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  L#  Countryfish 240g Tank log
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Subscribe Countryfish 240g Tank log
Countryfish
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LFS Plants

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Countryfish
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Crypts in front of jungle

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Countryfish
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Last Plant shot showing the river side of the jungle where the Stellata and Milfoil ended up . You might ask what happened to the R. Wallichi . It was doing so poorly I moved it to the other tank to try to recover .

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Countryfish
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Just a couple of Fishy shots to finish . A rainbow showing amazing colours . Very hard to get in focus . This is the best shot we could get .

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An Otto in close up

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Cute Corys cuddling

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Countryfish
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Last shot for this week of Ottos with a nosy Cory .

Next week should be very tame compared to this week . But you never know .


Garry

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clownloachfan
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Nice shots. That anubias is really clinging to the wood. That is a beautiful Bolbitis specimen you have there. I envy you.
Post InfoPosted 26-Oct-2007 05:40Profile Homepage PM Edit Delete Report 
fishmonster
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Garry

Im sorry i havent had time to post in your log as much as i used to. Second job is killin me. Anyways I love the shots you have of your bolbitis. I wish i could get mine to grow the same way. I have some on the driftwood and its been there for quite some time but im having a hard time growing it. Any ideas or suggestions. Its right under the HOB for the flow also.

I really love your Nanas. In order to get a second or third could I cut the existing Ryzhome?

Shane

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

I am really interested how the R. wallichii will do in your tanks! Apparently you had some issues in the large tank yourself? I am very curious how the plant will do in your 60 G. What do you think is making all the difference? WPG-wise you do not have such a discrepancy between the two tanks, but could it be the amount of light reaching the bottom as the 240g is rather tall? I have ordinary R. rotundifolia in both the 72g and a 20g long and it does nuch better (color as well as growth wise) in the smaller tank, although there is a slightly lower WPG and less fertiizers added. Any thoughts?

Lovely pics and I envy you the shots as always.

Claudia
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TW
 
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EditedEdited by TW
Cute Corys cuddling


Beautiful pictures Garry, as always. So crisp and clear. No need for words, but just in case, I will say that your tank is beautifiul, as it always is.

Cheers
TW
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Countryfish
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Week 20 Update

Hi , folks . I'm logging in from a friends computer in Sydney this week ,down for another
wedding .
I made a few changes to the tank before we came to Sydney , but didn't get a chance to
take photos .
So I will update the log early next week .

Thanks to everyone for the nice comments .

Claudia , The R. Wallichi is proving to be a challenge . I'll show you some things next week .
I think Tetratech may be right about this plant , starting to look really difficult to grow.
The R. Macandra ( Magenta ) is flourishing in both tanks now , and with different ferts and
light , interesting .

Shane , I'm not an expert on Bolbitus ,this is my first attempt . If I remember correctly from
LF's 40g log this plant takes along time to get established and then takes off . But again I'm
not an expert on these ferns , try asking Ingo .

I really love your Nanas. In order to get a second or third could I cut the existing Ryzhome?
As far as Annubias are concerned , I pretty sure thats exactly what you can do.


The other thing I started this week was to bring this tank onto the same increased light and
fert (macros) as the 60g . Big move , but the 60g has been very stable and growth patterns
much stronger so I thought it was time .

Anyway a mini update , will be back to normal next week .

Garry
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TW
 
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Well, if you are in Sydney, you can visit SimpleGrow. Have a nice time at the wedding.

Cheers
TW
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Countryfish
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Week 21 Update

Back from Sydney , but unfortunatley Robyn I was allowed to stray from the plan .
So no Fish realated visits I'm afraid .
So what happened in the tank over the last couple of weeks .
Firstly I decided to do something that the "Guru" said I should do a long time ago .
I turned my main driftwood piece ( looked like a sawn tree stump) up side down to make
it look more natural . Secondly I moved the Bolbitis Ferns apart , and added some more
rocks to the rock group to give it more height . Still not happy with that part of the tank
though , it was supposed to be a mountain with a tree like effect leading down to the
grassy bank of the river . Not there yet , maybe one day .

After rearranging the jungle area I've let it grow with out any trimming so its starting to
look wild again , however the foreground of that area has proved a little difficult to keep
planted due to the efforts of the Sharks and Corys ..
I've moved all the Annubia's to the Rock group and will probably add more to soften the
area (maybe ).

Well thats about all I can remember so on to the Photo's .
The tank as of a Fornight ago .

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Countryfish
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The Full Tank This week

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The Right Side

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Countryfish
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The Left Side , I forgot to mention that I took the sissors to the Hygro that dominates the centre rear of the tank . I think this plant has run its course . It may not last much longer in its current position .

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Countryfish
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Now a couple of Angle shots , firstly looking down slightly .

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Countryfish
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Now an angle looking up .

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Countryfish
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EditedEdited by countryfish
A couple of shots of the Rock Group, firstly from straight on .

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Rock Group from slightly above

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EditedEdited by countryfish
A couple of shots of the Driftwood turned upside down , firstly the whole lenght which also shows one of the Bolbitis moved to the right .
This shot also shows 2 new flower spikes coming from the Swords in the river

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Countryfish
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A closer shot of the end which used to look like a tree stump . I think this end looks a bit more natural .

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Countryfish
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So a few detail shots of the plants starting at the left end of the tank . Firstly a shot of the Giant Hygro and Annubias , also the favorite hiding place for the Golden Barbs

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Countryfish
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A front shot of that area , also showing the Apon's and the Golden Barbs again !

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Countryfish
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EditedEdited by countryfish
A close up shot of the 2 Bolbitis Ferns

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Countryfish
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EditedEdited by countryfish
A wider shot of the general area around the Ferns

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Countryfish
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The Crypt area on the left of the River

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Countryfish
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The First Sword Plantlet , looking bigger and better every week

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Countryfish
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The Milfoil and Stellatta on the right side of the River

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Countryfish
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A wider angle shot of the Jungle at the right of the River

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Countryfish
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Now a front on shot of the jungle

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Countryfish
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A closer shot of the front of the jungle

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Countryfish
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A closer shot of the problem foreground area in front of the Jungle .

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Countryfish
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Lastly a couple of shots of the newer plants in the jungle area , firstly the Magenta

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Countryfish
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The Ludwigia's , Ovalis and Narrow

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EditedEdited by countryfish
a close up of the Bacopa

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Countryfish
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Thats it for the Plants this week , a few Fishy photos now . The SAE's love the new rocks ,almost like an unit block

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Countryfish
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And while taking that shot ( the SAE's wre very patient) , the Lemons came over to see what I was doing . This is the most I've ever got in one photo and they are nearly all in focus

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Countryfish
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So I followed the Lemons for a while taking a lot of photos and got this one as well. There are 30 of them but they seem to have formed into at least 3 separate groups during the day . Interestingly I've seen that after dark the groups seem to come together into one large group , maybe for a feeling of safety .?

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Countryfish
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While this was going on I got this shot of the Tigers who are always curious and come to the front when I'm around . But like the tetras they dart around so much its hard to get a good shot of the entire group . This shot is the most I've managed to get in one shot . It has 10 of the 13 in the group .

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Countryfish
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Thats it for this week . Not much time available next week so should just be some trimming and general maintaince .
Last shot is a close up of my Avatar fish , just for Brengun .

Garry

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Hey you thought of me, good onya Countryfish.
That is a great photo of your Gourami. I don't comment on your plant thread as you just bamboozle me with all the plant names. I am just learning all the fishy names.
Post InfoPosted 08-Nov-2007 15:54Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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Hi Countryfish

This tank is looking stunning as ever. I like the new rock formations and I think the look of that area will continue to improve as the plants grow in around them and they get a sprinkling of algae for that aged feel.

You mentioned the "problem foreground area in front of the jungle"... what problem? I like the occasional glimpse of substrate and don't consider that to be a problem.

If you really wanted to fill that area with greenery you could try attaching some anubias nana or similar to some river stones and either place them in the empty area, or partially bury the rocks in the substrate (leaving the rhizome uncovered of course). Then the fish could bulldoze to their hearts content; the plants may end up in a different spot, but they won't end up floating.

As always though... it's your tank, in your home... do with it what will make you (and your fish) happy

G_T

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.
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Beautiful as usual. Love your blue gourami
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I love rock caves, & so do the fishies /:'
Post InfoPosted 08-Nov-2007 18:34Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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Hello Folks , Thanks for the comments and compliments .

Bren , you think you get confused , Ha you should try getting into a conversation with LF,
Tetra and Wings , they have my head spinning ,

GT , thanks for stopping by and for the suggestion , got me thinking about tying up more
than Annubisa and Java's . Very good idea and a good excuse to add more rocks .
Thanks again for that,

Patty , of course you would like the rocks Thanks for dropping by

Thanks CLF , shes a beauty .

Garry


Garry
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Bren , you think you get confused , Ha you should try getting into a conversation with LF,
Tetra and Wings , they have my head spinning ,
Sorry my fingers don't always type what my head is thinking.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric
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wow garry... your tank, and the photos are just breathtaking! I cannot get over how clean your plants are... I get this layer of brown diatoms on my wisteria which is a shame as they are so vibrant.

I LOVE the lemons... when (and if) I ever get around to setting up my 55g, lemons are a must! They are so delicate, and the red eye, wow!
Post InfoPosted 12-Nov-2007 18:09Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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EditedEdited by tetratech
Gary
Tanks looks very good. I'm impressed with the look of the plants. Must be something in that water down under. Looks better with thicker growth on the right if you could get thick healthy groups on both sides in th back it will look even better.

If I'm being honest I don't love the cave on the left. It looks too man-made for my taste (but that's me). I almost expect Fred Flinstone to walk out of the front.




My Scapes
Post InfoPosted 13-Nov-2007 15:50Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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Wings Yeah me too .
Scott , Thanks , the Lemons were an after thought in this tank . I wasn't going to have any
small fish , but both the wife and I thought something was missing . So we decided to try
to get a big school of small fish . The Lemons fit the bill and they were on special !!!!!

Tetra , Thanks for that , I think I stated I wasn't very happy with the rocks yet . So I agree ,
thats just the way the fit together for the moment . I want to build a mountain , I think, and
need more good gear to do it: so watch this space .

Thanks for dropping by.

Garry
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I want to build a mountain
Sounds like someone is going rock hunting. When I set up my 55G I got my rocks from a landscape place. Dirt cheap. 40lb for about 4-6 dollars.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric
Post InfoPosted 15-Nov-2007 13:13Profile AIM PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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Week 22 Update .

Very busy week with life but not much in this tank , did a little corner makeover in the 60 g
which made me happy .

So other than a little tweak here and there , not much to report . Only real changes were
some trimming of the 3 main plant groups in the jungle ( Magenta ,Bacopa & Ludwigia )
and planting the tops in the foreground of the jungle , and the tying of a couple more
Annubias to the rock group .
So on to the Photos , the Tank as of 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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The River with Shark

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Another Angle shot this time from the opposite side of the river showing the Swords and their now multiple babys

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A close shot of the swords and offspring

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The Original Sword baby now getting quite big

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The Jungle foreground ...a wide shot

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The New plantings in front of the Jungle with the Water sprite cut right back

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The Lilaeopsis in front of the jungle

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Now a couple of shots of the Rock group ...A wider shot

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A closer shot showing the new Annubias

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A shot from the end of the tank looking down

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A shot of the Bolbitis

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The Crypts now establishing themselves despite the beat efforts of the sharks and corys

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Thats about it for the plants this week , I took lots more photos but they are all about the same and even I'm getting bored posting them
So a few fishy photos to finish . First a close up of a Cory , love the wrinkly skin

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A Dwarf Loach on the meeting rock in the river

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A nice shot of a Lemon Tetra

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EditedEdited by countryfish
The Redfin Shark patrolling his territory back left of the tank

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Last shot for this week is of one of the Big Boys
And in answer to your post , yes Wings I am looking , but not having much success as yet.

The only changes currently in train is the removal of the Hygro in the centre, It's gotta go , I'm over it . Either going to replace it with the Giant Hygro or wait for the Bolbitis to grow a bit like LF's . Not sure I can wait that long however . We will see .

Garry

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Wow, this tank has come a long way since I last checked in. It looks great. Nice pictures too.



Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients
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Really great shots this week. Not that past weeks have been bad but this weeks are quite nice.

The tank is filling in incredibly nice. My only suggestion is to tighten up the stem groupings. That takes some time though.

I think the anubias will look quite nice on the rocks once they start to grow. I need to take some pictures of mine. I love how the roots grow over the rocks.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric
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Great shot of the kisser, Garry!
What became of the R. wallichii in your smaller tank? Did it do better there, I've thrown mine out as it was nibbled down to the stems (could serve as an intersting display in a tank "blazing sun over the aqua desert", though)

What are your plans to replace the hygro sp. with (I am sort of lost regarding the placement of this hygro in your tank as well as to the exact species of hyfro). You got to provide us with a front shot!

Claudia
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Hey Matty , thanks for checking in and for the compliments .

Wings , Thanks for that , I actually thought the photos this week were a bit "ho hum"
I actually started taking photos lying on the floor for a bit of a change . I didn't post them though.

Claudia , the Walichii is still in the other tank ( all of it ) . Its doing poorly but still alive
with a few bits looking like growth . I'll post some picks later in the week .
The Hygro in the centre is Hygrophila polisperma and it was only included in the tank
to up the count of fast growers . But I think I have enough other fast growers and I
really like the Giant Hygro . It looks like a forest and thats want I was aiming at on
that side of the tank " order " versus "wild " on the jungle side .
I will post a before and after later in the week .

