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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

If I had your two tanks this is what I would do. And again it's just my opinion and you of course will do what makes you happy and everyone here I'm sure will help you just the same. I would switch tanks. What I mean by that is put your existing plants and fish in the 240g and use medium lighting. Maybe increase your schools some, etc.

In the 60g I would convert this one to your high light tank with all the bells and whistles.

Jeff
Thanks for that note of caution , I'm actually following your advice from some time ago ,
which was to experiment with the small tank rather than the big one . Up till now both
tanks have been on the same fert& light plan . So now that the small tank has very few
fish and I'm planning on redoing the scape , I'm going to have a go at a few changes
and see how it goes .

There will be no change to this tank untill I'm happy with whats going on in the other tank .

Thanks again for you advice , very much appreciated and remember you still have the
right to say I told you so when and if I decide to do C02 .

Garry

Robyn
Thanks for both of those things . I have a fair bit of Seachem stuff at the minute ,
but I've saved the website and if I decide to go all the way with C02 and EI then
it will come in handy . Certainly very cheap !

You use a pump for your Water change , what a good idea never thought of that !!!!!.
Do you do a gravel vac at the same time ? I suppose you wouldn't bother with the filter
material if you did?
I look into these at the online shops .

Thanks again for the help .

Garry

You use a pump for your Water change .....Do you do a gravel vac at the same time?

Better clarify that. I do gravel vac, so I don't use the pump for emptying tanks themselves. On water change night, I have a trolley with a 120L tub & I gravel vac into that. I have a (fairly) high capacity pump sitting in that tub with a hose long enough to reach outside. As my tub gets too full to hold more water (which it does with 3 tanks to change) the pump goes on & the water pumps outside onto the garden or into a larger container for use later on.

I have another trolley, holding another tub filled with fresh conditioned water to go into the tank. In this one I have a less powerful pump (still must be able to lift the water), a much shorter hose & an attached gravel vac with a diffuser on it. The reason for the less powerful pump & diffuser is so that the fresh water is pumped gently into the tank.

I've just purchased on ebay a 220L food grade plastic drum, which I'll use for fresh water for water changes. That way I won't have to wheel to & from the kitchen sink so many times for refills.

Hope that explains the pumps involvement in water changes a little more clearly.

Cheers
TW

Week 14 Update .

After last weeks major changes , I was determined not to make too many changes
to the tank this week . Ah well the best laid plans etc

Robyn got me thinking that I'd been a bit slack in fixing my equipment problems
( thanks for motivating me Robyn )
SO off I went to the LFS and you know what happens when you do that .
Yes Yes , I know sucked in by Fishies again !!!!!

I saw some good size Corydora's Sterbai . I've been wanting some for a long time
but they are always too small for my tastes . So I bought 6 ( all they had unfortunatly ) .
As well I've been thinking about having a large school of something a bit smaller.
And of course there was a big bunch of Lemon Tetras ( I bought 20 ) which fitted the
bill nicely .

So I had fun , and as an aside , I did decide to add another Cannister to the tank to
run the UV on . This time a smaller Fluval 305 with and adjustable flow rate so I
can keep optimise the the dwell time of the water thru the UV .

As far as the plants are concerned , I trimmed the Wisteria back quite hard . The
Algae covered leaves of the Annubia B, and Amazons were removed . The Ludwigia
( or whats left of it) was pulled out of the left corner and put in an open spot at the
front of the tank to see if I can get it to recover . Also Trimmed the Tennulus out of
areas it should not be in .

So as you can see not much happening .
I haven't had much time to take photo's this week , so only a few . Lets start with the tank last week .

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The Full Tank this week , As you can see most of that ugly equipment has gone . The new Cannister pipes are behind the Hygro and I've planted another stem of Giant Hygro to cover the Heater & FX5 intake ( in time ). You can also see that the Wisteria is now shaped to allow light at the bottom of the stems. Hopefully that will encourage some leaf growth rather than just ugly stems !

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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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Just a couple of detail plant shots this week . First the remainder of the Ludwigia

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The Annubia B. area looking a bit better .

