shading the plants below it?

Any other plans for fish other than the ones in your 60? Or do you think they will just be a suprise like the loaches?

The chain sword seems to be proving itself a nice groundcover, I have been looking for a groundcover for my tank. Hairgrass is nice too.

Congrats on the angel spawns! Great pics of them too!

Looks great! Keep up the good work./:'

Ryan , Thanks for stopping by.

not sure what your algae problem is, seems the hairgrass is being affected the worst by it?

Yes well it appears so , not sure its a major issue as yet as that bit of Hairgrass is spreading well . We will see in time .

What kind of camera do you have?

Its a Cannon EOS 350D Digitial SLR.

You arent afraid the floating plants will be shading the plants below it?

I thought about that and did some pretty serious culling tonight actually . Will just have to keep on top of it I guess .
The Gourami's love to hide under it. So its good for them to feel safe

Any other plans for fish other than the ones in your 60?

No not at this stage . Once I get the Tigers , Big shark & George the Cockoo Cat out of the 60g I plan to redo the 60 as a small fish haven with a couple of big schools in a revised scape .
So I'll probably just let the big tank sit and settle for a few months .
We will see if I can do that though

Thanks for all your compliments , (I like the Goldy shot as well , looks like he's checking me out )

Garry

Spectacular, Garry! Are you still running this tank w/o CO2 injection? I am amazed by the healthy growth of the plants (despite the height of the tank and the initial concerns about enough light reaching down). The fish provide colorful contrasts and I like the Rainbow shark. how did you get the tenellus to form such a nice carpet?

Are you still running this tank w/o CO2 injection?

Cat Thats correct , I'm using Excel as my carbon source .

how did you get the tenellus to form such a nice carpet?

Well , thats what it did. All I did was plant it on the second tier on top of about 4 inches of Gravel with Florite as a middle layer and it just took off .
12 of them were planted about 4in apart .
I've had so many babies that I've started a carpet of them in the other tank .

I like my Sharks as well , even if they can be a bit crancky with each other at times , they never really hurt each other .

Thanks for dropping by

Garry

Garry

I use a Cannon XTI Rebel, i cant get those kind of shots out of my Tank. I dont know if its the light or what. However you have some beautiful specimens in your tank. I love how much your tank has to offer. I wish i could get the same kind of difference in my tank. Having a 35 Gallon is a bit restrictive.

Shane

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

you gotta get some snakeskin gouramis!

theyre the best looking gouramis you can get n you got enough room for them!!

otherwise your tank n fish are mad.

Fishmonster , Well thats a pretty good camera , but once you take your shot
it comes down to the software you use to manage the Jpeg file .
You want to go for an 800x 800 pic size and you need to get it under 98kb .
The way to do that is to increase the file compression . There should be an
option to reduce the quality of the file with the save as option thru jpeg
compression in the software's options .
I've found that these things as well as the Exposure & Colour corrections
in the photo program make all the difference .

Anyway you can take good shots no matter what size the tank is ,
have a look at the shots that Tetra & Ingo take of their small tanks.
A little research and you'll be a great photographer before you know it .

Coop, Never seen any Snakeskins in my area . Love to have some though .
Thanks for the compliment ( I think )

Garry

Week 9 Update .
Not much to report this week so only a short update.
Trimmed the Giant Hygro once again as well as the Water Sprite .
Growth continues Ok .
Algae continues to be a problem , still have not made any changes .
Just trying to wait it out .

No new fish intro's .

The Full Tank as of last week .



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Full Tank this week

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Right Side

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Left Side

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Just a few Detail plant shots mostly to highlite the Black Algae which is becoming more of a problem .
Firstly the Water Sprite area. This area has great growth of all plant types.

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The Amazon leaves showing the older leaves being badly affected by algae

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The Ludwigia on the left side is getting very sparse and not growing well . It may need to be trimmed and replanted .

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The Tennulus Field getting very overgrown .

Thats it for this week , next week I will be Trimming the Tennulus field , Ludwigia and removing a lot of Amazon leaves that are degrading and being affected by algae.

I will also introduce my Tigers and the last of the Sharks .

Thanks for all the support and comments .

Garry

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Garry

You could try floating the ludwiga for a while, it worked for me, i got some nice new root structures from letting them float.