Garry
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EditedEdited by catdancer
Ah, so you have H. polysperma as well! A fantastic grower that keeps the scissors busy and there some nicely colored varieties and a reddish creeper available but no chance to get them in the US. At least not through a dealer as the plant is considered an obnoxious weed. This is also the reason that I want to hold on to a small colony of mine. LFS are eager to get them from hobbyists and that is our chance to get some deals.
I had H. corymbosa myself but did not like it too much. However, your tank is bigger and you have a particular scape in mind. I am looking forward to photos!

My R. wallichi had some nice growth too but I lost my patience ... I've read that the plant requires specific water conditions (pH and hardness) to do well in the long run. I don't know what your water is like but mine is (according to the article) not becoming so I ditched the plants. Do you or someone else who happens to read your log have any experience with Myriophyllum tuberculatum? This is one species I am interested in.

Claudia
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I love your rock group Garry!

But I don't envy you trying to keep that area clean.

I'm glad you're having such fun with that tank...... the fish & the plants. You definitely have a country jungle going on there!
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Do you or someone else who happens to read your log have any experience with Myriophyllum tuberculatum?

Claudia , no haven't had this one yet ! The Wallichi is an issue as I will try to show later .
Patty : the rock group will expand , rocks and new plants have arrived . They are both
soaking ATM. So the new rock group will be next week .
Thanks for the compliments .

Week 23 Update .

Did a full 2 filter and UV clean at the water change this week which did not go well .
First the water was a very milky colour out of the tap . The PH spiked to 7.5
(normally a steady 7.1), then the UV leaked . . I didn't put it back together
properly " Idiot " is a word that comes to mind.
So not much change to the tank as I ran out of time

One point I would make is that the Tank is still not stable when compared to the 60 g ,
algae is still a problem and whilst growth is strong and water params a were very good
up to this week there is still a lingering bit of a clarity problem with the water . When
comparing the 2 tanks the 60g looks like the fish are suspended in mid air whilst in the
240g you can still notice the water especially towards the back of the tank .
I've cleaned the Main filter 4 times in 23 weeks so about every 6 weeks so far .
I am going to clean them every 2 weeks for a while and see if that makes a difference .
Ok enough whinging on to the Photos, The Tank as of last week .

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The Full Tank This week

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EditedEdited by countryfish
I think I lightened up that full tank shot to much . Went a bit overboard thinking about the advice I gave to Claudia

The Right Side

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EditedEdited by countryfish
The Left Side

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Just a few Plant Shots , A close up of Annubia Paco and Barteri

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The soon to be added to and changed Rock Group

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One of the Bolbitis . Not sure these are doing to well as yet . Getting some black discolouring on the leaves , doesn't look like BBA . Will have to wait and see.

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The Swords in the river

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The Hygro .p that should have been gone and will be next week

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The Magenta in the jungle still doing very well

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EditedEdited by countryfish
The Jungle foreground and Cory playground

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Now a report on the R.Wallichii , all 4 bunches are now in the 60g . The original 2 from the 60g are doing much better than the 2 from this tank . However I wouldn't say either are flourishing . The shots are not great but you should get the point . They are all now sitting on the beach in the 60g right under the light .They have 2 Root tabs right under their feet , So if they don't do well there then I guess they are not for me .

First a wide shot of the 4 bunches

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A closer shot showing the 2 from the 60g doing ok I suppose .

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A close shot of 1 from this tank , its hard to see but this one looks very sick .

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Anyway time will tell for the Wallichii.
Just a couple of fishy shots to finish : a Female Tiger Barb

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EditedEdited by countryfish
That shot was courtesy of the wife without the aid of the macro lens . Last shot for this week is an Otto one a sword spike .

Next week will see the addition of the following plants :
Fontinalis , Water Rose , Banana Lilies and another Annubia Paco . All of these are intended to go in and around the reformed Rock( Mountain ) group . Should be fun .
Oh and of course the Giant Hygro will rplace the Hygro p

Garry

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Week 24 Update .

Well week 23 was a popular update ! Never mind nothing much happened I suppose .
This week however .... well ...where to start . Firstly the new plants arrived and some
new rocks .
So the first thing was to get rid of the Hygro p. and replace with Giant Hygro . Second was
to remodel the rock group into "A Mountain" . Lastly add some more small plants to the Jungle
foregroud .
That was the plan anyway . As I was pulling up the Giant Hygro hiding behind the Jungle I
also pulled up a Java Fern I'd forgotten about , so that was added to the driftwood on the
left of the river . Then I started thinking about the Driftwood over the river and its accompaning
Java's . The Javas had become completely obscured by the jungle , so I reversed the driftwood
to bring the Javas out from behind the Jungle . I then planted the Giant Hygro in place of the
Hygro p.. Tick first objective with some minor variations .

Next it was on to the Mountain . I added the new rocks to the base then tied on the Annubias
and Fontinalis to the current rocks . I also tied another A.Paco to the driftwood which already had
one A.Paco . Then I built the Mountain . This proved to be a little tricky and I can't say I'm overly
happy with it just yet which means it may change shape again sooner rather than later .
objective 2 Achieved ...sort of

The jungle foreground has continued to annoy and frustrate me , so I added 2 more Liaeopsis ,
2 Water Roses and another Crypt . In the process the Water Sprite was shown the door and
some Bacopa was moved further over into the main jungle area . I also took one of the main
Ludwigia's and moved it the left side behind the mountain, mainly because after 4 weeks it
had kept floating up
The Banana Lilies Just didn't fit so for the moment they are parked in the river untill I get some
inspiration
objective 3 Partially achieved. If I was doing an Annual Performance review on those results
I'm not sure I'd give me a pay rise
Just as well this is a hobby and I do it for the love

Onto the photo's ... The Full 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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A River Shot

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EditedEdited by countryfish
A few detail Plant shots , Firstly the Mountain , Showing The Fontinalis , Annubias, Annubia Paco and the Ludwigia behind . BTW the caves are still there just better disguised .

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The Banana Lilies in the River

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The Crypt area in front of the Mountain coming on nicely

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A close up of the Fontinalis

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The Ludwigia and Bolbitis behind the mountain

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EditedEdited by countryfish
Next acouple of shots of the centre of the tank without the Hygro p. First a wide shot

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A Narrow shot of the old Hygro P area

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The Java ferns have all grown markedly in the 24 weeks this tank has been going .

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On to the Jungle area now . First the Magenta and Stellata both powering on

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The Bacopa Ludwigias and Amazons doing quite well with the Wisteria going wild in the background

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EditedEdited by countryfish
The Right foreground of Baby Amazons and Crypts . I'm pretty happy with this bit of the foreground .

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EditedEdited by countryfish
The Left foreground which I'm still not very happy with . This area is proving very difficult to get right perhaps for a number of reasons . The bottom dwellers love digging in this area as well as a lack of light from the over hang . Anyway will have to see how it develops .

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A close up of the Water Rose

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A close up of the Crypt that replaced the Water Sprite and one of the new Liaeopsis clumps

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Thats it for this week , a lot of changes . Couple of points . The PH went back to a more normal 7.2 this week with no ill affects on the residents .Thanks Goodness . The Water quality improved a fair bit but is still not right so I will go ahead and clean the filters again next week ( in tank Water of course) .
Algae is still a problem . So i will continue to review the fert Schedule to try to get the balance right .

Next week will be given over to maintaince as I said and maybe some changes to the Rock group and Jungle foreground if I get time.

A last shot for the night of one of my sharks looking over my shoulder while I process photos.

Garry

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Personally I would like to see the river area cleared up more.....but you know me....I like some clear areas in my tank.

I love the cute little banana lilies. Very different looking!
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Patty Thanks for dropping by, I might just agree with you on that except I keep
running out of places for the plants I want
Update Week 25 : well there wasn't one as we were away and only a bit of
maintaince was done before we went.

Update Week 26 . I can't believe 6 months has gone past sooo quickly
Anyway I thought it appropriate to do a quick review of the development of the
scape and then do my normal shots .
So lets go back to the start ( well almost) . Here's the tank after 1 week .

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Week 5

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Week 9

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Week 14

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Week 18

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Week 22

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Week 24 which is effectively the last photo I posted

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The Full Tank This week ... the only real change is that I was over the Tennulus in
the left front corner near the rock group ...it was srtarting to look fairly patchy.
In the end Tetratech and LF were spot on when they said that it would be very
difficult to grow ground covers at a depth of 32 inches.
I replaced it with some clippings from the top of the Magenta , and placed the
Banana Lilies in front of them .

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The Right side

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The Left side

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The River

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A close up of the newly planted area in front of the rocks

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Just a couple of plant detail shots , I planted a couple of the Baby Swords next to their mum ... also shows the Crypts doing well in the old hairgrass area

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A shot of one of the Bolbitis ... not doing very well at all .

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The Stellata and Magenta after a trim

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A close up of the Banana Lillies

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The wisteria , Bacopa and Ludwigia still doing well in the Jungle ... also the Baby Amazons and Crypts in front of the Jungle

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Thats it for the plants this week . A couple of new inhabitants were added this week . Some Dwarf Gourami's and some BN's .
Heres a BN on the rock in the river

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A Flame Dwarf

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A Coral Blue Dwarf

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Well thats it for another week , again I don't envisage a lot of changes next week .
Remember he's always watching


Garry

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Thanks for sharing your pictures again, Garry. Also makes for great viewing.

Cheers
TW
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EditedEdited by bubblebrain
ive been watching this log for quite a while now and havn't bothered to post until now and i must say that even though im not too deep into the planted setups i absolutly love this setup. the selection of fish are exellent and the recent additions look great. i love how the tank is arranged into different areas. 240 gallons is a great potential for any type of tank be it a planted system or a non planted system. you have truly done a wonderful job on this setup. well done garry!



hi
woot woot woot woot woot woot
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Hey how many BN did you get?

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

do you have any idea what BN you got? Are they snowflakes?
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Garry,

Nice review of the first 6 months of this tank, growth during that time has been excellent which means you must be doing something right .

The one thing I am wondering about is "where does it go from here?". Your tank is full of lush plants and you are doing rather minor tweaks, for example with the non-working ground cover.

Otherwise, you must spend an enormous amount of time trimming this sucker, plus water changes and what not. How are you feeling about the work-load? I am once in a while very sick of trimming just the 125G and I am, at these moments, very tempted to convert that baby into a low tech setup with much less maintenance.

So, in short, what's your vision for the next 6 months?

Ingo


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Hello folks , Haven't done much with the tank over the Xmas break . Just dropped in for the first time in over a week .
Will update and answer questions in a day or so . Especially your question Ingo , a real poser ?????!!!!!




Garry
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lovely set up!!!

can we see a FTS?

and a list off everything in there?

i know it is alotto ask as there must be enormous amounts of stocking in a tank so large!

looks great and thanks for sharing!

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"
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Happy New Year to everyone at FP .

Thanks BB , appreciate the comments .

Wings , I got 4. I think they are 2 different types however , I bought them from different places . They have slightly different markings especially on the fins . I will eventually try to get photos of them to try to pick the types .
Claudia , I think at least one pair are that but I'm not sure . Will find out in time .

Otherwise, you must spend an enormous amount of time trimming this sucker, plus water changes and what not. How are you feeling about the work-load? I am once in a while very sick of trimming just the 125G and I am, at these moments, very tempted to convert that baby into a low tech setup with much less maintenance.

Ingo , Interesting .... While I've been busy over christmas with family and other things those thoughts have occured to me . I've even tried a couple of different things like backing off ferts and water changes and these have lead to disasters. It is a lot of work and I've had a few things happen that have discouraged me a bit .

So in the end I suppose with a large undertaking like this you go thru motivation issues from time to time and I've just gone thru a biggy ! Hopefully when life returns to normal I'll get my desire back to full steam ahead .

My vision for the next 6 months is another interesting subject obviously affected by the above . So to say that its a little vague at the minute is probably and understatement .... But here goes
1. I'm not happy with the overall design of the river ,I think it should go straight back and that the driftwood over the river should be higher and have thinner branches .
2. The Amazon Swords on the right have been a dissapointment and I think the whole jungle area will need to be need to be redesigned .
3. Having said that , I'm also less than happy with the left rear as well .
4. Where does that leave me ... I hear you ask ... well all of the above will mean a pretty large redesign and replanting .

So thanks for your very astute questions Ingo . The above things might even get my motivation back on track .

brandeeno. Update Following this post. As for the stocking , I haven't done a count for a while .... I was planning to do one soon so I'll post it know when I do .


Garry


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Update week 29 ( None for week 27 or 28 )

Well the only real difference in the tank over the last time is the addition of some crypts that got too big for the 60g and the removal of the Wisteria for the moment due to the base getting rotten from lack of light . Will be replanting it next week .Also the addition of a couple of new Angels and some new Gourami's.

On to the Photo's , the Full Tank from week 26

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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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The River

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The Left from the end of the tank

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A shot of the Rock group on the left showing the cuttings of the Magenta growing well .

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Crypts and baby swords doing very well

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Banana Lily's are also going quite well

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Stellata and Magenta on the right of the river have grown back very well after being trimmed

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The Jungle foreground just to the right of the river is filling in finally !

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So thats it for the plants , a few fishy photos . My new Male Angel . Very fiesty lad this one !

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He's hooked up with Stumpy ( female) who was always an outcast of the Angel group ...Ahhhhhh...ain't love grand

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And he has the dominant male bluffed so far ..... here they are facing off while the females look on

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I got a new morph of the Opaline Gourami ( wife loved them ) they are a very pale yellow which looks very white under bright light , Here's a couple of shots .

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Another shot , a Male I think?