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So just a few shots of the Fishies . The Cory's have been a bit shy so far . This is the only half way decent shot I've managed to get .

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The Lemon Tetras.

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A shot of one the Rainbows now displaying even more colour.

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Last shot for this week , My mate watching me process the photos for this update . The Tank is right next to the computer and he likes to lie in the corner and watch me

Next week will be a quiet week as far as changes , I promise

Garry

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Garry:

I have to give it to you: best fish shots on FP! The last picture is priceless. So you dared to get my most favorite Cory next to the quite similar looking C. haraldschultzi. They are pricey here and not easy to come by. I am looking forward to see more photos of these cute little guys. The plants are looking spectacular as well, love the thicket to the right but I agree with Robyn that the 'technical hardware' is taking some viewing pleasure away.
Of course, can't wait to see what you will do with your tank next week!

Claudia

Hi Gary
Er.... MOST OF US, I dare say, think of "small tanks" in
the capacities of 30G and DOWN. Very few of us are
fortunate enough to think of a 60G tank as "small."

To maintain the carbon requirements of the plants in either
of those two tanks, particularly the 240G tank, you may
find you need to purchase some of those nutrients from
SeaChem in the GALLON or larger size bottles!
Were I you, I would also consider automating the
dosing with dosing pumps that we chatted about earlier.

Terrific Pictures and a great looking tank!

Frank


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

you may
find you need to purchase some of those nutrients from
SeaChem in the GALLON

I do that and my big tank is only a 55G

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

Garry

Sorry i havent replied on your posts for a while, kinda got lost there for a while, tank is looking good my friend i love the fishy shots.

Shane

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

Hi Claudia , thanks for the compliment , I don't think my photography is up to scratch yet ,
the Wife is the photographer in the family . She just bought me 2 Camera Magazines
( hint hint ) , oh well I can only get better . I'm certainly trying lots of different settings
hence the different colours and exposures from time to time .

It's funny you should mention that part of the tank , its not on the top of my favourite
areas in the tank . The Wisteria was an after thought and it needs to move IMO. I've
just bought some new plants with that area in mind (so much for no changes this week ) .
Also I have so many baby Amazons they are begining to block the light of the parents ,
so between the 2 lots I fell a makeover of that part of the tank coming on .


Frank , Sorry didn't mean to sound cocky ( not sure thats the word I'm searching for )
I've finaly decided not to redo the 60g as I'm really happy with how its going in general .
Thanks for the compliments , still lots of work to do in this tank as it has diverged from
my original vision quite a lot . Now its settled I'm going to start making some alterations
back towards that original . May never reach that as I've probably changed my ideas a
bit , but we will see.

BTW , I buy my ferts in 2 ltr containers already . But Robyn showed me where to by Dry
ferts very cheaply so I may go over to them for the Macro's. Which of course still leaves
Excel and Flourish etc .

Wings and Frank Thanks for your support .

Shane , long time man , thanks for that . How goes your tank , I'll have to check you log ,
good to hear from you .

Garry

Hi Gary,
I did not interpret your post as "Cocky."
Your "small" tank just happens to be twice as big as my
big tank, and I thought I'd tease you a bit.

Robyn has been using the dry, powdered, ferts for a while
now and should pretty much have that tucked under her wing.
I'd go with what she suggests.

My only caution is that I've read that some of them should
not be premixed too far out from use, and that some of them
interact so you would not want to put them all together in
one container too far ahead of time.

Frank


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

My only caution is that I've read that some of them should not be premixed too far out from use, and that some of them interact so you would not want to put them all together in one container too far ahead of time

Wel, I didn't know that. But I mix them on the day I use them, so that's ok anyway. But how far in advance is too long? I was considering pre-mixing (a bottle for each day) when I go on holidays, to make dosing the tank easy for my daughter.

Cheers
TW

I pretty much do what Robyn does. Most fertilize micros 3 days and macros 3 days, For example.

Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday: Macros (I use Greg Watson kno3,po4)
Monday/Wednesday/Friday: Micros (I use Flourish)
That's it. I don't dose so4(potassium) in my tanks that I'm dosing kno3 and po4). And of course there's no Excel dosing since there's Co2.
Saturday: Nothing

I take some tank water and mix the dry ferts in a cup and pull it in.

I might have missed this, but why no pressurized co2?

P.S. Tank looks nice and lush, but the co2 will help with some issues and fuller growth in some other plants.

My Scapes

I did not interpret your post as "Cocky."
Your "small" tank just happens to be twice as big as my
big tank, and I thought I'd tease you a bit.

Thanks Frank , I said I didn't think it was the right word , glad to hear you were just teasing!!!!!

Jeff, Thanks for the compliment , means a lot coming from a " Guru " like yourself .

I might have missed this, but why no pressurized co2?

We had this discussion somewhere in this thread a couple of months ago , I think .
Not sure if I ever gave reasons .

Firstly , This was always meant to be a journey for me to explore and learn . One can
just take all advice and go with it or you can try things . I've read every log on this site
and many others including Tom Barrs and whilst its very obvious that using C02 is
successful , I found that nowhere could I find a lot about how to grow plants well
without it . This intrigued me and I wondered why . Was it just impossible or too hard ?.
I decided to find out by doing it myself and learning as I went . Probably a bit of bloody
mindedness on my part as well.

Secondly , as you yourself noted in an earlier post here , I'm an aggressive Fish stockist
as well as highly interested in plants . I'm reluctant to subject my charges to
conditions that are less than ideal . This may bring howls of protest from Plant Guru's
but this is my own feeling , I've no experience to back it up .

Lastly , I've an aversion to pressuried gas in any setting . I've seen first hand what
damage exploding gas bottles can do first hand and I reluctant to have them in the house .

So thats not to say I won't ever do it , I may . But I will have to be very convinced that
there is no other way to do the things I want to do before I relent.

Jeff , these are my opinions only , I don't mean to offend anyone or to cast aspertions
at other peoples way of doing things. This is the way I want to proceed for the moment .

Garry

Week 15 Update

This week again started with a promise to do very little . Well didn't work again .
I always was lousy and New Years Resolutions.

I decided to address the other plant in the tank that was shoved in as an afterthought
to up the Fast Grower count: the Wisteria . As well I wanted to address the Amazons
which had been producing a prodigious amount of babies on spikes .
I went to the LFS (again) to look for some plants . I was mainly disappointed again
at the poor selection . However I bought a couple of small Crypts , some very small
Annubia Nana and a large Annubia Nana as well as what I think is a Sagittaria.

So in I went and first pulled up all of the Wisteria at the front right . I then cut all of
the baby spikes and removed all of the babies, a staggering 32 plants from 6 parents . .
I set about planting the babies in order of size at the front left and the new plants in
and around the rock group . I also trimmed of most of the old Amazon leaves leaving only
the quite prolific new growth . I then planted the Wisteria at the rear of the Amazons
to hopefully go wild and provide a backdrop for the Amazons .

So on to the Photos ,
Full Tank as of last week




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Full Tank this week

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The Left Side

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A shot from the left end of the Tank showing the depth of the rear plants . Also some good reflections of the fish on the front panel .

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The right side , will show some closer shots of the replanted area in the next shots .

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Replanted area wide shot

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Replanted Area High Shot

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The Amazon Babies

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The Rock Group with the new plants

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A few other detail plant shots , The Ovalis recovering and showing some nice Red .

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The Ludwigia doing the same , just !?

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Small Crypts continuing to power on . Can now be seen over the rocks on the river border.

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The Stellata now sending out 2 more stems at the base of the plant.

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Annubia B. all flowering .

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New growth on the Annubia Nana on the Driftwood .

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The Java Fern Area

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Last Plant shot for this week is of the Unknown Sword? in the river . Just keeps powering on . This is the favorite spot for Dwarf Loach conferences .

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A few fishey photos now , one of the Corys .

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A lemon Tetra starting to colour up .