Shane

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

The Amazon leaves showing the older leaves being badly affected by algae

Garry, you have no idea how 'badly affected' can be!

Sorry, I don't want to add salt to injury with my sarcasm, just speaking from experience

I had problems in the past and by no means will I claim that my tank is 'algae free', I guess it is a never ending struggle. (You might get rid of it for a while but the danger of a new outbreak is always around the corner in a tank with several big fish.) However, I can proudly claim that without any doubt the situation in my tank improved significantly and algae is losing the battle for now. The only change I made was to apply a different lighting schedule. One might argue that it is the otos, fast growers, the usual little helpers, but I don't think so.

Shane
Thanks for that advice , I might try that . When I pulled it up it was well rooted down
so I'm not sure thats the problem . Could be the position under the filter so I moved it
slightly , will see how it goes .

Cat , I'm sure there are lots worse off than me ,what did you do with the lights ,
I assume you cut back to fewer hours ?

Thanks for stopping by .

Garry

Nope-

I introduced a midday break with the lights off. It is in my log and works extremely well. It is successfully used by some European aquarists, the idea is that algae unlike higher developed plants need much more prolonged periods of light for successful photosynthesis to generate energy (I remember something like that from plant physiology I had to take ages ago). By introducing a middday break you deprive the algae of their 'fuel', while plants get easily by with shorter periods for photosynthesis. Works also quite well with my schedule - I see the tank in the morning and the lights are on longer at night.

got to run

Cat , Thanks for that,very interesting . I didn't pick up on that in your log ,
Dumb me , have to read more carefully
I think I might try that .

I emailed Seachem last night as Keith has said he's done, will see if they
have some thoughts as well.

Thanks again for the help .
Garry

Week 10 Update.

Plants are all showing good growth, I had to trim the Water Sprite, Giant Hygro, Hygro
& Green Pennywort. I pulled up a lot of Tennulus as it was starting to get out of control.
Some of the runners have gone right around the back of the driftwood. The Ludwigia
was pulled up and cut back quite severely due to rotting of the under parts of the plant.
It was very well rooted down but did not appear to have been growing very well over
the last few weeks. I have repositioned a little to the right away from the filters to see if
it was a position problem.

Java Ferns seem to have got a bit of a kick along both on the top of the Driftwood and
behind in the substrate. Quite a lot of new growth as well as a couple of babies.
I must admit to ignoring it a bit over the last few weeks and when I had a close look I
was very surprised at how well they were doing.
All of the Annubias, Barteri and Nana's are doing well and the Crypts at the base of the
Driftwood are now powering. 2 of the Unknown plants in the river seemed to have
recovered well and are showing good leaf development, the smallest seems to be just
hanging on.

I had planned to take out a lot of the Amazon leaves that were decaying and being badly
affected by Algae. However 2 Female Angels decided to lay eggs just before and whilst
I was doing the Water Change. I got sick of being bitten so I gave up after about 5 minutes.
None of the eggs survived the night. One interesting thing that appears to have happened
is that the One male was fertilising both females eggs. The female who had partnered the
other male last time chased him away this time. Both females worked together to protect
the area, which I also found very interesting.

No new fish were added this week,time just got away.

Algae in the tank is still a problem. Phosphate levels dropped below 5ppm this week,
hard to tell from the test kit, but could have been as low as 2ppm.
I still had to take a lot of Green Algae of the Glass .

Lots of good photos this week so here we go with the shot of the tank as of last week


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The Full Tank this week .

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The Right side

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The Left Side

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The River at an angle

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A shot from the left end of the tank

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Now onto some detail shots of the plants .
Firstly the Amazons , showing the Good ( lots of babies and new leaves )
and the Bad ( Algae and rotting on older leaves)

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The Anubia Barteri also showing new growth
but Algae on the older leaves.

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Annubia Nana on the Driftwood, same issue's

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The Java Fern on the Driftwood , Notice the Tennulus on the left side a long way from where its supposed to be .
Will be cut back next week

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New Hairgrass field seems to be taking Ok . But the Wisteria is encroaching and will need to be cut away from the area this week .

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Green Pennywort doing well and had its first trim this week

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The Wisteria showing lots of different leaf shapes as it regrows from its heavy trim a couple of weeks ago .

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The Water Sprite keeps growing to fast for its position . May have to reconsider where it should be .?????