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EditedEdited by countryfish
A couple of shots of the Dwarf Coral Blues , This ones a female

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Another shot of the female

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A Male Coral Blue

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Last shot for this week is a Flame Dwarf male

Next week will still be a little busy with life so no major changes are planned other than the Wisteria going back in .


Garry

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Happy New Year Garry!

I really love the shot showing the left end of the tank. Very interesting and nicely done layout! the new angel is absolutely gorgeous and I hope that it will settle in well (also with respect to 'stumpy').

Sorry to hear that you are dissappointed in your layout but there is always a different or 'better' solution imaginable. I hope that you overcome it quickly, I don't want to miss your contributions on FP. An alternative idea: I am not happy with my scape and plannted a major change but my fish took care of that! Here is an option for the bored enthusiast to get more of a thrill: get a few delicate species of fish and your interests in the hobby will change rapidly from the aesthetics of aquascaping to side effects of medication, treatment duration and treatment strategies in fish as compared to humans, etc

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Happy New Year to you to Claudia , Thanks for your words of support , I really appreciate it .
It's not that I'm bored exactly , probably "Frustrated" is more the word . Don't worry I've had my
share of those experiences . I haven't made comment in my log but I've recently lost 5 cories,
a Gold tiger , and a bunch of Lemons in this tank and even more fish in the 60g for no apparent
reason . All the tests were fine, no visable disease, only 1 water change missed .
Maybe with all the rain were getting here ATM its affecting water quality but I can't see it in the
tests .
I never worry if I loose new fish as that is just part of the risk you take , but when I loose long
term residents (6months or more) I get worried and a bit depressed . Add to that being a bit
frustrated with the scape and the development of the plants and you can see why my mood
hasn't been the greatest .
So sorry about the long rant but I think a major redo will lift me back to where I was before the
setbacks .
Thanks again for your support

Garry
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EditedEdited by catdancer
You are very welcome, Garry!

I had no idea that frustration is the problem and not boredom with the aquascape (which you can easily change, you have the talent!). I can certainly relate to frustration as I am sitting here typing and watching my poor little discus girl in her hospital tank v

At least I know the cause of the disease although it is no consolation at all. Unexpected deaths are probably even more frustrating (I better refer to my frame of mind as depressed). Rain after a draught could affect the water, maybe you got some nasty bugs?

I wish you and your tank a speedy recovery - your aquaria are beautiful and the collection of fish fantastic. I forgot to compliment you on the nice shot of the blue dwarf gourami next to the Sterba cory! That being said I don't think that you have to do a major redo but if it's that what you want - I am on pins and needles waiting to see the result


Claudia
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EditedEdited by countryfish
Thanks Again Claudia , you are always upbeat and I think I'm back

Ok A stocking list was requested here we go

Number / Fish / Size(Total inches)
Sharks
1 Albino Shark 5.0
1 Black Shark 10.0
1 Red Tail Shark 5.0
1 Red Fin Shark 5.0
Catfish
5 SAE's 20.0
12 Sterbai Cory's 18.0
4 Bristle Noses 8.0
5 Otto's 5.0
Loaches
6 Dwarf Loaches 6.0
Angels
1 Grey Angel 3.0
4 Gold Angels 16.0
Barb's
10 Tiger Barb's 15.0
1 Gold Tiger 1.5
7 Golden Barb's 10.5
Tetra's
10 Lemon Tetras 5.0
Gourami's
2 Blue Gourami's 8.0
4 Kissers 20.0
4 Pale Gourami's 8.0
7 Dwarf Gourami's 14
Others
4 Blue Rainbows 6.0

Plants
Giant Hygro
Wisteria
Bacopa
Narrow Leaf Ludwigia
Ludwigia Ovalis
Aponotegon Crispus (Green & Red)
Annubia Barteri/Paco/Nana
Java Fern
Pogostemon Stellata
Rotala Macrandra - Magenta
Banana Lilies
Amazon Swords -3 varieties
Pennywort
Crypts- Balansae
Crypt -Wendti Brown / Green
Crypts - Various
Tennulus - Pigmy Chain sword ( Not much left)
Bolbitus Fern

Thats it I think , Hope thats what you wanted

Garry

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catdancer
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Upbeat, me? Well, I try to be though it is tough right now (my little discus ...)

Thanks for the list but your C. sterbai is 18 inches long? I am a bit confused as I had assumed that you would give me the size per fish (gourami with 5 inches and a shark with 10 makes sense to me) but a cory with 18??? Hey, AUS is also using inches instead of the metric system?

Garry the man with the giant cories ... the biggest sterbai I see here are 2.5 inches and round in the middle. Please clarify but I guess that your individual cory is 1.5 inches, correct? Anyway, I really envy you the C. sterbai, they are quite pricey here (at least for cories) and I am always tempted to get a little school but the worry regarding the water temperature scares me, although these cories are recommended for discus tanks. You are apparently a fan of gouramis and I have to admit the more I see these fish the more I get tempted to try some myself, especially the dwarfs are so beautiful (maybe for another tank )

Have you ever tried C. spiralis? Absolutely gorgeous, those slender slightly bronze colored leaves! After unpacking my new C. balansae i realized that I have C. sprialis in the tank and quite franky, would have prefered more of these plants. Another plant for you to try (should you be in the mood for it) is Limnophila aromatica, absolutely gorgeous and not difficult to grow if you have some nice substrate and decent light (and Excel). Or Crinum calamistratum or any other crinum except thaeanum. Hey, I try to cheer you up, there are so many exciting plants!

I hope you are back to your cheerful mood - you should be with a tank this beautiful.

Thanks again for the list!

Claudia (one of these days I will update my log as well)


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FRANK
 
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Hi,
I think Country is giving the inches of fish so that
one could total them all and see how many inches of fish
he is housing in a 240 gallon tank (the idea of x number
of inches of fish per gallon).

12 Sterbai Cory's 18.0 would mean that the total number
of inches of Sterbai Cory cat fish in the 240G tank is
18 inches. Now some could be an inch or some could be
three inches but all together that species takes up 18
inches.

Frank


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Good thing you aren't charging for this entertainment Country as we'd all be broke.
You scored a female dw gourami, well done. I think every single one of mine are male.
That red flame is very nicely marked. Mine don't have the yellow dots at the base of the tail.
I have managed not to kill my magenta and it may at last be actually growing. Don't hold your breath tho.
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I think Country is giving the inches of fish so that
one could total them all and see how many inches of fish
he is housing in a 240 gallon tank (the idea of x number
of inches of fish per gallon).
I didn't double check my work but I to 189 in. It sure seems like a lot of fish but when added up it fits. Are all the fish measurements set at potential size or current size?



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric
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EditedEdited by catdancer
Oh boy, I apologize for adding a bit of humor ...
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Countryfish
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Apologies Claudia for not being clearer . I think I said at the start of this log that I kept fish
30 years ago ....so while I might not have the experience of Keith and Frank .....I've been
around long enough that my thinking is a bit old fashioned . Hence in think in inches
rather than ml .... Gals rather than litres....even though Miles is a long distant memory .

I also always have the inches per gal rule in the back of my head so Frank is spot on .
When I first started BTW I was told that you could keep 3 inches per Gal if you aerated .
and that was after taking off the head and tail . My how things have changed .

I copied that list from my Excel Spreadsheet that I use for my Maintaince log . So Wings is
exactly right( as you would expect from a teacher) 90 Fish at 189 inches is the stocking
level and I also divide them up into Top , Mid and Bottom ...trying to make sure I don't
overstock any level . So 12 Corys @ 1.5inches = 18inches total .

As far as the measurements are concerned Wings ...they are current with a bit of possible
future growth built in where I think its likely . I revise it every couple of months ....
Too much time on my hands

So happy we all got a giggle out of my archaic thinking .

Thanks everyone for brightening my day .


Garry
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Countryfish
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Ok now I've read the posts properly I'll answer the other bits .
Claudia , I haven't tried any of those I think . I have quite a few Crypts in both tanks which
I'm not sure of the exact name . I saw one at The LFS the other day which I liked that had
short crinkled leaves , trouble with the LFS's around here is they don't know the names of
the plants ... so unless I buy online I'm guessing .

I am a Gourami Fan on and off . I bought some Bronze and Gold Honey Gourami's for
the 60g . They are very small and the colours are stunning . If I can ever get them to stand
still I'll post a pick or 2 .

Bren thanks for your thoughts and I hope your Magenta starts growing for you .


Garry
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Garry,

I was teasing you and joking (which others took serious) about the size of the cory! On the other hand, a C.sterbai of 18 inches would be too cute. Here I am serious, I love cories.

Know what? I never ever considered the G/fish rule, it is BS for a whole lot of reasons that would turn this posting in a lecture, which I do not give in private life. However, I have seen tanks that made me think about stocking guidelines for people without a scientific background (heck, what am I writing here, a colleague of mine has an awfully overstocked tank).

I am relieved to hear that AUS uses the metric system, it drives me nuts having to convert metric to whatever unit is in use and F to Celsius ...

APC has a quite nice listing of plants that can asist in determination of the species growing in your tank in case you are interested. Hopefully, tomorrows shipment will complete my plant order and than I will update my discus tank log again.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your tanks!

Claudia
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Wow, Garry... I havent come by to check on your tank in awhile. I must say that you've surely got an incredible set up going there. And those blue gouramis, wow!

Anyhow, thanks for sharing your tank with us, you're an inspiration to those of us who are new to the hobby!

Keep up the awesome work!
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Hi Gary,

I haven't checked in here for a while... the tank is looking great, although it sounds like you are in the mood for some pretty drastic changes in the near future. Look forward to seeing what you do to get your enthusiasm back.

The new pale gouramis you have are sold in LFS here under the name "Platinum Gourami" - the title seems to fit them pretty well IMO, especially once you've seen them under the right light. I have one of them in my 180g atm.

I seem to recall that you were having some issues a while back with some Rotala wallichii. Did you end up getting it growing properly?

Great pics as usual. Looking forward to the next installment...

G_T

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.
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Hi folks , thanks for all the comments , the update is a little late this week . I replanted
the Wisteria at the right hand rear of the tank and I've been having a running battle
with Blackie as he doesn't seem to like where I've put them . He keeps digging them up .

So the last week has been.. I plant it in the morning ...turn the lights out for the afternoon
siesta ....turn lights back on in the evening ...all floating this has gone on for
4days .I usually only plant at water change due to the depth of the tank ...but this
week my glasses have become goggles trying to bury these darned plants as deep
as possible at the back .
I haven't been able to take any photos so far due too this little battle of wills .
Hopefully tonight


I seem to recall that you were having some issues a while back with some Rotala wallichii. Did you end up getting it growing properly?
GT yep you are right , its still alive ...barely.. I'll take some photos tonight .

Scott thanks for those very unexpected compliments , much appreciated .


Know what? I never ever considered the G/fish rule, it is BS for a whole lot of reasons that would turn this posting in a lecture, which I do not give in private life. However, I have seen tanks that made me think about stocking guidelines for people without a scientific background
Claudia ... Ahh the ever vigilant scientific mind ... actually you would probably do the
hobby a favour if you came up with a rule that was a proven fact instead of just folklore

Update tonight ...I hope... Blackie you orny little


Garry
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Countryfish
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Week 30 Update

Only a few new things in the tank this week . I've discussed the replanting of the Wisteria
in the post above .
I cant' believe I forgot to mention that the central group of Crypts Wendti (brown ) in the
60g had got to big for that tank ...so the group ( about 6 plants ) has been replanted into
this tank . No other changes to the plants .

On the Fish front I've added 3 new Angels to the herd ...another Silver and 2 blacks .

Growth in the tank is still solid ... the Jungle foreground is now looking very lush ...
just need the Wisteria and the Amazons too fill in the background .

The Magenta and Stellata have been trimmed again ..so that area is starting to fill out .
The Crypts and swords on the left of the river continue to grow well .
I've planted 2 more Sword babys in the river on the right .

Thats about it so on to the photos ...the Tank last week ..

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Full Tank This week

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EditedEdited by countryfish
The Right Side ...you can see my Friend the shark has started to dig up some of the Wisteria again ( floating in the centre ) ....as I sit here typing he's knocked up another piece ... He's trying my patience.

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The Left Side

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Countryfish
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The Rock Group

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Countryfish
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The Annubias from the end of the Tank

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EditedEdited by countryfish
The Crypts Wendti from the 60g... you can just see one of the Bolbitis Ferns rotting away ...They have been a big disappointment so far.

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The Crypts and Swords to the left of the river

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The Replanted WIsteria at the right rear ....Java ferns in front of them

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The Magenta ans Stellata to the right of the river

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The Jungle Foreground

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Thats it for the plants ...I apoligise for the quality of the pics .... I'm still having trouble getting used to the wifes new wizz bang lens and I think I over processed them .

Now on to the new residents ... The Angels ..First the 2 Blacks together

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The Bigger Black

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The Smaller Black

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The Grey I got a few weeks ago

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The New Grey

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Ok ...now onto the Wallichi issue ... for those who don't remember I purchased some Rotala Wallichi just to give it a go . I put some in both tanks but in this tank it did very poorly so I moved it to the 60g to see if I could save it . Well the bunch I moved from this tank did not recover and had to be thrown away .
The Bunch that was already in the 60 g has gone down hill after doing ok in the first month or so .

So first here is a full tank shot of the 60g

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The Wallichi as it was after a few weeks in the 60g

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Countryfish
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As it is today ...not so good . Not sure why ... it sits right under the light .. and has root tabs right under its feet .. ... Its growing but only just .. Oh well we'll see what happens .

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Last shot for the night is of the Bronze Honey Gourami in the 60g ..a better shot than the one I posted in Photo booth .

Will be very little happening in the tank this week , just maintaince .


