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Garry,

Looking good, I like the fact that you added more plants, although I don't know what the plant behind the driftwood is, sorry about that.

One of my constant shortcomings is that I forget to write down the name of a plant that I acquire for my tanks, may it be from the LFS or through "buddies". Later on then do I discover that the plant is not aquatic, or grows enormous, or has special needs (as in high N, for example, or high light). Granted, I am getting better at it, but I advise you to try from the beginning to take a pen with you when you go to the LFS to buy stuff, and if it is not labeled then ask the sales guy for the name. More often than not they only have a common name, but most of the time that name gives some clue to the real name, like "Funky Ludwigia" - at least you know to look at ludwigias in specific, that limits the search for an ID to maybe 50 plants. On the other hand, even LFSs sometimes have no clue what they are selling (in particular if the plant guy - how orders - is out that day) and name it whatever, then you are where you are right now with that plant in your tank.

Anyway, rambling is over now

About the KH and GH - if you have time (or maybe you did this already), you could go and test your tab water for GH, KH, and ph by putting it in a bucket. Do 2 tests, one right after you added the water and one 24h later, just let the bucket sit in the meantime. I would be curious what these values are.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Garry,

Looking really good I would love to see how it looks with all the hair grass grown in. All I can tell you is that you are doing a great job and the plants look great.

Hey, lookin' good Garry. Your plant behind the DW is in fact Spath. Spathiphyllum wallisii to be specific. Can get about 20in high, and very large. Undemanding, and wait for it, not a true aquarium plant. However, I guess it can live submersed for many months or sometimes years. Give it a shot I guess.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Very nice effort, especially for such a big tank.

If your looking for a natural, somewhat wild look the rocks lining the river don't look natural. They are two similiar to each in size and it looks like they are standing up. I would try to lay them down and have different size rocks with some jutting into the river from the edge.

The wood with the cut off branch, is that real driftwood. Either way it doesn't look natural I would remove it or find another piece. The other larger piece over the river looks really nice.

I must have missed something with the bubbles, cause I don't get it. Not only are the bubbles counterproductive (as LF said) to planted aquaria, but it looks unnatural and you have the tubing to boot. I would also remove the powerhead in the middle and move the double-headed return more to the middle if possible. I'm sure you'll have plenty of flow with that monster fluval. Flow is extremely overrated in planted aquaria.

My Scapes

Hey folks, thanks for all the nice compliments , really appreciated .

Ingo , I have tested my tap water before but didn't do the 24hr thing which is interesting .
I'm redoing it as we speak and I'll let you know the results .
And yes I should carry a pen as my memory is getting worse and worse.

Ryan , thanks for that . I just realised you changed your name , was trying to work out who it was ?

Matty , I should have known got sucked in again by someone who should know better Aw well its my own fault, too trusting by half
I got to find a decent supplier of plants , someone who knows their stuff . Any Aussies out there know someone ?
Thanks Matty for the ID .


Tetra , thank you , your comments are always insightfull ,now that I look at the river I agree and will now be redoing with some new rocks .
Thanks for the input.

You read my mind though I don't like that bit of driftwood either.
It's all from the same piece , and the bottom piece supports the top bit .
The idea was to perhaps add a more brancey ( is that a word ) bit later on as the tank grows in .
I still think the scape lacks height so hopefully that piece will be a base that won't be seen much .
Driftwood is very hard to come by here and that was the best I could find, but I will keep looking .

I know you guys don't get the airstone thing which is fair enough but I am suprised at your flow comment.
Could you please enlarge on that thought?

Enough for now , thanks again for all the help and suggestions . All are greatly appreciated .
Garry

Could you please enlarge on that thought?