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The Ludwigia or whats left of it .

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The Unknown plants in the River doing well .

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The last plant shot for this week is Ctertopis Pteroides acting as a haven floating above the Gourami's . They love it . Had to remove a fair bit this week .

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On to some shots of the Fishies .
Firstly a couple of the New Dwarf Laoches . Love these guys they are so active racing up and down the tank . They wear the Otto's out trying to keep up .

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Another Dwarf Loach at rest .

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A couple of Golden Barbs as usual checking me out as I take the Photos .

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The Red Tail Shark

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The Rainbow Shark

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One of the Aussie Rainbows, these guys have really coloured up since they have been in this tank

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One of the Angels , my wife calls this one Stumpy because of his short fins . Bit of a loner this guy .

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A female Angel coming over to see if I've got any food .

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And now begging

Thats it for this week .

Next week will see some more trimming of the fast growers , maybe a move for the Water Sprite. Also some new residents if I get time .

Hope you enjoyed the update and thanks to everyone for contributing .

Enjoy

Garry

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Lovely shots as always, Garry!

I really enjoy pictures of your fish. Now to the plants. Is it possible that you have some nutrient defiency going on? You have a lot of fast growers there and the plants that show the worst algae problem are anuias and amazons which take a little bit more time. Some the leaves look also a bit pale, but that might be just the photo and misleading. These are my $0.02 and I am by no means an expert, rather a rookie...
I would not worry about the green algae on the glass (your little algae menchers need something to eat), it is the black algae that is worrisome, especially if it is spreading. Hope you get a handle on this soon. Did you get a response from Seachem?

P.S. Stumpy ... poor fish!

Garry

I agree with CD, lovely shots of the plants and especially the fish. Love Stumpy btw hes the best out of the lot..hehehe

Anyways I was wondering if there might be deficiencies in the water colum. Anyways we would love to hear back on that.

Shane

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

your fish pictures are excellent!
and your plants algae or not are filling in very nicely.


-Vincent

Cat , I changed my lighting schedule as I mentioned in your log .
I was a bit old school just leaving my lights on for 10 to 12 hours a day .
So now I'm going to try the following
9am-11am 384w (2hrs)
11am-2pm 576w (3hrs)
2pm -5pm No Lights (3hrs)
5pm -7pm 384w (2hrs)
7pm-11pm 576w (4hrs)
A total of 11 hours all up .

Seachem has not replied as yet , been about 4 days .
I don't want to give the impression that I'm overly worried about Algae
or that its terrible or invasive . Its not that bad , you have to look pretty
hard to see it. I just want to stay on top of it and keep learning

Shane , Yes we love Stumpy as well , he's one of our favorites and
always comes running when we are near the tank.

Vincent , hello . Long time . Thanks for the nice comments ,
great to hear from you .

Thanks Again everyone for the nice comments

Garry

Hi Garry:

I think there is nothing wrong with being worried about algae. IMHO this pest is better dealt with right away. I am (again) impressed by the lighting, the sheer number of watts made me swallow, but your 240 G tank certainly needs it. I hope you see a positive effect due to the new lighting schedule soon! I certainly did rather quick but impatience made it still appear a long time

Let me know what Sachem suggests as well - finally I had to start with fertilizing applying the majority of their products (another splendid opportunity to make mistakes).

Good luck and keep posting!!

Week 11 Update
This week I pretty much left the plants alone. Only trimmed the Wisteria & Water Sprite
where it had started to shade the new Hairgrass field. Pulled out some more Amazon
leaves that were decaying. Lots of Amazon babys now getting quite big and sending
down roots from high up in the water column, so I intend to leave them alone to see
if they will pull down into the substrate. Also plenty of new leaves at the base of all the
Amazons. All other plants continue to grow well.

This week I introduced my Black Shark and the Tiger Barb crew (9).

Algae seems to have lessened this week (could be wishful thinking) but I seem to have
wiped less of the glass. Black Algae on the plants appears to be no worse. Hopefully
the new lighting schedule and phosphates being down to 1ppm are having an effect.
Time will tell. Seachem have not replied to my email as yet.
So onto the photo's, firstly the tank last week.


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Full Tank This week

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The Right Side

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The Left Side

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River Shot , Also showing part of the Tiger Barb herd in their favorite hang out .