Garry

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wow......you & your plants.....so many! Great looking tanks though! I especially like your rocks.
Congrats on the new fish, they're beautiful!
Sorry for your problems. Yeah, it's frustrating to loose established fish.
I wish you luck in the new year! Looks like you're staying on top of things though, despite it all.
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Thanks Patty ..appreciate the thoughts !

Week 31 Update

This week went exactly as predicted ...maintaince only . At least the WIsteria stayed down ...well most of it

So I won't bore you with a long entry ...not much to tell

Last weeks Fulltank shot

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Full Tank this week

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Right Side

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Left Side

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EditedEdited by countryfish
River /Centre...No plans for any changes next week ...should be dull again .


Garry

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Garry- I am just blown away at your artistry and scape design... You really have a knack for this stuff... How long have you been doing this? I have a hornwort question I will post in a different topic.

Awesome!
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EditedEdited by Gone_Troppo
Thanks for the update on the R.wallichii Garry.

I have some in my nano atm and thought it was doing OK, but over the last few weeks it seems to be looking less full and pink.

Could it be that it doesn't like the Excel? I'm pretty sure that mine started it's downward slide within about a week of starting to use the excel on that tank, prior to that it had been there for a bit over a month and seemed to be doing well receiving only a general purpose liquid fert and no carbon supplement.

It could also just be that it doesn't like being trimmed too... the lower portions of the stems I have trimmed are definitely the worse looking of the lot; the new growth from the old stems isn't too bad and the re-planted tops are ok, but the the older parts of the plants are just bleh!

Whatever it is I'm glad I'm not alone with this frustrating plant. It seems such a shame ... when it's doing well it's a really gorgeous addition, but when its not it can really bring down the look of the whole tank. I'd love to get mine growing well again, just need to work out for sure what causes it to decline and rectify that.

As always I'm loving your tank and great pics.

G_T

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.
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Scott...Actually I had planted tanks 30years ago ...but had no idea about scaping
as there was no FP back then
So ....really I've only learned the principles from this site and other fantastic info
sites in the last 2 years .

Thanks for the compliment BTW ...but I still think I have a long way to go ..both
in scaping and getting the right plants in the right spot so that when the tank
grows in it actually looks the same as I planned .The plant growth thing is
probably the biggest challenge ...just because the book says that a plant
grows to a certain height does not mean it will in your conditions .
Just look at the Amazons on the right side of this tank..they should dominate the
jungle with huge waving fronds ...but they have degenerated into very small
plants ...probably because they were emerse grown .

Anyway enough rambling...Thanks for stopping by

Could it be that it doesn't like the Excel? I'm pretty sure that mine started it's downward slide within about a week of starting to use the excel on that tank, prior to that it had been there for a bit over a month and seemed to be doing well receiving only a general purpose liquid fert and no carbon supplement.
Troppo ...Actually during the first month that mine went well in the 60g I used
Excel ..so I don't think its that . I've noticed the trimming thing as well ..your
right ...you might want to throw the bottoms away . But I've noticed recently
that there is new growth coming from the trimmed bottoms ...its very slow
but its there ...its green as well ???? maybe this plant just goes through stages ...
or it uses up its stored energy when you get it and then takes along time to settle ?
Don't know ???

But I'm going to let it alone and see what happens ...I have a feeling that this
might be one of those plants that reacts badly to being moved around .
We will see .

Thanks for the compliment and for dropping by .


Garry
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EditedEdited by catdancer
Garry, you made me laugh:
Claudia ... Ahh the ever vigilant scientific mind ... actually you would probably do the
hobby a favour if you came up with a rule that was a proven fact instead of just folklore


I wish I'd have the time to do so but the result would be complicated involving many parameters. This calls for a detailed study by people with lots of tanks! Where are they? Sorry, scientific 'snobbiness' is a side effect of being many years in the trade (invasive thinking permeating private life).
Now, onto your tank: I think I have already mentioned how much I like the two grey (zebra) angelfish. They are awesome!
R. wallichii turned inot a disappointment in my tank as well. After seeing your initial success with high dose Excel and ferts I increased mine as well - everything else but the target plant improved.
Later I came across a reference which mentioned that the plant requires soft and acidic water for long term success. I know that my water is NOT acidic and blamed the demise of the plant on the pH. What is your pH?

Claudia
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Sorry to learn of your fish losses. Always sad to lose friends that have been with you a while

I'm sure you'll get your motivation back soon. A planted tank the size of yours must surely be a lot of work. Though you may not be entirely happy with the scape, your delighted viewers/readers think it's just great But of course, it has to be you that's happy with the look. As for me, I'm a bit over stem plants that grow fast & require constant removing / trimming / replanting. More & more, my tanks will be dominated by slow & lower growers. There are stems, but they are in the minority. I've even trained my wisteria to be a low plant that doesn't require the removal & replanting cycle. I keep it low & reguarly trimmed & it's growing thicker, with leaves on the bottom of the stems again. Needs trimming every week or two, but I've not pulled one wisteria stem out & replanted it since setup of the divided tank. Much easier. Maybe if you looked for plants that make your tank less work, but still beatiful, that may work better for you. Just my two cents.

Your new black angels are very pretty. I see you are partial to angels, as you have quite a few.

Look forward to your next round of photos.

Cheers
TW
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Claudia ...The PH in the 60g is on average around 6.9 ...GH is 7d to 8d (100-200ppm)...
so slightly hard ...slightly acidic ..may not be the right conditions for this plant .

Robyn , thanks for your nice thoughts and compliments ...as always its really appreciated .
I also appreciate the advice...some interesting ideas ...I've already decided that Wisteria
is now a background plant ...will see how it goes there .
I'm also searching around for bigger plants to fill the height of this tank better ...thats
proving to be a major challenge .

Any way I'll keep trying to improve as time goes on .

Thanks for your help ..both of you .


Garry
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Update Week 32

Once again not a lot happened in the tank this week . A little trimming of the Magenta ...
cut back one of the Bolbitus ferns to the rizome to see if I can get it to respond ...
trimmed a lot of algae affected Annubia leaves .

Finally found some very large Swords for this tank ...I bought 3 ..One is submerse grown ..
2 are emerse grown ..will be interesting to see how they develop.
They are all soaking ATM ..will plant them next week .

Bought some new Flame Dwarf Gourami's to make up for the losses ..
now have 6 Flame Males, 2 Blue Coral Males and 2 Blue Coral females .

On a sad note I lost my last Gold Tiger Barb this week ..no obvious reason ..probably a
victim of the Tiger Barb wars . Also lost one of the Large Female Tigers ..she blew up
like a balloon ..didn't look like dropsy ..maybe she was egg bound ..only lasted 48hours
after she blew up .

On to the Photos ...The Full Tank 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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Angle Shot

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Rock Group

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The Annubia's after a heavy trim

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EditedEdited by countryfish
Swords and Crypts next to the River

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Jungle Foreground

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EditedEdited by countryfish
New Swords Soaking ...been there for 4 days.. they are over 24 inches in height ..should look good .

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Thats it for the plants this week ...a few Fishy photos ... First the new Black Angels ..This is the big one ..over 6inches in height

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Smaller Black Angel

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A Bristlenose on the rocks

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The Cory hangout

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A Sterabi Cory close up

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Loach Central ...under the swords in the river

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Part of the Tiger Barb herd

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Last shot for this week is the Redtail shark at the back door to his cave ...left end of the tank .

Will plant the new swords next week ...this will mean some rearranging ..not sure yet what I'm going to do .. very unlike me , I normally have a plan . Oh well have to be seat of the pants


Garry

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EditedEdited by TW
Hi Garry, as always, looking good. Especially liked the crypt in the pic labelled "Swords and Crypts next to the River" What type of crypt is that reddish brown one?

It's always good to pick out some new fishy friends. Hope they enjoy their new home. Will check in when I get back from Surfers.

Cheers
TW
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What a pity that it is impossible to ship plants to AUS! My amazon swords would have made such nice additions to your tank and I know you would take good care of them!

I am looking forward to see what you are doing with them - I need an inspirtion what to do with the gap tha will be created should I remove the last sword. Should I?

Claudia

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EditedEdited by countryfish
Claudia ...don't do it... swords ( at least one ) are a must IMO.
Week 33 Update .

Well I tried to do something different with the swords that I showed last week ..
they were just tooo big . Wouldn't fit in any of the other places that I thought
might be impactfull . So they went into the rear of the jungle which of course
was the original plan way back at the start ...bit boring I know .

In the process of mucking around trying to fit the swords in I removed some
Giant Hygro and found the base of all the stems was browned off and brittle .
So I had to take off the bases and replant only the healthy tops . Then I didn't
like the unevenness of the look so I did the lot ..ugh doesn't look so good ..
but its a fast grower so should only be a week or 2 before its back to the surface .
I'm going to have to stagger the trimming and replanting of this plant to avoid
this in the future .

In the process of uprooting the Giant Hygro the Annubias Barteri which were a
bit hidden behind behind the Rock group came up so I repositioned them in front
of the rocks to boost the Annubia's around the rocks .

All in all a very busy day of changes without too much change in the overall scape .

One thing I've learned from this excersise ...If I ever get around to doing a complete redo ..
Its going to take a couple of days.
Just a few shots this week ..Full Tank last week

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Full Tank This week

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Right Side ..showing the new swords . I removed all the baby swords that were not rooted down to get these new swords in . Got 12 fairly advanced plants that I don't have room for ...I need a grow out tank You can see the Wisteria starting to poke its head up at the back of the jungle . ...Oh and lots of Giant Hygro floating that the Shark and Kissers have knocked up .

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The Left Side ..Ugly but will recover quickly

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The Rock group with the Annubias added

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A closer Shot of the Gaint Hygro trimmed down

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A closer shot of the Jungle

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Thats it for the plants this week ..A few fishy shots to finish ...A Platinum Gourami

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New Grey Angel

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RedTail Shark

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Flame Dwarf Gourami

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Redtail And Redfin Shark confrontation in the new swords

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Thats it this week ... Next week should not see too many changes ..just some replanting and maybe a few slight tweaks .

Last shot ...remember he's always watching ...Da..Dum...Da...Dum

Garry

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i havent seen all of this log yet but do you have C02?
ps.i love the pics and that shark is amazing!

33 gallon 7 neon tetras-5 platys-3 bleeding heart tetras-2 corys-1 rainbow shark-2 L83 gibby plecos
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No ... Flourish Excel ...Thanks for the compliment ...He's a big baby and annoying as hell when he digs up my plants ..but I love him .

Garry
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..but I love him
To each his own, he is special, no doubt!

Garry, thanks for the advice, I will refrain from getting rid of the last sword in my tank! Nevertheless, I will have to do a lot of trimming, when I compare your planting to mine I see that the fish in my tank don't have enouigh room to swim.

The left side does not look bad ar all and the hygro will recover quickly. Do you have tiger lotus? this is a very nice and easy to grow plant. the only action required is cutting off the large leaves that shoot up to the surface. The dwarf version is even prettier and an extremely nice ground cover.
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Your ever changing tank!

Amazingly beautiful pics Garry!

Your red tailed shark has lips.
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I've wondered how is the water circulation and filterage within the forest planting?
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country fish wow i love the tank and the fish are amazing im quiet jealous!!! keep it up
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i wish i had a tank like that. and that shark. keep it up!

hi
woot woot woot woot woot woot
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Claudia...Glad to help ..even if it's only an opinion ! No I haven't got a Tiger Lotus... they are very expensive ..which is why I asked your opinion ..didn't want to buy one if it was going to be a dud .

Bren ..no issue for me with 3 filters pouring flow around the tank . I have the 3 outlets placed to create flows in different parts of the tank .

Patty ,bratyboy2 & Bubblebrain ...Thanks for dropping by and for the compliments ..much appreciated .


Garry
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EditedEdited by catdancer
Garry:

you could buy the tiger lotus as a bulb - much less expensive. The plant will develop within short time (I could see first signs of germination within a week). I am trimming the large leaves that try to reach the water surface and the plant develops plenty of leaves that stay within 8 to 12 cm of the substrate. However, I still have to trim once a week a leaf which 'escaped'. The dwarf version which I had bought as 'variety of dwarf water lilies' is extremely beautiful, a very shiny dark red and stays small (2.5 cm long leaves) and does not show any tendency to grow towards the surface.

Claudia
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EditedEdited by jase101
garry, your tank is beautiful. the fish look really happy, and it must just be a pleasure to sit down in front of that tank and watch it.

not sure where you are in aus, but you can pick up small tiger lotus for 5 - 10 bucks sometimes (in sydney) and if you plant them, don't move them (they hate being moved) and feed them with undergravel tabs, they will not change for about a month or two, then before you know it you'll have a majestic, hardy plant. i've never seen bulbs for sale in aus, have you? i let mine send up surface leaves cos i like the lily-pond effect, and all my fish feel more secure with the cover. i can have up to 8 or 10 leaves on the surface plus a crown of 5 or 6 about 20 - 30 cm high.

if you want to move a mature plant it will lie dormant for another month or two after the move. i've discovered that rather than uproot it, i 'drag' it through the substrate to where i want it - but i pretty much learnt to consider the lotus the feature plant and work around it!!

anyway, as i said, gorgeous tank. well done.
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Claudia and Jase ...Thanks for that ...the only place I seem to able to get them is online
and they are $50 ea . Don't mind paying the price if it survives ...but I've had a lot of
failures from expensive plants . So I might give one a go .

Update Week 34

Not a lot happenned this week ..just maintaince ..no tweaking ..pretty dull ...good growth
from the Hygro and Wisteria and the Algae .