Yeah tetratech, I am curious as to what you have to say there as well

I guess one thing that should be kept in mind is that flow does not equal filtration, right?
And flow should be everywhere (as otherwise = BGA and - no CO2 distribution), but doesn't have to be in force, right?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Yeah tetratech, I am curious as to what you have to say there as well

So let's see, what are you trying to accomplish with increased flow (scratches head)? Are you trying to remove solid particle matter at a quicker rate. Let's say the answer is yes? In most planted tanks especially big ones, most of the filtration is in the tank. Adding more biological media(more surface area) will certainly help depending upon your tanks load, feeding, etc, but this is not IMO dependent on flow, but more importantly an issue of media contact efficency and size.

Are you trying to distribute Co2? Is your co2 readings higher on the left size versus the right side of your tank. In my 72g (4 foot tank) I'm running about 70-80gph, so I'm only turning over my water once an hour. I see no difference in the plants on the left side near the spraybar and co2 diffusor and those on the right. They all grow and pearl the same.

Are you trying to distribute ferts evenly? Give me a break (See co2 above) How much flow do you need to move around dissolved gas and ferts?

Are you trying to prevent algae? Well I've seen algae grow in people's tanks right in the return outlet, spraybar, etc. Why are some nano tanks so pristine with no flow, no filter?







My Scapes

Garry, tank's looking good!

Just my two cents on the flow discussion - in some cases, water flow is as much for the fish' benefit as it is for the water column and plants. For example, rainbows (at least my aussie rainbows do) and most river loaches (yoyo, angelicus, skunk, sumo) prefer a good strong current as it replicates their natural environment.

Just my thought on the matter. During my experimenting with having my spraybar vertical in the tank, the rainbows and loaches would spend hours swimming in the flow from it, which was a completely different area of the tank than they normally stayed in. So for some fish species, a good flow is practical fishkeeping.

Listen! Do you smell that?

<-- not in reference to lysaer's entry which wasn't there when I initially types the response

well, I would have to read through both of our logs to find the section where in particular you and the Grand-Master, aka Bensaf, talk about an observation with regards to CO2. It went something like that:

"It seems that the plants have a better growth when the CO2 is reaching them in tiny bubbles rather than in dissolved form"

That was also around the time when Tom Barr came out with the idea of having the CO2 injected via a venturi valve thingy to reach exactly the above mentioned behavior.

As such, having enough flow in the tank to have all areas reached with CO2 bubbles should have some merit.

Of course this could be achieved with less overall flow (as in turnover through filters or masses of power heads just pushing stuff around) by placing power heads at strategic positions that make sure that otherwise neglected areas would be reached. Actually, that may be better anyway as your mentioning of flow and algae is something I brought up a while ago, in specific with relation to high flow = BBA.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

It seems that the plants have a better growth when the CO2 is reaching them in tiny bubbles rather than in dissolved form

LF,
Well that was so many moons ago, but are we talking pearling or plant growth/health. Planted tank gurus use various methods to get co2 into the water. (inline, diffusors, reactors) and guess what they all work. I personally had thought that the "mist" effect resulting in more pearling in my tank. Now does that mean one has to physically see those bubbles for the plant to still be benefiting from the "mist" effect. I could tell you even with my 70/80gph in my 72g I could see micro bubbles making it to the other side of the tank. What you bring up is not a matter of plant health, but a pearling effect. My rotala in my 5g is just as healthy looking as my rotala in my 72g, but it never pearls. Is that quote from Bensaf or me. If Bensaf, perhaps you could try tracking him down. He was last spotted in Dubai.

Lysaer,
No doubt some fish like flow, but the context of the discussion is flow and how it affects planted aquaria since this is the forum we are in. Regardless the fish you mentioned can hang out near the outflow of the Fluval and be knocked silly by flow if this is what they so desired.

EDIT:
Please don't misinterpret what I'm saying. You generally need flow, I'm saying I don't thing it's something you need to enhance if there is some flow. I'm looking at my 72g right now, and I could see the wisteria leaves on the far right side of the tank (opposite side from the spraybar) swaying in the current. So if there is enough current to do that don't you think there's enough current to move dissolved ferts and co2 around the tank?