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A close up of A Dwarf Loach

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Angels ometimes we forget just what magnificent Animals these guys are

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Last shot for this week is another Angel shot . This one is very interesting . We've just noticed that this angel has a glowing blue spot under her chin . We've also noticed that when this spot is glowing , her feelers also take on a definate blue tinge as well. I've never seen this before .

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Thats it for this week , next week will be a quiet week with a bit of trimming of the
Hygros and some of the Algae affected Annubia leaves .
I have finally given up on getting some Red plants from the LFS's around here . I
ordered some plants online for the first time . Will probably take a week or so to
arrive . Will see how it goes getting plants delivered outside a capital city .


Garry

Garry,

Sorry it has been such a long time since I posted last in your thread, all the time I had available I spent on just reading the gazillion posts .

I recently would have added a comment saying something like "reduction of the fast growers on the right to create a more permanent scape" but I see now that this has already happened.

One thing that always comes to mind when looking at your tank, and don't take this the wrong way, is that it seems really small for its size. The large fish and the environment being all filled up with plants make it look more like a 72 than a 240G. Not that I can think of one thing in particular that can alter this, but if it were possible to add something that allows a size evaluation of the overall tank then this might help.

Gotta go,

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Sorry it has been such a long time since I posted last in your thread, all the time I had available I spent on just reading the gazillion posts .

Don't worry Ingo ,I know you are busy with life ATM . Thanks for the thoughts they are
always welcome .

The large fish and the environment being all filled up with plants make it look more like a 72 than a 240G.

Yes I've thought this my self at times , I think its because the tank gets its volume from
Height and Width rather than lenght . Have to work out some way to get the size accross
as the full tank shots reduce it to looking like any 6ft er .
If only I had room for the 8-10fter I really wanted .

Oh well will keep trying to think of something as well as researching more on Photography .

Thanks for dropping by

Garry

Jeff, Thanks for the compliment , means a lot coming from a " Guru " like yourself

Well here I'm a "Fish Guru" which isn't really true. Planted Tank Guru, yeah maybe a junior one.

It's funny that Ingo said your tank looks like a 72g, because he used to say my 72g looked like a 20g sometimes.

I completely understand your views about the co2 thing and you should do it your way. Nothing wrong with having a none co2 tank. I'm just sharing some of my experience with you. If you do go to high light the carbon will be the limiting factor in terms of the plants using all that light and they won't grow correctly. This will cause algae to move in. All the Excel in the world won't make a difference. And of course too much wouldn't be good for the fish.

My Scapes

Garry,

Fantastic shots of the fish as always (I know I keep repeatingmyself, but what can I do seeing your pictures )

I agree with Ingo (Little_Fish) re size and impression of the tank. It does look much smaller but you are certainly right as the width of the tank does not show well i pictures. Didn't ypu mention soething about hiding/changing the technical hardware or did I get that all wrong?

Red plants would be great in your tank! I hope your mail orders will arrive in good shape, I finally gave up hope to see some of the not so common plants at the 3 LFS I visit and will place an Internet order as well.

Claudia

Jeff . I appreciate your advice , and I do take a lot of notice of it , believe me , you
in particular have given me some of the best and most important tips in my
learning experience .
I always listen , there are some things I want to experience for myself .

As always thanks for the candid advice !

Claudia , I did replace a lot of the intank equipment and the rest has had plants put
in front , it will be hidden in time .

6ft wide is 6ft wide I think , its the depth thats hard to get accross in the full tank shots.
As far as the red plants go , we will see . I'm trying very hard to get some success in
that area , I'm experimenting with higher light in the 60g tank , only early days ,
time will tell . Its probably the one thing that might convince me to do C02.

Lets hope the plants arrive in good shape , They only have to come from Brisbane ,
150ks away so should be ok .

Thanks for the compliments

Lastly a bit of bad news , we lost one of our Angels today. No obvious reason , no
disease that I can determine . Simply got worse from last night untill this evening .
Sad but thats life , probably suffered from the strife of the Breeding wars that break
out amongst the Angel group once a month or so . Will never know I guess.

Oh well life goes on .