Last weeks Full Tank Shot

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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

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Rock Group

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Jungle

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Stelatta & Magenta

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A few fishy photos , a Tiger Barb

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Dwarf Coral Blue Gourami female

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Blue Gourami ..hiding and spying on me while I take photos

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Thats it for this week ...again will be very busy next week ...so not much happening .. Last shot... for all his fans ..he was a good boy this week ..did not uproot more than 5 plants


Garry

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Hi Country,

Beautiful tank as always.

Have you looked at the aquagreen website for lotus? They have them listed on their website at around $10 each and last time I asked about them I was advised that they are sold as full plants, just uprooted and washed free of soil before shipping. I don't know of anyone that has ordered these specific plants from them before, but I have ordered other plants from them with absolutely no problems at all... the customer service and product that I received was fantastic.

G_T

PS Just looked at the website - only the green tiger lotus is listed as available, maybe try sending them an email if you are interested one of the other varieties. I have found that it often pays to ask about specific plants, they will likely either have a few available for sale, or be able to let you know when something is likely to be available.

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.
Post InfoPosted 12-Feb-2008 12:01Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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Hey G_T.. Thanks for that... I'd forgoten about this guy .. About time I tried him out . Have you ordered any fish from him ?. I like some of the Rainbows he's got. Might try a few .

Garry
Post InfoPosted 12-Feb-2008 13:00Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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Country,

I haven't ordered fish directly from aquagreen before, but I believe my LFS gets some of their rainbowfish from there. The only livestock I have ordered direct from there have been inverts - ninja shrimp & waterhouse snails, both of which I really liked.

If the quality of the plants are anything to go by, I'd imagine that they would be in great condition and shipped with the best care. Aquagreen is local to me so I have my stuff personally delivered to my LFS and I pick up from them the same day, but Keith had some plants shipped recently and was very impressed.

All I can suggest is that you get in touch with them and see what sort of response you get.

G_T

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.
Post InfoPosted 12-Feb-2008 13:28Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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EditedEdited by TW
My favourite pics from your latest batch are the "Left Side" and the "rock group", though all are beautiful. Your river is becoming less prominent, but more natural looking IMO.
The only livestock I have ordered direct from there have been inverts - ninja shrimp & waterhouse snails, both of which I really liked.
I must be blind but I can't find the inverts on that link. Where should I be looking?

Cheers
TW
Post InfoPosted 13-Feb-2008 13:58Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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TW,

You may need to scroll through the catalogue a bit further. The catalogue page has several headings and a list for each..."Australian Native Plants", followed by "Australian Native Invertebrates", "Australian Native Fishes", "New Guinea Native Fishes" etc etc.

G_T

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.
Post InfoPosted 14-Feb-2008 02:35Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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EditedEdited by TW
Thanks, got it now.

You can get glass shrimps at this link for $0.99. Some plants & fish too. http://www.livefish.com.au/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1&zenid=a4cacd092ca834b36107d91c3a56f398

Cheers
TW
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EditedEdited by countryfish
Robyn ...I've ordered some of the Glass Shrimps from "Live fish.com"... They were very small . I released about 12 into each of my tanks and haven't seen them since . Hope they survive . I also got some Dwarf Loaches from them ..they were a good size and have settled in well in my 60g .


Garry
Post InfoPosted 15-Feb-2008 12:48Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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it's amazing, how densely you're able to plant your tank... How do you maintain "cleanliness" in there with regard to siphoning gravel, algae maintenance, etc?

It looks awesome, thanks for sharing!
Post InfoPosted 15-Feb-2008 13:29Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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released about 12 into each of my tanks and haven't seen them since
How long ago did you release the glass shrimps?

Cheers
TW
Post InfoPosted 15-Feb-2008 13:59Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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EditedEdited by countryfish
Scott ... As far as Gravel Vacs are concerned I do the river every week as that is the lowest
part of the Tank and also where I feed . So I like to keep that part as clean as possible .
Each week I go thru either the left side or right side alternatively by pushing the gravel vac
into the plants and waving it around . This picks up any loose mulm . Wherever possible I
push into the substrate as well .

Now Algae is another problem . I have lots in this tank. No matter what I do I can't
seem to get on top of it . I have both BBA and Green spot and I cut out all leaves that get
effected as well as cleaning the glass every week . I also have an algae crew which
numbers 4 BN's ,5 SAE's and 7 Ottos . They always have fat bellies but do not seem to be
able to make a dent in the level of algae.

Funny thing is that I run the exact same ferts etc in my other tank and have virtually no
algae at all . The Algae in that tank cleared up after about 18mths ...I'm starting to think
that balance between plants and algae takes time ..but I'm not an expert .

Scott Thanks for dropping by and for the compliment.

Robyn ...I got them last week . I haven't reported it in the log yet ..I'm not sure they
survived ..they are very small and very hard to see ( glass ..see thru etc).
I suppose I have now though


Garry
Post InfoPosted 16-Feb-2008 06:27Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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Garry

Looks like i have missed alot of goings on in your tanks. Its going to take some time to catch up with everything going on. I just picked up a 75 Gallon im going to make into a planted tank. Wanna follow in your footsteps with the gouramis and the Angels.

Glad ya still here tho mate, i missed watching your updates on ya tanks

Shane

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html
Post InfoPosted 16-Feb-2008 22:48Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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Garry,

Although I an not writing a lot these days, I always make it a point to look at your log when I stop in at FP. I can tell things are going quite well, growth is still great and even the occasional master trim job will produce noting but full grown plants within seconds (LOL, at least that's what it seems like).

Battling BBA and Green Spot, hm?

Green spot is sometimes caused by a lack of P, have you checked your levels over time recently? On slow growers, green spot will develop in almost all tanks, not much you can do about it. I would suggest to trim away leaves that are badly invested.

BBA, well, the discussions about cause are still ongoing, although a lot points to high water flow. Do you see it in particular in these areas? I would suggest to trim away invested leaves and maybe try some spot treatment with Excel for the others. I know it must cost a fortune, but do you add Excel to the tank at all, like after water changes?

Hope this helps a little,

Ingo


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Post InfoPosted 18-Feb-2008 14:48Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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EditedEdited by fishmonster
LF

I soo see this in my tank, i have some bolbitis right under the outflow of my HOB, and its totally infested with BBA right now. and its the worst area of all if you look at my 35 gall LOG. Thanks for that info.

Sorry didnt mean to jack the thread garry but he is soo right on this one lolol.. Your pics are still amazing mate.

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html
Post InfoPosted 18-Feb-2008 20:23Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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EditedEdited by countryfish
Update Week 35 & 36

Well not a lot has happened in the last couple of weeks , except our Local Council in their
wisdom decided after all the rain we had to clean out our water pipes . We live in a very
red soil area . You can imagine what happened . Don't you just love Local
Government ...no warning just Red Water .
So no Pics this week as the Tank is low on level and high on coloured water ...

No changes to the tank other than the addition of some Glass Shrimp as mentioned in a
post above as well as some Hygro Poly ..why I hear you ask ...well Livefish sent me some
free ...not sure why ..and there is a spot at the rear near the Otto filter that needs some
filling in ..so I planted it there ...waste not want not .
I will hopefully have a clear full tank later this week in time for next weeks update .

Shane ... welcome back and good luck with your new tank ..
love to see some shots when you get it set up

Ingo ...great to hear from you .. Yes the Algae problem .."P" I test for every week... it sits
between .5ppm and 1.0ppm . Generally at the higher level if I test before W/C . I know Wings
once told me that he ran levels at 2ppm and thats what I have in my other tank .
So you may be right . I may try to increase the level .
I've been trying lately to get my K levels up as the Giant Hygro is showing pinholes in the old leaves.
Haven't quite got that right yet either ?

Water flow is very high in this tank ...I have 3 filters pouring flow around the tank ..can't say
that the BBA is worse in any one area . I'll give that some thought and observation.

As far as Excel goes... I dose every day in lieu of C02 and I've tried increases in dose as well
as using a syringe to dose directly on BBA . No luck so far .I might try the syringe again on a
daily basis and see if that has an effect .


I wouldn't want to say that its taking over the tank ...thats not the case ...but when I look at
the 60g ( which has the same fert schedule ) I scratch my head ...there is virtually no algae
in that tank ...very frustrating .

Never mind I'll try your suggestion's and increase the dosing of P by 50% and see if that
makes a difference .

Thanks for dropping by and for the suggestions .


Garry

PS I hate not posting any photos at all , so here's a shot of the 60G taken last week before the water disaster .

Garry

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Garry,

Interesting info on your fert levels. I have to assume that your tap P is low or non-existent as otherwise the level before the next water change would be higher (given that you increase it during the week). I don't remember if you use EI for your fert regime, but if you were then I would recommend to give your P a boost shot after the water change to up the level to about 2ppm right away, then to dose during the week just to maintain that level.

What makes this rather hard with your tank is the fact that you undertake major trim jobs, reducing your plant mass by about 30% at once (just guessing) and as such having a major impact on uptake.

For the Excel spot treatment: do you have your filters on when you spot treat? With a lot of flow in the tank that would be not easy. I would recommend to turn the filters off, spot treat, wait about 30 min, and turn the filters back on. See if that works better. No harm will come to the filters if they are off for an hour, trust me.

With regards to the comparison to the 60: no two tanks are alike, many attributes participate in health and algae development (most of which I do not understand).

And with regards to the 60G itself: This tank deserves more recognition. It is a beauty!!!

Ingo


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Post InfoPosted 20-Feb-2008 15:53Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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Ingo
I have to assume that your tap P is low or non-existent as otherwise the level before the next water change would be higher (given that you increase it during the week).
No I've tested the Tap water many times and there is zero of anything in it .
I don't remember if you use EI for your fert regime, but if you were then I would recommend to give your P a boost shot after the water change to up the level to about 2ppm right away, then to dose during the week just to maintain that level.
No I don't use EI ...mainly because of the 50 % water change ..too much for us on severe water restrictions because of the drought ( which hasn't broken yet despite the rain ) So I use Seachem's products and try to work it out by trial and error . I must admit I've been a bit slack of late and just let it run . Your advice has got me fired up to get it right .So I will give it a hit today and test till it gets to 2ppm .
For the Excel spot treatment: do you have your filters on when you spot treat? With a lot of flow in the tank that would be not easy. I would recommend to turn the filters off, spot treat, wait about 30 min, and turn the filters back on. See if that works better. No harm will come to the filters if they are off for an hour, trust me.
Interesting ...I will try that .
With regards to the comparison to the 60: no two tanks are alike, many attributes participate in health and algae development (most of which I do not understand).
Yes I've worked that out to and like you I don't understand it
And with regards to the 60G itself: This tank deserves more recognition. It is a beauty!!!
Thanks Mate ..appreciate that . Only thing is I've become a bit bored with it ...and when I get some time it might have to change . Or I could just get another tank to play with like you do with your smaller tanks


Garry
Post InfoPosted 21-Feb-2008 02:36Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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Ingo said:

"I have to assume that your tap P is low or non-existent"

Garry said:

"No I've tested the Tap water many times and there is zero of anything in it."

Ingo is confused

Garry, isn't that what I assumed?

Anyway, I understand that your inability (drought etc.) to perform 50% water changes (as in 110 + gallons) is a problem with dosing, in particular with EI. I am no expert in it, but did you look into PPS Pro (I think that is what it is called)?

Getting a small tank (and for you even a 40G must be small) to play with is always a good idea.

Ingo


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Post InfoPosted 21-Feb-2008 15:28Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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Garry,

my 2 cents of encouragement (Iam tired and totally swamped with work): the 60G is AWESOME - SPLENDID - A BEAUTY.
Post InfoPosted 22-Feb-2008 07:49Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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EditedEdited by countryfish
Ingo ... Sorry you're right ..english is supposed to be my first language
but did you look into PPS Pro (I think that is what it is called)?
Yes I've looked at that as well . I can access dry ferts and I've been considering it for a while . I think I will change if I can figure out a middle line to take . Thats where another tank may come into play ...good way to try something totally new .
Thanks for the advice .
Claudia ..Thanks for that ...hope life slows downn for you soon .

Garry
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Update Week 37

The water has cleared and I've been changing the fert schedule slightly to try to abate
the algae issue . No major changes to the plants over the last couple of weeks other
than what Blackie and the Kissers have made . I have a bunch of Java's, Wisteria,
Bacopa & Ludwiga that is in a holding tub that will be replanted in the next week or so .


Lots of growth in the Giant Hygro as well as the Wisteria , so the tank is getting back to
looking full again .
I used Ingo's suggested method for attacking the Black algae ( using a syringe to spray
Excel at the Algae and turn the filters off for half an hour) . I picked a couple of areas
in the right front of the tank and I'll post a couple of photos later on to show the results .

The other problem I have at the moment is the new large Swords seem to be growing
well but the new leaves seem to be coming in distorted . Any one got any ides what
causes this ...I've read Chuck Gadds site on nutrient deficiency and that would suggest
a calcium deficency or perhaps Nitrogen with some of the old leaves turning yellow .

Anyone got any thoughts ..you will see examples in the photos .

On to the Photos , Full tank 3 weeks ago



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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

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Rock Group

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A few close up Plant shots .. The Big Swords showing some of the problems

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New Sword Leaf with distortions

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Crypts in the Jungle

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Crypts and Swords on the left of the river

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Magenta Growing at the rear of the Jungle

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Stellata and Magenta

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Close up of the Heads of the Stellata and Magenta

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A couple of close ups of the Algae attack ...first some of the small swords in the front right ...looks to me like the Black algae has gone red which I think I've read is the colour it goes when it dies off . Should I leave those leaves or cut them off .?

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Some Bacopa which doesn't show the black algae looking as red ...but may be going that way ???? we will see .