My Scapes

but are we talking pearling or plant growth/health.

I don't want to drive Garry's log way off topic here, but we were talking about plant growth. We have established that pearling in itself is not an indicator for health, but an indicator for the water's oxygen saturation. But it seemed like the common experience was that small bubbles of CO2 resulted in stronger growth of the plants, as if they were to prefer that bubble size when sucking up the CO2.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

don't want to drive Garry's log way off topic here, but we were talking about plant growth. We have established that pearling in itself is not an indicator for health, but an indicator for the water's oxygen saturation. But it seemed like the common experience was that small bubbles of CO2 resulted in stronger growth of the plants, as if they were to prefer that bubble size when sucking up the CO2.

We'll not only are we driving the discussion off topic from Garry's log, but we aren't even really discussing the original post that lead us here. My post had to do with Garry's tank not needing the extra flow from the powerhead and I suggested moving the return more center. Your now assuming that even if Garry (who isn't currently even injecting co2) was injecting co2 it wouldn't get to the far end of the tank to maximize plant growth As I said there are gorgeous tanks that win contests, etc that have never been exposed to the mist method. Also the flow issue wasn't necessarily related to co2, but also to algae, cleaniness, etc.

My Scapes

Hey Garry,

Glad you stuffed it full of plants, looks like a good start.

Only thing I want to add is, I think you're going to see two very different growth patterns on the different sides of the river. Left side is going to be slower and sparse, the right side will get big fairly quickly. Just something to keep an eye out for when your thoughts turn to scaping and not just growing.

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Back in the saddle!

Well guys a fantastic discussion and don't worry Ingo , I love when you and Tetra swap points on any topic .
I think we all learn something . As usual it has made me review my thoughts on what the tank needs .
Haven't made a decision yet but it got me thinking .

Lysar & Nowher , thanks for contributing , both of you made good points and I'll certainly take them on board .

Sorry Ingo it took me 2 days to get back to testing my Tap water , life got in the road .
Don't know if that makes a diff , but here are the results .
Tap water
7.30pm 13/06/2007 PH 7.2 KH 5 GH 7
9.30pm 15/06/2007 PH 7.6 KH 6 GH 6

Strange results in my view , the pH was tested with a liquid and electronic test . Can't understand why it went up ?????? Kh and Gh look to me to be about the same based on the margin of error of these drip one at a time tests .

Any thoughts . ?

I will have an update on the tank in a little while as it has been a week and the cleanup crew has arrived . Yea
Just sorting thru some Pics .
Garry

Garry,

Makes sense to me, but I wouldn't mind if someone seconds my opinion or makes a counter factual entry.

"7.30pm 13/06/2007 PH 7.2 KH 5 GH 7
9.30pm 15/06/2007 PH 7.6 KH 6 GH 6"

At a ph of 7.2 and a KH of around 5, your tab would have had a CO2 of about 9.5ppm. I think the atmospheric CO2 concentration is somewhere around 4ppm. Over time, both media (sample water and air) have equalized the level of CO2, aka degassing. Checking on what your ph would be with about 4ppm, having a KH of around 5 to 6 (measuring weakness of simple test kits), leads to a level of ph of 7.6. All these values are derived from Chuck Gadd's excellent chart (scroll down on linked page).

Overall, this means that your water is still in the soft range, which is a good thing. To me, it also means that you neither have to care with extra measures for KH (as in "no need to add Baking Soda" ) or GH (as in "no need to add extra calcium via Seachem Equilibrium, for example" ).

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Week 1 Update .