Garry

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Awwww..........sorry for your loss Country! Don't tell me it was the one with the blue light!?
That "lighted fish" has to be the strangest thing I have ever heard of or seen in relation to FW aquarium fish! I can't believe no one else has commented on it! It's like something out of science fiction!

What a pretty body,

I am sorry for your loss. You are probably right with the assumption that the fish succumbed to the stress of breeding in a community tank. I experienced similar myself, eg the big angel had a girl friend (and a very pretty one). I found her hainging snout first in the tenellus one evening with absolutely no signs of reduced health prior to her demise. How many angels do you have left?

Oh, Garry, that's too bad. Sorry for your loss.

Cheers
TW

I'm sorry for your loss. I have yet to experience the loss of a fish as I have only been keeping them for about 3-4 months, but I know it is tough to lose any pet.

On a brighter note, you have been an inspiration to me. The beauty of your tank has convinced me to attempt to plant my new 55 gallon. It will never rival the astonishing tank that you have but I hope it will brighten up the tank.

I noticed that you have some sharks in this tank and was wondering if you have any problems between the rainbow and red-tailed sharks. I am assuming you don't but was curious because those are two of my favorite fish.

Anyways, I hope that your success continues and you keep posting these beautiful photos for our viewing pleasure.

Don't tell me it was the one with the blue light!?

Patty , Unfortunatley you hit the nail on the head . That indeed was the one .

How many angels do you have left?

Claudia , 5 originals all about the same size . I'm currently growing a couple of
Black ones in the 60g . Hopefully to join the group in time .

I noticed that you have some sharks in this tank and was wondering if you have any problems between the rainbow and red-tailed sharks. I am assuming you don't but was curious because those are two of my favorite fish.

Truestar , I love them as well . But it is a bit of a risk . I got them very young and grew
them up togeather . The Redtail in my group is the bully and does do a bit of chasing ,
they tend to be the most bad tempered IME. But of course they are the most beautifull
of all the sharks . In a 55 I would probably go with an Albino and A normal Redfin if I
were you . Be prepared though because there can be great variation in temper between
individuals .

On a brighter note, you have been an inspiration to me.

Why thank you , you've made my day I fell very humble .


Thank you Patty , Claudia , Robyn and Truestar for you sympathy , much appreciated


Garry

Week 16 Update .
Well I finally did it I did nothing this week except mainaince . The new
plants haven't arrived as yet. Next couple of days I hope

So very boring as far as an update ,I will throw in a few more fish photos this week .
One point that I would make is that there is a definate improvement in the Algae
situation , especially the Black stuff . Claudia's system seems to be working well .
Thanks for the tip Claudia.
Ok on to the photo's , the tank 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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Just a couple of plant shots , first one the Unknown plants in the river is flowering . Heres a shot of the 2 plants . Notice the stalk coming towards the front.

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A close up of the flower stalk

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A shot of the Ovalis which is starting to power on , but is still not colouring up as I would wish .

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And the other problem plant , the Ludwiga , still looking a long way from full recovery

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Not much else on the plants this week . On to the Fishies . A shot of the Albino Redfin Shark for Truestar . Beautifull fish

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A couple of shots of the Angels .

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Another shot this time the dominant Male Angel in the foreground. He's mean , he bites me if I put my hand into his territory

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A few Shots now of the Lemon Tetras now , they are showing some really nice colours

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Another

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And Another slightly out of focus but have a look at the colours .

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Last Tetra shot of one eyeballing me .

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A few now of the older residents , a Golden Barb

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A Gold Tiger Barb

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A close up of a couple of Dwarf Loaches , These guys have done a good job keeping the snail population under control. I actually saw one of them eating a snail the other day , very efficent .

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One of the Sterbai Corys

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Well thats it for this week , hopefully the new plants will arrive SOON , and I'll have lots of decisions to make about the scape . We will see

And remember he's always watching ( Blackie that is )

Garry

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Thanks once again Garry, for sharing your beautiful pictures.