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A few Fishy Photos to finish.. The Albino Shark enjoying the regrowth of the Wisteria

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EditedEdited by countryfish
A Male Coral Blue Gourami

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EditedEdited by countryfish
A Male Flame Dwarf Gourami

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A Bristlenose

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Loaches in the River .. Notice the Larger Female being attended by the smaller male

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EditedEdited by countryfish
This is ( I think anyway) a really interesting series of shots. First as I was taking shots of the Jungle I could see the Golden Barb School millingh around behind the jungle in a clearing in the river . Then 2 of them poked through the jungle and watched me .

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EditedEdited by countryfish
Then It looked like they turned and called the others over to see what the silly human was doing ... a few more started watching me .

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Then A few mor came over ....

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Finally all 8 were peering through the stems at me ...quite a wierd feeling

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Thats it for this week ...next week will see a lot of replanting ...again and some trimming but nothing major .

Remember he's always watching.



Garry

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Garry

Seriously dude, I sooo envy your tank man, i cant beleive how good it looks and how healthy your fish are, My tanks are killing me especially the 35 gallon as i dont have control over it.

Keep up the good work and dont let the man get ya down pal

Shane

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
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Country,

Great photes as always! Very impressive work!

Swords ~ In many cases the farms that grow plants to sell in LFS grow them emerged. This does a couple of things. First the plants are going to grow a bit quicker and use CO2 from the atmosphere. This saves some equipment cost for the farmers. Now the second part is that the plants generally ship better and will be algae free being they were not grown in the water.

The down side to this is most of us want to grow our plants submerged. This means the plant needs to change its leaf form. Most swords have a long skinny leaf when submerged(this is not always the case - I think). The plant now has to go through a process to change leaf forms.

From your pictures that's what it looks like to me anyways. While working in a LFS we got tons of swords that came in looking much like yours do to only have the old leaves die off and new skinny leaves grow in. I had to take some extra time with customers to explain that. If I didn't they would often think they couldn't grow plants and toss in the towel.

There is my 2 cents...

Also, from my prospective the swords on the right side seem a bit out of place in that jungle with all the fine leaved plants to their left. They might look a bit better as some sort of a center piece plant.



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Wings ...Thanks for the compliment ... I knew about the Emersed thing and I got the place
I bought them to check before I would buy them ...so I have 2 emersed and 1 submerged .
Just thought I'd try a little experiment of my own to see how they would grow over time .
Would I get different leaf type etc ... Too early to say as yet .. but it will be interesting .
The plant that threw up the deformed new leaf was one of the emersed grown ones ...
not sure what that means . The other emersed grown one is putting out healthy new
leaves and while they look a little narrower.. they are very similar to the emerse grown
leaves... at least to my eyes .

We will see as time goes on .

I know what you mean about these plants not looking to be in the right place ...I tried
to put them in the centre of the tank ...they were just too big ..so they ended up on
the right . Not sure they will stay there ...only time will tell .

Thanks for your thoughts


Garry
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EditedEdited by countryfish
Week 38 Update

No changes to the tank this week other than good growth of the Giant Hygro and the Wisteria as well as a major trim to the swords in the river to get rid of old and algae infected leaves .

So just afew photos this week , firstly the Full Tank 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

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Rock group and Annubias

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Close up of the Regrown Giant Hygro

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EditedEdited by countryfish
Close up of the Jungle showing the Wisteria now providing a solid background

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EditedEdited by countryfish
Last shot this week of the Swords in the River after trimming .

No Plans for any major changes next week .


Garry

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Looking good garry, are you having any problems with the anubias growing on the substrate rather than rocks or DW? Just a thought as to where I might go with mine.

Also Im glad to see the wysteria doing well in the back.

Shane

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
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Update Weeks 39 & 40

Its Autumn here in Aus and all good gardeners are working hard getting their gardens
ready for winter . I've been busy mulching our hectare of gardens over the last couple
of weeks ...its a big job and there's not much time or energy for anything else including
fish tanks . I'm not finished yet ( about half done ) but its raining today so I got a break
to take a few photos of the tank . Never fear normal maintaince has of course been done
as usual but no trimming or any changes have been made .

The only new thing was the addition of 12 Tigers and 12 Golden Barbs to raise both
herds to 20 . I bought these online and I must say that they arrived in very good condition
and have settled in well .

So just a few photos..first the tank 2 weeks ago .

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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

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Annubias and Rocks ..in answer to your question Shane the Annubias seem to be doing ok ...but I've moved them a couple of times( at least ) and I wouldn't say they were powering .

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The Giant Hygro close up ... this stuff just keeps growing Fast

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Swords and Crypts near the River

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Java Ferns on the Driftwood over the River

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The Stellata ...Magenta and Bacopa have reached the surface

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The Large Swords showing a lot of degeneration ..but also lots of new leaves which are still growing in deformed

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Thats it for the plants ..just a couple of fishy photos to finish ..you may have noticed in a few of the pics that a couple of Angels are hanging around the algae scraper on the right . Well thats because they have layed eggs on it . Heres a close up ....not much chance of survival in this tank however .

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Thats it for this update . will be working in the garden again as soon as rain stops .. so not much will happen over the next couple of weeks .

Last shot for the night ...a different shark to leave you with ...a much more dainty and pretty little fellow .


Garry

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Beautiful shark!
And your plants! They almost make me want to get more myself! Maybe someday......we'll see.
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Thanks Patty ...been away for a few weeks ..will update the log in the next few days .


Garry
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EditedEdited by countryfish
Update Weeks 41 -44

I can't believe its been 4 weeks since I updated the log . My how time flys when you get busy ...between the gardens ( oh my aching back ) and visiting friends interstate ...I haven't had much time .

Sooooo ... whats happened in the tank ...well not a lot really . I am still not happy with the layout so I started this week to make some small changes . The area next to the river on the left was always supposed to be a low foreground plant type of area ...but the crypts in that area had grown too large ... also the baby swords in the river were annoying me a bit . So out they all came as well as one of the bigger swords in the river .
I then replanted with some very tiny crypts that should remain small ( lol ..we will see ???).
I've added a couple of new annubias to the rock group as well as a couple of new plants ( not sure of the name ) .

The Wisteria at the rear of the scape on the centre right continues to grow but is a right royal pain to keep in place . The Swords on the right are also proving to be a dissapointment and as Wings said in his post just recently they look out of place .
My next job I think will be to fix up this area ...I'm thinking of replacing all the swords with a big bunch of Val ( I've never been a fan ) or Crypts Balansae.

On the fish side I've added some 20 Buenos Aires Tetras and a few more Golden and Tiger barbs as well as some more rainbows.

Thats about it so onto the photos . The Full tank 4 weeks ago .

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Full Tank this week

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Right side

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Left Side

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EditedEdited by countryfish
New River mouth ...I forgot to mention that i ditched the rock in the middle of the river ...wanted to give a more open feel with the change to the left of the river .

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The rock group and the new Anubbias etc

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The new left side of the river

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New plant with no name ( haven't had time to research it yet ) Anyone got a name to save an old man a lot of work

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A close up of the Jungle foreground

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The Stellata and Magenta

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Swords and Bacopa

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A couple of Fishy photos to finish ...My new Buenos Aires Tetra

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An SAE enjoying the new River frontage .

Next couple of weeks look to be very busy again ..however I've ordered some new plants ... I finally took the plunge and ordered a Red Tiger lotus ( not sure where to put it yet ) I just wanted one after seeing Claudia's . I also ordered some Telanthera and some Didiplus Diandra . Will probably order some Val and Balansea as well . So could be quite a few changes over the next couple of weeks .


Garry

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awsome pics...how did posting all that take you???? lol good job

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Countryfish,

Thanks for all the photos. I really need to get my hands on a camera again to get pictures of my tank up. Much has changed.

As for your giant tank, it seems most of your plants are growing rather well. Things still seem rather lush.

A Few things I would try in terms of an scape would be to start grouping some of your stem plants tighter together. I think the left side really needs to be tightened up in the back. Right right side seems to have pretty tight groups but has just a ton and a half of different types of plants. I think that makes it look a little messy.

I like the new open river area. The one thing I would change is to let it flow farther back into the tank. As it goes back let it get smaller. This will make the tank look much deeper.

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Looks like Lobelia cardinalis
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Platy boy ....It takes me about and hour to post an update ..but about 4 hours to take the photos .

Wings ...Thanks mate ...I know I have a lot of work and thinking to do to get both sides of the tank the way I want them to look. Nothing has quite worked out the way I planned originally ...which doesn't bother me that much ..but as Ingo warned me would happen I'm starting to get over having so many different types of plants. I suppose I was just experimenting and trying different things . I think next week will see some substantial changes . I just haven't had the time of late . Will see if it happens next week .

Clownloachfan ...Thanks for that ...looks right .

Garry
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Update week 45 .

This week saw some very modest changes . Replanted some of the Crypts and Swords that were removed from the foreground in previous weeks to the midground . Replanted the Wisteria once again ( becoming a weekly task . Moved one of the pieces of driftwood ( with Bolbitus) to on top of the rock . The plant has been cut back to the rizome and still appears to be alive but barely ...perhaps being closer to the light may help it?

As I said in the post above I have some big decisions to make and as its time to clean the main Filter ..I should do it now before the cleaning as I'm sure to make a lot of mess . Good news is I finally got my hands on a Tiger Lotus and some Didiplus Diandra...so lots of decisions to make .

On a sad note we lost the Albino Shark this week .. he was going on 4 years old ...no visable sign of disease so I have to assume he had reached his time . Very sad he was one of my favourites .

Ok on to the photos ..The Full Tank 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

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EditedEdited by countryfish
A close up of the Annubias and Rocks notice the Driftwood on top of the rocks

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Replanted Crypts

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The Small Crypts settling in

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The Stellata area

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Thats it for the plants this week ...a couple of Fishy photos to finish ..A couple of group shots of the new Buenos Aires Tetras.

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Another

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Countryfish
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A BN growing into a big boy

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Countryfish
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Thats it for this week ..will be pondering Wings advice and what I have in mind for the tank ...so watch this space .. I may do something I've really not attempted yet and thats an Ingo style redo We will see ?????

Vale my Albino mate .


Garry

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All looks very nice as it is, but we will now have to impatiently await your makeover, if you do it.

Cheers
TW
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Countryfish
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Robyn ... Thanks for dropping by . As a teaser I decided to do a makover on the 60 g as a trail run for this tank .
The 60g had become very overgrown and had lots of different plants in the wrong places . So I decided to cut the number of plants . I also decide to use Wisteria as a foreground plant ...Lot of work to keep it trimmed I know ..but I've had so little success with foreground plants I decided to give it a go . If this fails I guess I'll fall back on low growing crypts .

So the plant list is Stargrass , Magenta , Annubias, Swords, Bacopa, Crypts Wendti & Balansae, Bacopa,Ludwigia and of course Wisteria.
Here are the results let me know what you think .

First photo is before the Makeover

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Full Tank after the Makeover

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Left side

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Countryfish
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Right Side... Any thoughts on improvements or comments on plant placement etc.?????

I am about to do the this tank so I will wait to do that before I update the log .


Garry

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The fish in the 60G must think they've just moved into a much bigger home. These days I am more & more liking a tank that isn't too over crowded with plants. Don't get me wrong, I like stem plants & some bushy plantings areas within a tank, as long as there is also a feel of open swimming space eleswhere. So, I like your changes

I'm not very good at suggesting what plant looks better here or there, so will leave the advice on rescaping to others that pop in. Keen to see what you end up doing.

BTW, my 7ft tank is being delivered tomorrow. Yippee

Cheers
TW
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Very nice countryfish!!! You did a great job of creating some depth!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric
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Hi Robyn .....
The fish in the 60G must think they've just moved into a much bigger home
Yep they seem to appreciate the swimming room .
These days I am more & more liking a tank that isn't too over crowded with plants
Yea I'm coming to the view that less is more as well .

Of course that will be until I find a fantastic new plant to try I've managed to not make any changes in a week ... Very Proud of myself We'll see how long it lasts .

Wings ... Yep that was the idea based on your advice actually ...So thanks for that .

I've done the 240g today ...big job took me about 9 hours ..I'm exhausted ..and not overly happy with the result ...but I think its a step in the right direction .

No Photos yet ...still waiting for the tank to clear ..so probably tomorrow night .

Robyn , Wings ...Thanks for your thoughts and for dropping by .


Garry
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I've done the 240g today ...big job took me about 9 hours ..I'm exhausted ..and not overly happy with the result ...but I think its a step in the right direction .
That seems to be the problem with you guys with big tanks. If LF (wherever he may be) does a redo it takes all day too. I can generally do my 55G in a couple of hours when I really mess with things. That I (and the wife both) can live with. Don't get me wrong, as I would love to have a giant tank but I would have to go very simply slow growing plants in it.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric
Post InfoPosted 06-May-2008 12:23Profile AIM PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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Wings .. I know what you mean ...my 60 g makeover took me only a couple of hours ... this tank is a lot of work ...but I knew that going in as I'd read all of Ingo's logs . I wasn't really complaining ..being retired means I have plenty of time and I just love it


Garry
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fishmonster
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Garry

Im sorry i havent been able to keep up with your tanks but they are looking great mate, keep up the good work. You and ingo are still my idols... LOL

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html
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Update Week 46 & 47

Thanks Shane for dropping by and the nice words , fairly daunting being put in the same company as Ingo though .