Firstly I spent the week after getting enough ? fast growing plants looking for a clean up crew for the tank with no success untill today .
More on that Later

The Plants for the most part seemed to settle reasonable well with some solid growth on the Water Sprite as well as it putting out lots of roots .
The Hairgrass has some dark and some light coloured parts ( could be new growth ) not sure will have to wait and see.
Chain Swords have seen the best growth with new leaves ,runners and a Baby
I have some concern about the Echin Amazonicus as they are showing some leaf degredation but also some new leaves appearing , again will have to see how they go ?
The Narrow Ludwiga has spread out nicely with some new growth at the tips .
The Ceratopteris pteroides has degraded badly but has some new growth .
The Crypts and Anubias have shown very little which is to be expected I suppose.
Over all reasonable first week , with the exception of the white water bacteria bloom which is making the taking of photos difficult and is always frustrating .

So onto the photo's , firstly the tank as it was after setup last friday evening .

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Next the Shot after the new plants were added on Tuesday .

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Now the Full tank as it stands after the first week .

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Now onto some detail shots of some of the plants . Firstly the Chain Sword and its Baby .

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Next the Hairgrass .

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The Narrow Ludwigia.

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Lastly a shot of the Anubias Barteri showing the Rizome's off the substrate. Just to reassure Ingo that I do listen closely to everything he says .

I didn't get shots of some of the concerns I had with some of the other plants , just ran out of time taking the upcoming shots Will post some of those in the next couple of days .

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On to the next fun part , the clean up crew . I managed to get my hands on some Ottos , rare as they are here.
I snapped up 6 of the little fellas straight from Germany ( so I was told anyway ) . I broke all the rules as they only arrived in the LFS on Thurs . But they are so rare and they only had a few left I wasn't going to take a chance on loosing them to someone else .

I've never seen them before in the flesh and boy they are tiny . Hope they survive when some of my big fellas are added later .

I also got 2 BN 's not much bigger than the Otto's . They are just great looking fish .

I took 2 hours using the drip method to aclimitise the little fellas and they all seemed to take to their new surroundings very well .

Well all but 1 Otto who just sat stunned in one spot most of the night . The rest all got to work very quickly .

The first shot of the group getting a look at their new home from the bag

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A BN and Otto love in, in the bag .

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One of the Otto's checking ot the new pad .

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And getting to work on the Glass

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This is the lazy one , just sat there and looked at me as if to say what you expect me to work after that

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One of the BN 's going to work on the rocks .

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Last shot for now . The 2 BN's meet up for a conflab after about 2 hours in the Tank .

Notice the fat tummy on the bottom one as well as first fish poo in the new tank

Hope you all enjoyed the first week of the tank and any suggestions regarding the log or the tank are greatly appreciated .

Thanks to all who have contributed so far .
Garry

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Very nice Countryfish. Plants look nice and very healthly.

... as well as first fish poo in the new tank

You ain't seen nothing yet.

My Scapes

You ain't seen nothing yet

Very nice Garry, glad you kept me in mind for the Anubias shot

About the Otos: how big are they? You say also that they just came straight from Germany, that is a loooong hike for these little guys. Often, sadly enough, it is too much for some of them, so don't blame yourself or assume some tank issues if one or the other doesn't make it. I had mixed experiences with mine, the first time around, when purchased in a few stages, I lost overall 7 out of 13. The next time around, in a much riskier purchase (I got 6 small ones, just being shipped) I lost none.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

hey,

I am not very good at plecos, never had even one, but here is a shot of one. Doesn't he look like your's - just bigger?

That would be a common pleco

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ingo, your link isn't working LOL, but countryfish's plecos look like juvenile bristlenose's to me. I had one for about two years and ended up giving it to my father-in-law. Great fish, except for the poop load

My Scapes

Ingo, your link isn't working LOL

Hm, it works for me

Here it is again: LINKTOFISH

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hm, it works for me

Well aren't you special

This is what I get:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /wp-content/uploads/2006/10/limpia-fondos.jpg on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

My Scapes

Ingo , both those links give me the same result as Tetra .
Garry

I'm forbidden too

Great pictures Countryfish. Tank looks great. Your otos look really cute & I hope they are as healthy as they look. Good luck with them.