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A few Plant detail shots now , Firstly a couple of shots of the Crypts which were very small at the start and nearly melted away in the first couple of weeks . Its very hard to get good shots of this area so apologies for the quality of the shots . I'm really very happy about how well these are doing .
This one contains a good shot of an SAE .

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A wider shot of the area around the crypts also showing the unknown plants in the river continuing to do well.

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Another plant that was nearly dead in my other tank was rescued and put in this tank to see if would recover . I think the name was Stellata ????? or something similar . It appears to be making a recovery . Can anyone can identify it properly?

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A shot of the biggest of the Amazon Babys

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The Old Hairgrass Area , showing it is still spreading well . You can clearly see the Algae affected clumps which is the site of the original plants .

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Last plant shot , a close up of the Green Pennywort new growth ?

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Now a few Fish shots , Firstly the big boy himself , The Black Shark . Had to put him straight in as he was too big for my plastic bags . He's about 7 to 8 inches. I've never seen him swim about so much since he's been in this tank .He'd gotten to big for the 60g . He's has become very responsive to his adoring public .

Another interesting insight is that all 4 sharks seem to be much happier in this tank and so far there is very little trouble between them . Only the Redtail seems to get cranky now and again . But he does little but chase the Redfin and Albino occasionaly.

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Another shot with his top fin up .

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And being a good boy saying hello to me .

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Now a couple of shots of the Tigers, First a group shot . A bit out of focus , they never stay still long enough to get them all in focus This is about the best shot of a big group of them out of about 200 I've taken so far .

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Heres a couple in close up .

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And one by it's self

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Now a few shots of some of the other fish . An SAE with an interesting resting place

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An Otto working on the Tennulus

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Our Hitchhiking Molly getting bigger every week

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The Albino Redfin Shark looking as colourfull as I've ever seen him .

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Lastly , an interesting close up of one of the Angels .

Next week will probably see me having to do some more trimming . Both ludwigia's seem not to be doing very well and may get the flick for some other red plants . Have to see whats available .
Only 2 fish left to transfer over. The Cuckoo Catfish and a CAE . Not sure I want the CAE in this tank , he's got a bit crancky and unpredictable . I might give him away to the LFS .
Once that has been done that will clear the way for a makeover of the 60g and another log

Garry

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Garry

This tank is getting better and better everyweek. Wish ya were in the US so you could send me some cuttings LOL...Anyways So can you tell me more about your Co2 Setup and your lighting setup?

Also I would like to know about some of the fish like the albino shark and red tail shark..

Shane





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

Hi Garry!

The tiger barbs look remarkably well nourished . Are the other fish getting enough food? What about the algae issue, did you introduce a 'siesta'? I am getting concerned about my otos, not enough to eat...

Countryfish,

Your tank is growing in extremely well. I am quite impressed. You have really proven that you are able to grow many plants well.

Do you plan on messing with the scape much?

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

Here's a random "from the grave" post. Sorry I haven't been around much, work has been kicking my butt!

Just wanted to comment on one pic - your tiger barb by itself - looks like you've got at least one female in the tank! So if you'd like to try breeding them, you've got a chance!

And all in all, tank looks great!

Listen! Do you smell that?

Hey folks , sorry I've taken so long to reply . We've been away in a very cold Melbourne for a week . Had a family wedding to attend .

Firstly Ly , welcome back , sorry to hear your working so hard . I sympathise . Used to work lots of long hours before I retired . You are right I think, got a few of females , my problem has always been keeping the males alive as the harem like to pick on the boys . As I've mentioned before I plan to build a breeding room next year so I will definately be trying to breed them .

Great to hear from you again mate .

Shane , I'm not doing C02 . I've tried to show thru this log that what you can grow without it .I am however using Seachem ferts ( only ones readily available in my neck of the woods ). So far I've learned a couple of things: like if you want to grow red plants ( at least the 2 I've tried so far ) you will probably need C02 . I'm going to try some other red plants as I think the scape needs some more focus .

Your other question regarding the sharks is a little harder to answer . I'm a big fan , but they do come with some problems . All of mine are now over 5 inches and they are a somewhat aggressive fish . The Albino and Normal Redfins I have are the least aggressive and don't bother anyone else . The Redtail is a pain , he will chase most of the smaller fish and bother the other sharks a fair bit .
Its a bit of pot luck with sharks ,some individuals are worse than others .Mine are ok but I wouldn't keep them with small or sensitive fish . Hope that helps .