Well I finally took the plunge and did the big makeover .
Basically everything except the small crypt field on the left of the river and the Poly Hygro around
the sponge filter was removed .
The Swords on the right were moved to the teraces on the left ...the Giant Hygro was moved to the extreme left and clumped
as a background to the jungle ...all large crypts were then put in front of the giant hygro to create a layered look ...next the
magenta & stellata were placed in front of the crypts ... was also supposed to be the Bacopa but there was a big gap
around the sponge filter at the left of the river so the bacopa went there instead .
The Annibias were next along with a few rocks for anchors ..(a lot of rocks were removed from the scape ) lastly the wisteria
was placed in the foreground on the right of the river .

Next the Bana Lily , my new Tiger Lily and the Lobelia cardinalis were placed on the left of the river towards the rear on the
same level as the small crypts .

The last piece of the puzzle was to make a feature our of the driftwood on the next tier up on the left side . This also features
the Java ferns .Also my two other pieces of Driftwood with the Bolbitis attached were then placed ( believe it or not the ferns are
sprouting finally after I thought they had died )

So thats about the size of it .
3 Things I'm not happy with , firstly I need something bigger behind the Swords on the left so I've ordered some Giant Val for
that area. Next I need another bunch plant for the jungle next to the stellata ...I've ordered some Hydrilla and Pink Baby Tears
and will see which one fits best and lastly I think the gap at the rear for the river is too wide so I've ordered some very large
Crypts Balansae to go with the one I have to drape thier large leaves into that area .

Enough Talk onto the photos , first the tank as it was before the makeover

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Full Tank after makeover

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Right Side

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Left side

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An Angle shot of the Full Tank

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River

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Jungle

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Closer shot of jungle foreground

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Annubias

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Driftwood Feature

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Wisteria Foreground

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EditedEdited by countryfish
Last Shot for this week is the Small Crypts which are in the same place but I've added a few more .

So the Giant Val will be in by the weekend and the other plants in a couple of weeks ..and that should be it for a while .

Let me know what you think ...any improvements or suggestions would be most welcome .


Garry

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EditedEdited by TW
I like what you've done. I don't know whether it's just my computer, but the last five of your photos aren't appearing for me I'll look again next time, in case I can see them then.

EDIT: Well, they have just appeared. I'll have a better look now

Cheers
TW
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Garry,

you did a major trim! Looks nice as always but I have to say that I am still a fan of the overgrown 60G tank!
Post InfoPosted 15-May-2008 05:11Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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EditedEdited by countryfish
Robyn ...as always your encouragement is appreciated ...but critique is allowed as well... I'm always looking for input and ideas .

Thanks for your ongoing support .

Claudia ...Hi missed you mate ..where have you been ..never mind ..just good to have you back . been a little quiet without you . , Well the 60 g just had to change as it was chocking with plants ( never thought I'd say that ) so a total makeover after 2.5 years was not inappropriate I think . Anyway I'm happy with the result even though I'm about to add some new plants.

So when can we expect an update on your tanks ?

Garry
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Hi Garry:

I expect to be able to do an update in about 3 weeks from now! It will take about two weeks to get all furniture to my new home, everything will go on a truck by Sunday, the fish will go Saturday into 'holding' with my favorite fish dealer (one of the very few things I will miss back East) who will FedEx after everything is ready again. Expect the first pictures of the new thread to show a totally empty tank. Hey, finally a chance to think about an aquascape instead of an underwater jungle

I will pop in before t osee how everybody else's tanks are doing - I missed FP but was too occupied with preparations and negotiations

Claudia
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Once again, I think you did a really nice job creating depth. Most of the stem plant bunches look tighter too. I think most of that comes from repeated trimmings. I really haven't had the guts to completely hack my rotala. Maybe this weekend or next.

Overall I think things look good. Have you always had the black angles?

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric
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Update Week 48

Have you always had the black angles?


Wings ...Yes I had a couple for a while now and had some smaller ones in the 60g ...they are now in this tank . I have 12 Angels allup... 4 Black , 4 Gold , 4 Silver .

So the Val was added and the other plants have arrived but as yet not added to the tank no other changes .

Full Tank 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

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A shot of the Val behind the Swords ... was cut short so not really showing much yet

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Another shot of that area showing the Driftwood which has been repositioned slightly

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I picked up a bit more Stellata to bulk up that plant a bit

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I finally got around to tying down all my Annubias in one area ...looks ok I think

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My poor little Tiger Lily ... Not sure if it will survive

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Lobelia cardinalis

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Bolbitis sprouting some new leaves

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Wisteria ...doing a good job so far as a foreground plant

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Thats it for the plants this week ...Since Wings mentioned my Black Angels ...I though I'd show a few shots of my Angel school ...First a couple of Blacks

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Another Black

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A small Silver

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A better shot of a Silver

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A gold Male

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A Gold Female

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A few Other fishys to finish ...One of my remaining 2 Ottos

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Last shot for the night is a Sterbai


Next week will see the other new plants added they will be Giant Ambulia on the Left rear of the river ...Some large Crypts Balansae on the right rear of the river .

Some Hydrillia and Pink Baby Tears in the jungle as well as some more small crypts in the left foreground of the river .

That should be it for a while .


Garry

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Once again you took some really nice pictures. I seems that things are filling in pretty nice. Give the anubias some time and it will fill in. It seems to grow painfully slow unless you are pumping with light, CO2, and fertilizers. Even then it's not that fast of a grower.

It has taken almost a year for my anubias to fill in to how it is now from this.

To this...


I also think that adding more Stellata was a good move. Adding more crypts to the crypt area will look nice too.

So the black angles were in the 60G before and you just added them. In the Full Tank Shot from last week, was that one of your BN in the river area?

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric
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Update Week 49 , 50 & 51

Have been away again , this time playing golf on the Sunshine coast ...great weather lousy golf .. well me anyway ..being the bunny again .

So the new plants arrived before I went away and were hastely planted . Sharky objected to the placement of a few but most were still planted when we got home .

After replanting the ones that had been uprooted I ended up addding Giant Ambulia to the left rear of the River ...small Crypts to the left front of the river ... Hydrilla and Pink baby tears to the jungle next to the Stellata... and a bunch of Crypts Balansae to the right rear of the river .

Thats about it for the moment ..not much else has changed ...still not entirley happy with the rear of the river ..will see if the Ambulia and Balansae close it down a bit .. but the gap is still too wide IMO ..so I may have to rethink that area .

On to the photos ... Wings to answer your questions .. I had 2 of the Black Angels growing up from very small in the 60g and I bought 2 more large ones . The fish in the river is a CAE which also came out of the 60g ...I'd forgotten about him and George ( the Cuckoo Catfish ) they wre very good at hiding and when I did the makeover of the 60g I was amazes at how they had both grown ( probably on a diet of Cardinals so I moved them to this tank .

Full tank 3 weeks ago

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Full Tank this week

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Countryfish
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Right side

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Countryfish
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Left Side

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Countryfish
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River

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Countryfish
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EditedEdited by countryfish
A shot of the Jungle from an angle showing the new Balansae at the rear of the river

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Countryfish
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Wisteria doing nicely as a foreground plant

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Countryfish
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Jungle foreground

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Countryfish
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Annubias

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Countryfish
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Giant Ambulia

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Countryfish
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Small Crypts

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Countryfish
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Driftwood , Swords ,Java Fern & Giant Val

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Countryfish
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Hydrilla ...the Pink Baby tears are too small too see as yet ...hopefully they will grow to form a part of the second layer of the jungle along with the Hydrilla and stellata

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A few Fishy photos to finish ..A Golden Barb

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A BN

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EditedEdited by countryfish
The CAE which was about a 15ml when I got him 3 years ago and now measures 150ml .

Thats it for this week ... next week is the tanks birthday ...1 year old Probably be a very dull week however Can't see much happening this week .


Garry

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Gone_Troppo
 
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Garry,

Tank is looking good as always.

Is that Buenos Aires Tetras I see in some of those shots?

I got 6 of them for my tank not long ago (impulse buy) and while they seem to leave most of the established plants alone they do have a bit of a taste for tender new leaves.

I assume that they are not causing too much plant carnage in your tank or they would have been hastily removed

G_T

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Post InfoPosted 30-May-2008 20:39Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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Countryfish,

I must say your plant groupings are looking much tighter and organized. I think once your slower growers (cryps and anubias) fill in it will look really nice. A little color would be a nice touch if you can get your hands on something you like.

Now it is my understanding that you are not using any Co2 other than the fish and excel. Is that true? If so it looks like your plants are doing very well.

Look forward to seeing more. Be on the look out for a photo update of my tank sometime this weekend.

55G Planted tank thread
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[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric
Post InfoPosted 31-May-2008 02:22Profile AIM PM Edit Delete Report 
brandeeno
 
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EditedEdited by BrAnDeEnO
i have a nit-picky ocrrection for you:
The barb in your tanks is not a "Golden Barb,"
but is actually another species called the
"Gold Barb." If you look int he profiles you
will see the distinct difference.

Golden Barb:
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/481.htm
Gold Barb:
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/300.htm

As you can see there are very distinct
differences. On a Positive note, your
tank is growing and becoming more beautiful
every day (well at least every update ).
And I agree that once the crpts and anubias
fill in the tank will look completly
stunning.

Keep up the great work!
-Brandon

(PS this is a common misconception for
even some mebers on FP, so it will be
forgiven . Even many other forum
confuse the two due to their ever so
similar common naming. I discovered
the difference when searching and
apprising my self of their nature prior
to purchasing them. You have a GOLD BARB,
and golden barbs are less common and rarely
seen thus many LFS and etc mismark the names
to either spur buyers based on rarity, or
they themselves are mistaken on the names.)

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Post InfoPosted 31-May-2008 08:10Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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Troppo
Is that Buenos Aires Tetras I see in some of those shots?
Yep thats them ...the worst they have done so far is eat wisteria ...ambulia and a bit of Hygro ...nothing the tank can't stand . I knew they had a reputation as plant eaters before I got them ..but so far my experience is ok .
Thanks for the compliment .

Wings ...Thanks for that ...I'm trying to get the groupings tighter ... Red plants are the bane of my life ...I still have magenta in the tank ...but its not doing very well . Any suggestions on easy to grow red plants ?
As to C02 ..you are spot on I use Excel ...I think that may be why the red plants don't do well ...the other reason is I find it very hard to get my Iron levels past 1ppm ..even though I dose Iron every day .

brandeeno... I've been doing this for 30 years and always had Golden Barbs in my tanks ..always been this Fish . If you have a look at the other photos in the profile you will see that one of the photos is mine ..which was approved by the powers here at FP .
Having said that I agree that the fish I have is C. sachsi or C. Schuberti or perhaps even C. semifasciolatus there seems to be a fair bit of disagreement in the scientific community about the different varieties of this group or even that they are different varieties . The opinion of one of the text books I have says that C. semifasciolatus and C. sachsi could be the parent species of C. Schuberti that was bred by Tom Schubert in the 1950's but all agree that these are called Golden Barbs and that the Gold Barb is something else.

So in conclusion there seems to be a lot of confusion about this even amongst the experts ...so I think I'll stick to what my text books tell me ... C. sachsi or C. Schuberti are Golden Barbs and thats waht I have .

Thanks for dropping by and for the compliment .


Garry
Post InfoPosted 31-May-2008 15:40Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
TW
 
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Beautiful & not a spot of algae to be seen. Job well done. Thanks, once again, for sharing.

Happy 1st Birth 240G Tank /:'

Cheers
TW
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brandeeno
 
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hmmmm i have the same ones in my tank too, and i have been told differently about them being "golden barbs." I appologize for the chastizing tone that may have been in the last post, but I honestly have been told differently. and as i see it, some of the gold barbs photos and some of the golden barbs photos have the same exact markings, yet they have different profile pictures and i think this to be a bit odd, also they have different physical attributes according the profiles (which the golden barb most closely matches my fish which are nearly identical to yours according to your pictures). I also noticed that there were pictures of the different species in each others profiles. thats when i realized that there must be debate about their relationship/genetic differences. again sorry for that...

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garry.... happy 1 yr bday to your incredible tank, what a gorgeous setup...

I can only hope to one day aspire to that level of tankkeeping, wow!
Post InfoPosted 01-Jun-2008 01:57Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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Happy 1st Garry, the tank has come a long way in a year



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Post InfoPosted 01-Jun-2008 03:47Profile Homepage PM Edit Delete Report 
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TW , Scott , Matty , Brandeeno...Thanks for that. Doesn't feel like a year since I started this tank . Time flies and all that .

I'll do a review of the tank over the next week or so .

Brandeeno ...don't worry I didn't take offense ...lots of grey areas in this hobby . All info is good .


Garry
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catdancer
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Happy birthday, Garry!


It is so nice to see this tank after several weeks of being fish- as well as tankless. I finally moved in and this weekend I will start redoing the 72G tank. Starting from total scratch! This will give me the chance to think about an aquascape. I will be waiting for your critical input!

Claudia
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Brengun
 
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Is that big black shark still in the tank?
I can't wait until my planted tanks grow in, trouble is I am always pinching cuttings to start new tanks.
Post InfoPosted 02-Aug-2008 15:18Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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Hi Garry,

It's been a while and I don't normally comment on your posts although I make sure I keep up to date with all your changes!! The tank looks great as always.
I have a few quick questions....
Are you still only using the flourish, excel and phosphorous? Do you add them daily / weekly? As you know I was using them too the only problem was my tank really suffered while I did. I tried every few days, more per week, less per week I tried everything. Probably tried too many different things for the first few months or so, I just couldn't keep anything looking healthy. For the last few months I have used absolutely nothing in my tank, it is looking as good as it ever has right now. I am still having trouble keeping some plants going but to this point most plants seem to grow quite well, I knew I would have a battle on my hands not using CO2 but I am still enjoying the challenge of avoiding it at all costs.
Obviously the water quality is very good as my firemouth cichlids continually attempt to spawn.