Cheers
TW

Well aren't you special

Well, I guess I am not, it is the browser that was special. I entered that record at work where I use the latest Firefox, but here at home with IE I get the same result as you guys.

Anyway, having tetratech say that it is a BN is enough for me to sway my concerns.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Anyway, having tetratech say that it is a BN is enough for me to sway my concerns

Yeah I'm pretty sure it's a BN, but I've also been more fond of the name BM. That's why I gave it to my father-in-law

My Scapes

Thanks folks for the comments .

Your otos look really cute & I hope they are as healthy as they look. Good luck with them.

Yes we love them as well but unfortunatley we have lost 2 within 48 hours and funnily enough it was the bigger ones , also lost one of the BN's as well .
Thats the way it is I suppose , too much stress . Oh well I knew the risks .
The other 4 Ottos seem to be enjoying themselves racing all over the tank .

Robyn ,Did you see my reply to your previous post about your online equipment source ?

Will update later in the week as we are off to Brissy for a couple of days .
Garry

<--------Likes the tenellus.

Can't wait to see it all grow in. Sorry about your losses.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Garry,

Sorry about the losses, but I mentioned earlier that in particular the Otos are a problem in that department.

But, again not knowing really what I am talking about, the BN is a surprise to me. I would have thought that they are pretty tough.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I'm back from our Brissy trip and I managed to pick up 6 SAE's and another 8 Ottos at a place I know in Bris .
No further losses at this stage and I will post Pics & update at the end of the week .

The BN loss suprised me too Ingo as he looked really comfortable .
I can't find the other one either but that doesn't mean much, might just be hiding out in the jungle .

Thanks Matty & Ingo for your kind thoughts.

Garry

Garry,

You are truly building up an algae eating battalion there, is there any specific reason why?

Given that you have a huge tank I assume you can fit quite a few of these kind of fish without having no space for others anymore. SAEs are just as much of a poopster than BNs, if I remember that right. And with a total length of up to 6 inches (and I have seen specimens of around 5" in tanks) they have quite some appetite.

Now, show us the pictures

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi Gary

Sorry, I didn't see either of the times you asked me a question. I've been traveling up & down the coast of NSW a fair bit in the last 2 weeks. I have checked your log out each time I returned home. Your log has been very popular, so by the time I checked in the post to me was long past.

The reason I thought you had a PC (compact PC light fitting) is because of your lighting detail

Lighting : Aquiline 2 96W 10000K white 2x96w Acintic blue

Ordinary fluros don't usually have that many watts (or so I thought). But a Compact PC tube is quite likely to have 96W. Sorry for my error. I've sent you a PM with details of my QLD contact. I find him very helpful & prices quite good. Postage is only $6.50. I've had a 4ft light fitting sent to me in Sydney at a cost for $6.50. He has also replaced broken tubes at no cost, which I think is pretty good.

Hope this helps & sorry for the slack reply.

Cheers
TW

Ingo , Its a big tank . No really I need some for the other tank as well . I will move some over once this tank is stable .
I used to be a CAE man but I've gone off them as they get big , lazy and bad tempered
I've never had true SAE's before and have only heard good things about them .
But I hadn't heard that they grow to 6inches . Should do my research better

Pictures will be coming soon

Thanks Robyn , I didn't get the PC abreviation . Yes thats what I have got and probably paid thru the nose
So I appreciate your info.
Thanks again

Garry

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Plecos.jpg

Here is my two cents on the plecos.

If you look at the arrow I placed in the picture it seems like there are the crazy little spike things sticking out that I know BN have but I have never seen on a common pleco.

SAE's are pretty good fish. I am on my second one as I killed the fist with a CO2 overload. (leaving the needle valve wide open for 20 minutes is bad news!). The SAE does get fairly large but you have the tank for some larger fish. Also they seem to not work as well once they start eating a lot of fish food from what I have been told.

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

Week 2 Update .