Cat yes I did introduce a siesta , and a blackout this week simply because I've been away . I think it was working a little before I went away . However there is a lot less Algae after 2 days of no light followed by an hour a day of light for 3 days while my son was home for lunch. Will see how it goes now I'm back on the new lighting schedule that I started a couple of weeks ago . Oh and I feed Algae wafers to make sure the algae eaters are getting enough food .

Wings , Yes its getting close to the time when the scape must change . Its not what I planned at the start and thats mainly because I took alot of advice from all of you about getting enough fast growers in there . Having done that and now the tank has been going for 3 months , I feel its about time to make some changes in the coming weeks .

Thanks to everone for your interest , I'm just editing some photos now for a quick update . Will post shortly .

Garry

Week 12 Update .

Just a short update this week ( a little over due) . As I mentioned above I've been away for 6 days .
Very little light , no ferts ,2 days of no feeding and no water change . So what happened thru all this .
Well suprisingly a lot of growth ( interesting I hear you say) .But before we jump to too many
conclusions , I should say that I gave the tank a good dose of ferts before I went away . The tank
gets very little natural light so I'm still suprised at the growth. Algae seems to have receded quite
a bit , which of course is great and was in my mind when I decided to leave the lights off whilst
away rather than use timers .

Anyway is was an interesting experiment which seems to back up others experiences, that
blackouts are bad for algae but do not damage plants , in fact I seemed to get about as much
growth as a normal week .

One interesting thing to note . The Crypts all stood up during this period . Up untill now they had
recovered and were growing well , but were fairly flat on the substrate . You will notice in the
river shot that they are all standing to attention .

Thats it for this week , I will be doing a water change tomorrow and another update on the weekend .

Just a few photos this week , Firstly the tank as of last week .

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Full Tank this week.

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Right Side

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Left Side

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River Shot , showing the Crypts in the bottom left .

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Just a couple of detail shots this week . Firstly the Hairgrass showing a lot less Black Algae .

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The Stellata ??? grew amazingly considering very little light .

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Lastly just 1 fishy shot this week . The Tigers doing the Tiger Barb Dance


Garry

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Just catching up on your thread. You've come a long way from that big empty tank! Beautiful tank now! Cute shot of that SAE on the thermometer. What ever happened to your other tank? Did I miss it in your pages back?

Hello Patty, Thanks for the compliment . The other Tank is still there and running .
It has my small fish , Tetras mainly . I'm doing a bit of a running redo at the
moment , just trying different ideas and plants . Its been going for 2 years
this Dec and I'm going to do a major revamp when I decide on the look I want .
Probably do a log when I do that . At this stage will be a Tetra/ Rasbora only tank with
a couple of big schools .

This is a photo of how it looks today.

Thanks for dropping by .


Garry

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Thats a beautiful tank too Gary!
I actually like the way the (in the picture) the background
blends into the foreground plants and rocks.
IMO, just a bit of pruning to expose the lava rock a little
more, would do the charm for the "look" that you have now.
From the angle of the picture, it looks like you have
two rocks on the left and another either in the back of
the tank against the glass, or its a part of the
background.

Frank


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

I agree with Frank Country.....everything he said! But if you don't like the look & are going for something different, well, then have at it. What is that long brownish plant in the middle & off to the left also?

Thanks for the pic.! I love that smaller tank of yours!

What is that long brownish plant in the middle & off to the left also?

Look like crypts to me.

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

Hello Frank , Thanks for the compliment . I've been changing the scape quite a lot ,
ditching plants and introducing lots of babys from the big tank . The rocks you refer
to is a group of about 7 rocks which used to be more prominent untill I wacked in a
Java Fern from the back of the big tank . Just stuck it in the middle of the rocks .
Not sure that is where it will finish up .But I like the darker colour of the leaves for
the contrast .
I think I'm happy with both ends of the tank and I just need to sort out
the position and prominence of the rocks and see if I can get some of the other
plants in the centre into some order .

Long answer , but thanks for the interest and the suggestion .

Patty Thanks for that, I'm still playing as per the above , hopefully in the next couple
of months it will look very different again .