I look forward to your response.

James

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mujacko2002
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Mabuhay!

Hi gary! your tanks are awesome especially the big one. you're the only one so far i've read about using wisteria as a foreground plant....its simply brilliant...
thanks for the tip i'll definitely use it as i assemble my sun fed 75g planted aquarium.

i'll keep an eye on your thread.

thanks

Godbless

Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may your light shine upon me so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to heaven.
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Garry,

Where are you at!? Haha its been over two months! Just wondering when we are gonna get an update form our favorite tank?I know I dont comment much anymore, but I still do "tune in" to every update. Keep the updates coming! Thanks!
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Countryfish
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Hi folks ... Well its been a while . I decided to get my computer upgraded ... Oh boy what a nightmare ...its been 8 weeks and I've only just got it back .... What can I say ... Nothing I can type here anyway . The ?*&% thing is still not right . So I will update this log shortly ...thats if the machine keeps working . !!!!!!


Garry
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mattyboombatty
 
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Good to have you back, can't wait for an update!



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Post InfoPosted 01-Sep-2008 17:41Profile Homepage PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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Well its actually been 12 weeks since I updated this log ... I'm even more angry with the computer parts manufacturers now

So whats happened ... Firstly I think I mentioned that my UV filters broke ..so I hunted around and found a canister with a built in UV ...Aquael Unimax 700 is the brand ..and what a fantastic piece of gear it is ..very quiet and very efficent .

As far as the scape is concerned nothing much has changed other than a fair bit of growth as you will see from the photos .
On the Fish front just a few new small Angels which you will notice from the photos as well and in the 60g I have finally got my hands on some Chocolate Gouramis .

I haven't taken a lot of photos this week so just the main shots . I will do more detail next week .

First the full tank 12 weeks ago .

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Countryfish
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Full Tank this week

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Countryfish
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Left Side

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Countryfish
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Right Side

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Countryfish
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River

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Countryfish
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For those who are interested here is a shot of the 60g just after the make over and then today . Needs a trim I think !!!!!

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Countryfish
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Now

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Countryfish
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Last shot this week ...Chocolate Gourami

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Wingsdlc
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Countryfish,

Really nice photos as always. I have really been missing all the action around here. You sure have a ton of fish! It almost makes my tank look empty! I guess we are doing things a little different though and you have more wiggle room than I.

It looks like your plants are growing well. Some of them are starting to out grow their placement. I guess that tends to happen sometimes. Do you have any plans in terms of the scape? One thing I would really like to see is more hard scape. Your 60G started out with some really nice rock work but its well and covered by the plants now.

Glad to have you back around and I am sorry about all the computer issues.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric
Post InfoPosted 02-Sep-2008 22:50Profile AIM PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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Wings ... Interesting comment on the 60g ...I was only going to do a trim today ..but your comment on the hardscape got me thinking ..so after a very heavy trim I decided to move a couple of things .

Let me know what you think.


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Hi Gary!

So glad to see you back in action. I have to agree with Wings re the hard ware. Some driftwood would be great as well - maybe creating a little hill partially covered by sbstrate with plants growing on top of it? Just an idea that I would not be able of creating myself. I saw something like this in a contribution to an aquascape contest and you are capable of doing it. The plants look lush as always and this is one of the nicest shots of a chocolate gourami that I have ever seen.

Claudia
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Countryfish
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Claudia ... Thanks it nice to be back .. Hardscape is really hard to come by here ...Big stuff anyway ...I've had rock piles with annubias on them before but I went away from that look and the difficulty of keeping the plants attached .
In the end I'm a plant person and I want to sculpture the plants into the shapes I want . In the 60g it works well ( I think ) but the depth of this tank is proving a challenge . I'm starting to get plants with the size that will allow me to do it ( Crypts Balansae, Large Swords , Giant Val, Giant Ambullia etc ) ...will see how it develops in time I suppose .



Garry
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Wingsdlc
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Countryfish,

I am liking the look much better after the trim. Nice work!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric
Post InfoPosted 04-Sep-2008 12:21Profile AIM PM Edit Delete Report 
TW
 
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Very nice Garry. Is the low plant in the 60G wisteria, that you keep trimmed very low & dense? Or is it wisteria grown in a creeping along substrate fashion.

Cheers
TW
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Countryfish
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Robyn ...Its Wisteria all right ... I read some where that it can be used as a foreground plant and being so robust doesn't have the problems of most small foreground plants .This has proven to be true ...grows and bushes up very well . The only problem is that it needs to be trimmed every 2 weeks as being a fast grower it grows very fast ( funny about that ). I just use my sissors like a hedge trimmer and then a net to clean up the mess

I like the look and because the growth is always very new it has a lovely light green colour which contrasts well with all the other colours in the tanks . The only time it looks a bit ordinary is after a trim ...but again this only lasts a couple of days because it grows so fast .

Its not a bad solution ... BTW it doesn't creep and spread ..just stays where you plant it and grows .

Might work in you Discuss tank ... When I did it I just took the very new bits from the tops of each stem ..took a while to kick in but when it did ...well you can see the results.


Garry
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Wingsdlc
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BTW it doesn't creep and spread ..just stays where you plant it and grows .
Maybe it doesn't creep and spread down under but it sure did up here in the states.

I wouldn't call it a true spreading plant but if you plant it at an angle it will often grow across the gravel. I think it needs very bright light and CO2 to do so. Or maybe it just needs to be in the northern hemisphere.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric
Post InfoPosted 09-Sep-2008 12:20Profile AIM PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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Hmmmm ...Welll ...depends what you mean by creep ...It spreads out by branching but not like HC or glosso which creeps along the substrate .

Garry
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mattyboombatty
 
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I too really like the rocks out front. Nice work on the trim!


I got wisteria to grow horizontally in my display tank at my old store. It was a 75g tank with about 280w of light and CO2. I didn't plant it horizontally, I just kept hacking it's top off until it bent over.



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Post InfoPosted 09-Sep-2008 16:02Profile Homepage PM Edit Delete Report 
mujacko2002
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Mabuhay!

you are the MMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNN!!! some people are just purely gifted.

thanks for sharing you setup.

Godbless

Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may your light shine upon me so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to heaven.
Post InfoPosted 10-Sep-2008 05:49Profile Homepage MSN Yahoo PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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Week 65 Update .

Not much to relate this week ... Had to pull up the Bacopa and Hygro and replant ..so a bit of a gap has appeared in the back centre . Trimmed the wisteria in the foreground . Planted a few baby swords from their spikes into the river until they get bigger ( no clear room anywhere else!)

New growth on the swords is showing little sign of algae infestation that has been a plague in this tank ..so I think the new Cannister and its UV are working ..certainly all the sponges have been green with dead algae for a couple of weeks now .
Still not very happy with the scape in this tank and there are going to have to be some changes . Java fern is a pain ...driftwood and rocks have dissapeared ..Giant Hygro is not performing . The layered look I was going for in the jungle is just not working . I also want to get more red into the scape but that continues to elude me .

Sooooo lots of things to think about ...will have to see where these thoughts lead me in the next couple of weeks .

On to the photos .
Last weeks full tank

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Post InfoPosted 10-Sep-2008 15:15Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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Full Tank This week

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Post InfoPosted 10-Sep-2008 15:16Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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This week I though I would just do a few close ups of a couple of areas.

First the Annubia group .

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Post InfoPosted 10-Sep-2008 15:17Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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Small Crypts

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Post InfoPosted 10-Sep-2008 15:18Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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Wisteria from above after trim

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Post InfoPosted 10-Sep-2008 15:19Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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EditedEdited by countryfish
New growth on swords also showing the Buenos Aires Tetras schooling

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Post InfoPosted 10-Sep-2008 15:19Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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A few Shots of my Angels to finish .First one of the originals from the 60 g we've had this guy for going on 4 years now .

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Post InfoPosted 10-Sep-2008 15:22Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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One of a new Baby White Angel we bought in a group recently

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Post InfoPosted 10-Sep-2008 15:24Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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Another of the new group A Leopard Veil Tail Angel

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Post InfoPosted 10-Sep-2008 15:25Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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EditedEdited by countryfish
Last shot for this week is a shot of a part of the group feeding in the small crypts .

Matty thanks for your thoughts and compliments , unlike this tank I'm very happy with the scape in the 60g ..hope I can get this one to that stage at least once in the next few months .
mujacko2002 ...your too kind ..thanks .

Garry

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Post InfoPosted 10-Sep-2008 15:29Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
mattyboombatty
 
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EditedEdited by mattyboombatty
Lots of lush growth, always look at the positives I say !

As for the scape, I think super huge tanks like that would just be difficult overall. My thoughts would be to simplify things, maybe use less plant types and find some larger pieces of rock or DW.



Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients
Post InfoPosted 10-Sep-2008 16:51Profile Homepage PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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Thanks Matty ... you are right ...I'm just a perfectionist I guess . Still it keeps me on my toes ..so look for changes in the next couple of weeks .

Garry
Post InfoPosted 11-Sep-2008 01:48Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
Wingsdlc
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Sometimes things just don't work out the way we intend them too. As long as you learn from it then it was worth while. I know that I have been there a time or two.

I think the first thing we really need to do as planted tank guys or gals is to find out what plants we can grow well. I think that is why we end up with so many types of plants. Once we get that figured out we then have to work on making it look good. I think that simplifying is the way to go. Less types of plants but bigger groups.

I also thing you have quite the challenge being your tank is so large.

I can't wait to see what happens!!

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Post InfoPosted 11-Sep-2008 03:30Profile AIM PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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Wings ... Less is more ..yep I definitely am there. But what do you do when that is just not right yet . Keep experimenting I suppose .

Anyway thanks for your thoughts mate .. Yourself and Matty ...I appreciate the support .

Garry
Post InfoPosted 11-Sep-2008 11:44Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
TW
 
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Robyn ...Its Wisteria all right ... I read some where that it can be used as a foreground plant and being so robust doesn't have the problems of most small foreground plants .This has proven to be true ...grows and bushes up very well.
Hahaha, I think I can remember telling you that somewhere. I copied tetratech with this method of planting wisteria, both in the 43G (now shut down) & the 74G divided tank. I remember once singing it's praises to you as a low maintenance foreground plant. Wisteria grows too fast for me as stem (too much work in cutting tops off & replanting every 2 weeks). The hardest part I found with this method, was getting it started off in growing in the creeping way. Until it sprouted roots, I weight it down with 2 fishing weights joined by fishing line.

How did you do it?


Cheers
TW
Post InfoPosted 11-Sep-2008 12:52Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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EditedEdited by countryfish
Robyn ... I bow to you what can I say... you are my Guru.. now that Tetra and Ingo have moved on . You have my abject apologoies that I did not remember that it was you that pointed me in this direction .

Funny ...all I did was cut the tops of a bunch off plants and plant them .. It worked .

So more power to you ...you should try it as well !!!!


Garry
Post InfoPosted 11-Sep-2008 13:52Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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EditedEdited by countryfish
Week 68 Update

3 weeks since the last update ...nothing much happened in the tank untill this week . Took most of that time to order some new plants . I thought when I ordered some Large Annubias , Apontagens , Macandra Magenta and Blyxia that I was in for a rather large makeover ...but it didn't turn out that way .
Heres what I did ....
The Giant Hygro went and was replaced by 2 Apontagen Crispus Green and 5 Aponatgen Crispus Red .
Half of the wisteria in the foreground was removed and replaced with Blyxia .
The Annubias at the front left were moved and jumbled up to give them a more unstructured look.
The Magenta and some Baby Tears were placed where the Annubias used to be in between the wisteria and large crypts and stellata , again trying for a better layered look and also some added colour.
In the centre of the tank I removed the Bacopa and some of the Ambulia and added three very Large Annubias , 1 Barteri, I Jenny and I Coffeefloria. The Barteri is what the plant shop calls a mother plant ...its huge .

So onto the photos firstly the Tank as at 3 weeks ago .

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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

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New Jungle Foreground

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Countryfish
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Blyxia

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Baby Tears

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Magenta

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EditedEdited by countryfish
Apontagens behind Crypts ...Can't see most of the Red ones yet ..too small

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Annubias ...or as I'm calling it now " Mother "

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Post InfoPosted 30-Sep-2008 12:28Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
Countryfish
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Last shot for this week ...Small White Angel .

Not sure this worked out the way I wanted ..so may have to do some more thinking
The other pain is keeping the Blyxia planted The Kissers and Sharky have uprooted it again as I sit here tying this ...thats the main reason I didn't replace all of the wisteria .

Oh well will see what develops .


Garry

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Wingsdlc
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Country,

I really like the makeover. It seems you are on the right track. My favorite part is the placement of "Mother". Larger leaves toward the front of the tank really brings out some depth to the scape.

Your stems also seem to be in much tighter groups.

Well done!

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Post InfoPosted 01-Oct-2008 01:23Profile AIM PM Edit Delete Report 
mujacko2002
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Mabuhay!


you have one F-R-E-A-K-Y AWESOME TANK!!! my hats off to you. its so doable, its so practical..its very inspriring.

thank you for sharing

Godbless

Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may your light shine upon me so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to heaven.
Post InfoPosted 02-Oct-2008 18:12Profile Homepage MSN Yahoo PM Edit Delete Report 
riri1
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wow dude where did the black shark go i really liked that dude i might have to get one now!
Post InfoPosted 03-Oct-2008 08:14Profile AIM PM Edit Delete Report 
TW
 
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Once again, great shots of a beautiful tank

Cheers
TW
Post InfoPosted 08-Oct-2008 13:53Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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erm... has countryfish's computer broken again?

hi
woot woot woot woot woot woot
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