This week saw us travel to Brisbane for a couple of days and naturally that meant a trip to an LFS .
As I've already stated we managed to get some SAE's and some more Otto's .

I also managed to get some Hygro & some Ludwigia Repens to add to the tank . This I think will complete the plants for the time being .

The tank itself has seen some good growth from all plants and the appearance of some algae . I did have some Diatoms but the Ottos and SAE's cleaned them up in no time . Some green spots have appeared in the river and they are being worked on at the moment by the clean up crew. Overall the algae is very minor at this stage and there are no signs of any major outbreaks of BBA or hair algae .

The tank saw the inclusion of its first inhabitants from the overcrowed 60 g in the form of 4 very large Kissing Gouramis . They appear to have settled well as far as the tank is concerned but they have fallen out of love with their owner as they run and hide whenever I appear Appears they didn't appreciate being caught and transferred . The big chickens

A couple of other changes have occurred .
Firstly with regard to equipment , the Sponge Filter has been moved out of the centre and the air pump has been turned off . I haven't removed the airlines as yet . I may do this in the future .
Thanks to Ingo and Tetratech for that advice .
Secondly , the Spathaphilium had to go . I hate having non aquatics in my tank and the rotten stuff just wouldn't stay in the substrate .
So I think my wife is going to turn it into a potted house plant .
Thanks Matty for that advice .

On to the photos . Here is the tank as it was after week 1.

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The Full Tank at the end of Week 2.

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Closer shot of the Right side .

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Shot of the Left side

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A shot of the River showing the new plants

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Now onto a couple of the Problems in the tank , firstly the Houseplant doing waht it did best , float

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Next some not so good signs from the Amazons , there is good growth of new leaves at the base of the plants but I'm a little concerned that I may have planted them too close together . As you can see from this shot some of these leaves are not looking too healthy .

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Algae starting to appear in the river .

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Now onto some of the good growth . Firstly the Hairgrass spreading out .

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Next the Chain Swords sending out runners .

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A shot of the whole Hairgrass / Chain Sword field showing lots of runners from the swords .

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And another shot of the Chain Swords to prove Ingo right once again . This shows the old growth dying back and the new growth coming in with narrow leaves . Spot on Ingo

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A shot of the Java Fern on the Driftwood which is showing some growth .

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The Narrow Leaf Ludwigia colouring up and growing nicely .

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Next some shots of the new plants , firstly the Hygro positioned behind the Driftwood . Not sure this will be its final position . Dosen't quite fit now that the filter has been moved . It will do for the moment untill I see how the other parts of the tank develop .

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The Ludwigia Repens , I have placed in the River for a couple of reasons , firstly to narrow the river down a bit , secondly to add some colour to the border of the jungle and to add to the overhang on the river .

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Well thats about it on the plant front , other than to say that the Water Sprite is growing very fast as was the plan . It will show up in some of the coming shots .

On to the Fishys . I have to report some Bad news and some good news.

I lost another Otto , have purchased 14 and lost 3 so far . At least thats all the bodies I have found , they are impossible to count as they are always on the move .

A shot of the last Fatality.

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So that was the Bad news , the Good News is the BN has reappeared and seems very happy .

A shot which also shows some of the Amazon concerns

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A shot of the BN hard at work .

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Now a shot of the Kissers about an hour after being realeased into the tank . As you can see from the raised fins Not Happy Jan . One of the interesting things since they were introduced during the week has been the total lack of aggression towards one another . They were always fighting and chasing each other in the 60g . They now stick togeather like glue and seem to look to one another for support whenever the big bad human appears

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Now a few shots of the SAE's . This one also shows some good growth on the Crypts at the base of the Driftwood . These were very small when I recieved them and they seem to be progressing well with only a little dieback .

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The SAE's going to work on the algae in the river.

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A shot of the SAE's posing for the Camera . or perhaps just having a rest , they sure do get around .