Wings is right they are both Crypts that were very small untill I increased the light
and started fertilising . Now they have taken off . They were labelled Wendti
( one brown , one green ) in the LFS . I have my doubts as I got Brown Wendti
direct from a Plant supplier for the big tank and they look very different .
Oh well I still like them a lot .

Thanks for dropping by .

Garry

Wings is right they are both Crypts that were very small untill I increased the light
and started fertilising . Now they have taken off . They were labelled Wendti
( one brown , one green ) in the LFS . I have my doubts as I got Brown Wendti
direct from a Plant supplier for the big tank and they look very different .
Oh well I still like them a lot .

I have had crypts in one tank, then moved them to another tank and they grew in completely different.

This is the same plant in my old 55G set up with >1wpg
http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/40%20gallon%20part%20XVI/?action=view&current=cryptflower-1.jpg
This is the plant with 3+ wpg.
http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/40%20gallon%20part%20%20XIV/?action=view&current=Whole1.jpg

the funny thing is, it flowered in the 55G.

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

Wings , Interesting . Crypts IME are very queer plants and your experience seems to back
that up .

Week 13 Update .

As I said at the last update the Water change was late this week and then Wings asked
me if I was going to make any changes to the scape . Which of course got me
thinking and you know what that means ..

So lots of changes this week , some intentional , some instinctive and some accidential
Accidential I hear you say ????? . Will get to that shortly .

The Water Sprite had been bothering me for some time as it was closing down the river
,blocking the light for the hairgrass and covering up the rocks on the right . So I started
trimming and just decided it had to go ( instinctive ). I left one small piece .
I will probably regret that later .

Next the Ovalis had been doing poorly and I had planned to move it out into an area where
it would get full light and the benefit of the Flourite layer ( intentional ) . So it was moved
( probably temporarily) to the middle of the Tennulus field . Will see how it goes there .
As both of my Red plants are not doing well I also decided to up my Iron from 3 to 5 times
a week to see if that improves them . Probably too many changes at once but what the
heck .

I pulled up the Pennywort in the process of removing the Water Sprite and that had to be
regrouped and replanted ( accidential ).
The Wisteria was trimmed lightly at the front around the Hairgrass , but the plant in the
middle was getting in the road of the Amazons and so was cut back very hard .
While all this was happening I knocked the Driftwood and it fell over . I tried
several times to reposition it without success. Then I took a break and decided I
liked the fact that the Javas and Annubias had been forced forward and the Driftwood
had formed a bridge over the river . . So the biggest accident of the day had
worked out quite well .
In the end all the changes have opened up the river , exposed the rock group and made
a feature out of the plants on the Driftwood. A good result . I think ???

What do you folks think

All other plants except the Ludwigia on the left are doing well.

Algae seems about the same with some signs of the Black Algae browning off but green
spots on the glass still appearing .

On to the Photos : the tank last week ( sort of )

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The Full tank this week . Let me know what you think

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The Right side , where most of the changes happened .

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The Left side , pretty much unchanged

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A different shot taken by accident . The tank at an angle looking down the river .

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A few Detail shots , firstly a couple of shots of the Driftwood area . The Driftwood front on .

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The Driftwood from above

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The Main Java Fern Group

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Whats left of the Water Sprite and Pennywort

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The Rock Group exposed

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The Amazons now visable with multiple babies . The lower parts of the main plants are very healthy and very thick with new leaves .

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The Ovalis in its new position

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The Stelatta ??? growing even more and getting a pink tip on one branch.

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Close up of the Crypts at the base of the Driftwood

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A shot of the Annubia B. showing an old leaf covered in BBA which is browned off . Also showing a new leaf with no algae . Fingers crossed this continues ..

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Thats it for the plants this week . Just a couple of fishy shots to finish . An SAE having a rest .

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The Big Black Shark .

Thats it for this week . Probably be very little done in the tank next week .
Have done enough for the moment .

Garry

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Enjoyed all your pics, and like everyone else, also liked being able to sneak a peak at your smaller tank. Very nice tank, that. My fav shot this week is the one I think you said was an accidental shot, being the tank at an angle looking down the river.

Good that you seem to have beaten the algae - fingers crossed that continues.

There is nothing to complain about in any of your tanks & you've shown that you can grow plants so well. If I was going to wish for anything to change, it would be if you could find some way to hide the equipment that stands out so strongly on the left side of the tank.