Cheers
TW

I couldn't find dwarf loaches on our site, so I looked them up. They are critically endangered in Thailand where they come from. No new hauls have been made recently. It didn't make any mention of them eating snails, but apparently they do.

I really like your Golden Barbs. I didn't realize they got that colorful.

I don't plan on doing the Sharks in the 55, I'm going with a pair of Blue Rams instead. The tank shots look amazing. I have to say the picture of the Albino is my favorite though(so what if I'm biased). The plants are great too.

Wow, simply amazing photos. Your pics are so clear and crisp - you have real talent. Beautiful.


:jay

Garry,

Glad to read that you didn't have too much to do with this tank for the last week, but I am certain it will bite you in the b*tt the next time you need to trim .

What I see is some very very healthy growth in your tank, always a good sign.

Hey, about your mystery plants in the river, didn't people already point out that they are swords? One looks somewhat like a Red Rubin.

Have fun,

Ingo

PS: sorry about the Angel loss, but we know that stuff like this happens.

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks folks for all of your interest .

Ingo , I think thats the first time anyone has given me a thought about what they might be .
Thanks , I'll do some research .

Week 17 Update .

The new plants arrived . So, I hear you say what did you get ??? Heres the list
Rotala Wallichii, Aponogeton Crispus Green & Red , Bacopa sp. ,Ludwigia Repens -
Narrow Leaf,Myriophyllum scabratum (Giant Milfoil),Rotala Macrandra - Narrow Leaf
(Magenta), Crypt. Balansae.
They were in pretty good nick , only a couple of the Magenta's were a bit mushy.
Most seem to have come thru alright so far.
I ordered some Didiplus Diandra ( Blood Stargrass) , but as usual with this plant it was
out of stock .
The idea was to order enough of these more difficult to grow plants for both tanks and
compare the results of the different conditions .So in the interest of completeness ,
I'll give you all a brief comparision of the 2 tanks regimes
240g: ( this tank )Light: 2.4 wpg , Ferts: Seachem ferts inc Excel based on Manufacturers
reccomendations .
60g: Light: 3.7wpg , Ferts: double Excel , Double Macros , same micro's .
The plants have been in for a few days and I'll show a pick of the 60 g as well so we can
compare the differences ( there are already some I think ) .

The next task was to decide where to put all of these new goodies . I confess here that
I had planned to do a major overhall , but I simply chickened out .
Not enough courage for that amount of risk ATM.
Oh well I may do something like that later

So I simply shoved them all in where they would fit .

A couple of things happened while I was doing this . Firstly I got the St;s with the
Hairgrass die off on the left of the river , so it had to go , just stuck a couple of Crypts
and an Annubia there for the moment . I will have to decide what i want to do with that
area .
The Tennulus had just run riot so it was time for a trim , and once I started ,I just kept
going . Amazing there were some rocks under there .

Ok enough words onto the photos . The tank last week .

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The Full tank this week . I will show detail shots for all the new additions .

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The Right Side .

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The Left Side

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A straight on River Shot

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An Angled shot of the Tank

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On to the detail shots of the new plants , First a shot of the Bacopa , Ludwigia , Crypt Balansae.

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Rotala Wallichii

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Giant Milfoil and another R. Wallichii

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Magenta ,Rotala Macrandra on the right near the rock group

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So that covers the right side plantings , her is a couple of shots of the Rock Group general area. Wide shot first.

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Tall Shot

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As you can see I have not copmpletely given up of the Hairgrass , But if I do I may plant some more of these small crypts in this area as well as the main ex- hairgrass area .

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Ok on to other parts of the tank . The magenta and Ludwigia around the driftwood

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The Aponogeton's are all over on the left with the Annubia B. and the Giant Hygro's . I'll probably remove the Hygro if these prove succesfull . Sorry for the poor shot not easy to get this area .

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Heres another shot a lttle closer , notice the Barteri flowers BTW

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Thats it for the new plants . Doesn't seem that exciting looking at the photos .Its a big space and they will need to grow a lot to have an impact .
However when you look at them in the 60g ,the difference is startling . Heres a before shot which I posted alittle while ago .

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