Otherwise, everything is beautiful.

Cheers
TW

Garry,

beautiful pics, as always. I particularly like the accidental shot of the tank! Your plants look gorgeous. Please be patient with the algae issue - the lighting regimen works. I hardly noticed until one day I looked at the filter intake and saw that it was completely clean. That was when I realized that almost all algae had vanished. I would not worry about little green spos, otos need something to eat as well algae are part of our hobby

BTW, your black shark looks close up a bit frightening, if I might say so. Beautiful animal, nevertheless

Claudia

Hi,
Cut off and discard that anubis leaf with the black
spot. I'd remove every leaf that has that stuff growing
on it as well as any that are yellowing.
Frank


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

Hi,
Cut off and discard that anubis leaf with the black
spot. I'd remove every leaf that has that stuff growing
on it as well as any that are yellowing.
Frank

I second this.

For the green spot I would up for phosphates. That seems to do the trick for me and others here at FP. I think I had my phosphates up to about 3.something ppm 3x a week.

As for the scape. I would try and trim the back plants on the right to make them a bit more bushy. Other than that I don't know what else to say.

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

love the big bushy polysperma.still say you need snakeskin gouramis. i actually saw some festivus cichlids in the lfs. they where beutiful. im pretty sure they wll get along with most of your fish. they where in a 55g with angels and gouramis at the lfs.

If I was going to wish for anything to change, it would be if you could find some way to hide the equipment that stands out so strongly on the left side of the tank.

Robyn , Yes I've been a bit slack about coming up with a better solution for the UV .
The Fluval FX5 doesn't lend itself to adding a UV to the output unfortunately.
I've been looking at Resun Cannisters with internal UV . Not sure if they are ok or not .
But I must do something as that stuff bothers me as well .
Thanks for the compliments BTW.

Cut off and discard that anubis leaf with the black
spot.

Thanks for that Frank , I've been a bit reluctant to trim these guys untill they establish
themselves . I do trim that sort of stuff off in my other tank . Do you think its ok to do
that now? , they are only now just starting to send out new leaves . I don't want to
knock them about too much . Anyway appreciate your thoughts .

I think I had my phosphates up to about 3.something ppm 3x a week

Wings , Another thing I've been avoiding doing is adding to much Phosphate . I had
readings of over 10ppm because I used Neutral 7 . It's now down to 1 or 2 ppm .
SO if I understand you right you think I should up the Phosphate to get it to 3ppm .
I currently dosing twice a week btw. Interested in your thoughts ?

Coop Thanks for dropping by , Don't get many unusual fish up here unfortunately .
But thanks for the suggestions & compliments .


Garry

Claudi , Thanks for that , I'm not that worried about algae. Just trying to be patient
Not easy .

The Black Shark is a pussycat . He's gone back to hiding again . It's really funny to watch
the Redtail chase him , Its like I'm the Boss opps your a bit big .
Blackie hardly seems to notice .

Thanks for helping with the lights thing , I'm sure it will work

Garry

I've been a bit slack about coming up with a better solution for the UV.

So is that equipment an internal UV, or is it a pump running the UV? If the later, why not get yourself one of the Eheim external pumps. I'm going to set up the UV in my African tank that way (the filter will have too high flow rate to attach UV to it). I have a spare Eheim in-flow & out-flow (the grey coloured version - not green)that I'll use to draw water from the tank, to the pump, to the UV & then back into the tank again.

If you have a black background in the tank, you don't even notices the filter pipes at all.

Just a thought.

Cheers
TW

I like the tank better after the trim. And I think I agree with you, that I like the driftwood better over the river.

Wings , Another thing I've been avoiding doing is adding to much Phosphate . I had
readings of over 10ppm because I used Neutral 7 . It's now down to 1 or 2 ppm .
SO if I understand you right you think I should up the Phosphate to get it to 3ppm .
I currently dosing twice a week btw. Interested in your thoughts ?

This is what I was dosing in my 40G with 5WPG and high CO2 (around 70ppm)

40-60 Gallons (152-227 litres)
30ml solution or 1/2 tsp KNO3(11.37 ppm Nitrate) (7.69 ppm ppm Potassium) 3x a week
18ml solution or 1/8 tsp KH2PO4 (2.87 ppm Phosphates) 3x a week
8ml solution or 1/8 tsp K2SO4 (1.84 ppm Potassium) 3x a week
10ml or 1/8 tsp traces 3x a week (in the form of Flourish) + Iron

The only thing I ever did test was the Nitrates. I ended up with about 10ppm at the end of the week before the water change. I really don't know what my Phosphates ended up being. I am guessing you can dose a bit more though.

This link might give you some more insight to what I was doing.

EI Explained

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

or is it a pump running the UV? If the later, why not get yourself one of the Eheim external pumps

Robyn , Yep thats what its for , and was a temp solution running off the powerhead filter.
I like your idea , but shouldn't you have a filter on the intake of the UV? , thats what
everone advised me to do. As if the water is dirty the Uv isn't as effective . Which is one
of the reasons I was looking at the Resun Cannisters . Might be over kill but it would
also allow me to get rid of the Powerhead filter as well .

Anyway given me more to think about , thanks for the idea .

Patty Thanks for that nice to have our opinion backed up .
appreciate it

40-60 Gallons (152-227 litres)
30ml solution or 1/2 tsp KNO3(11.37 ppm Nitrate) (7.69 ppm ppm Potassium) 3x a week
18ml solution or 1/8 tsp KH2PO4 (2.87 ppm Phosphates) 3x a week
8ml solution or 1/8 tsp K2SO4 (1.84 ppm Potassium) 3x a week
10ml or 1/8 tsp traces 3x a week (in the form of Flourish) + Iron

Wings , I've read the EI stuff and seen lots of references in Ingo's and Jeffs logs about it .
The problem for me is we don get dry ferts around here and the only stuff I can get my
hands on that resembles it in any way is the Seachem liquid .So I've been following
( almost) their recomendations.
Ok I'll give you my 60g dosing,to keep it relative . I dose the same proportionally for the big tank .
5ml Nitrogen 2x week
5ml Phosphate 2x week
10ml Pottasium 2x week
5ml Iron 6x week
5ml Flourish 2x week
15ml Traces 1x week
Now based on what you're doing I should probably increase the Macros to 3 times a week,
and maybe up the dosages of the Phosphate and Nitrogen.
The tank tests at 10ppm for Phosphate ( neutral 7 again which I'm not using any more )
and 20ppm Nitrate .The big tank tests at 1-2ppm Phosphate & 5ppm Nitrate.

So what are your thoughts ???? I appreciate any input on this subject as its all a major
learning curve for me . I can't say that I've been unsuccesful in growing plants , but
there are plants that are not growing as well as I think they should .So any help and
suggestions would be greatly appreciated .
Oh and for those who asked Seachem did not reply to my email , I will try again .

Garry

PS i've just gone to 3.7wpg on the 60g and plan to do something similar on the big tank . And of course I use Excel instead of C02.
Garry

PS i've just gone to 3.7wpg on the 60g and plan to do something similar on the big tank . And of course I use Excel instead of C02.
Garry

Garry,

I would be careful increasing to that kind of wattage especially on the big tank. I haven't seen that really work without pressurized co2. The co2 will be the limiting factor for the plants and you have issues and issues in a 260g are big issues. Excel just can't fill the void. You might want to find out for yourself, but I would be surprised if it worked.





My Scapes

I like your idea , but shouldn't you have a filter on the intake of the UV?

That's probably best, but my filter runs far too fast for this particular UV. The pump I'm going to use is the next best thing. It sits outside the tank & has a sponge filter inside of it. Hope these pics show you what I mean.

Eheim Universal Pump Model 1046


Pump opened up, showing the internal blue filter sponge


These pumps are a little pricey. If you buy one, make sure you buy them on-line, as they will be a bit cheaper that way. They come in various flow rate sizes. I got one with a fairly low flow rate, to suit my UV's max flow rate. I use a more powerful version of the same pump for my water changes.

The problem for me is we don't get dry ferts around here

Garry, I'm fairly certain this place will ship to you, if you're interested. http://www.simplegrow.com.au/ In fact, it was FP forum member from QLD that gave me the name in the 1st place. I spent less than $5 per fert, more than 18 months ago. You can see by the pic I have heaps left. Of course, I don't know what shipping would cost, as I drove to pick it up. You are sure to have a hydroponics place somewhere in QLD, if shipping from this place is too costly.



Hope this helps.

Cheers
TW