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Last shot for this Update shows the SAE's and some of the Ottos resting together . This shot also shows some of the growth of the Water Sprite .

The Tank seems to be progressing well with the white water almost gone and not too many problems appearing .Plants all appear to be growing well.
A First water change of about 200ltrs was done on Friday , 14 days after start up . This is about 20 to 25%. The reason I say about is I finally recieved the Aussie version of the "Python" . Boy does that ever make water changes easy . But estimating volumes is a little more difficult .

The plan for this week is to add the other 5 Gourami's from the 60g .

As always any suggestions and comments are welcome

Thanks
Garry

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Nice update sequence garry. It looks like all the plants are growing well, which is all you really want at this stage of the game. The amazon sword looks like maybe a nitrogen deficiency, or maybe potassium. Check out this link to look at the deficiency symptoms.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Garry,

The tank is looking great! The fish probably love all that space. Your plants are looking very nice and obviously are showing good growth. I really like your BN plecos with their white spots. A panda herd would love it in there.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks Matty & Ryan .

Matty , I had that link thanks and am dosing both Pottassium and Nitrogen. I will maybe look at upping the doses .

Thanks for the advice.

Garry

Garry,

I forgot to say sorry about the ottos. I know they can be tricky sometimes. Escpecially since yours came so far. Once again good job on the tank, I will be sure to follow along this log as I have been.

Late breaking Update , We have an Anubia Flower . Don't know how I missed it !!!!!

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Very pretty Garry!

I admire especially the clean (translation: algae free) leaves. I feel sorry for you re otos, I am challenged myself with these fish and they are rather hard to come by, at least where I live. Also, one of the most adorable shots of SAE I've seen.

Very nice Garry! Soon you will have tons of them! I once had 7 at once. They are beautiful.

Nice

RIP poor little otos. Don't take it too hard. I have been told to expect harsh casualties with these little fellas.

Enjoyed all your fish & plant pics.

Cheers
TW

It is not too uncommon to lose a handful of Otos. I know I have lost my share. Once they settle in you should be alright with them though.

Great work with all the pictures. It really helps us the reader understand what you are talking about. Hence the reason I don't do much with my log. (No camera, no pictures).

The plants look like they are doing well for you for the most part. The swords might lose a few leaves before they settle in. As this plant gets nice new leaves and the old leaves get worse, don't be afraid of trimming back the bad ones. You also might want to spread them out a bit and make sure you have some good substrate ferts going to them.

As always I look forward to seeing more. I think you are off to a really good start.

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

Thanks for all the nice thoughts on the Ottos . I've still only lost 3 so far . So I'm not too upset. Expected to loose some based on everyone's experience .

Wings , thanks for that on the swords . I've got some Seachem & Sera root tabs , but I havent used them yet as I put Florite substrate under the gravel . I thought that should be ok for the first few months .

Do you think I should add some now

Garry

If you have Flourite under them then you probably wont need much under them.

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

i haven't been on in a while due to internet problems. But your tank looks great The plants are growing in nicely, and an anubias flower is always a good sign. Looks like you have a large algea fighting crew there. Thats intersting that the kissers stay together now that they are ina bigger environment, it maight be that there is enough territory for everyone so they don't need to fight for it. i can't wait for the next update.

-Vincent

I think you're the only person beside LITTLE_FISH to have their anubias grow a flower. So congrats on that!

His flower often, so hopefully yours will too

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Back in the saddle!

I think you're the only person beside LITTLE_FISH to have their anubias grow a flower. So congrats on that!

His flower often, so hopefully yours will too

I have had a few flowers in the last month.

This is an older picture of one.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/40%20gallon%20part%20XVII/A.jpg

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

Week 3 Update

Thanks for all the comments folks really appreciate the interest.

This week I've tried to show restraint ( Patience!!!??? ) as the white water ( bacteria bloom ) continues to frustrate me . I've kept feeding to a minumium and that includes some no feed days . It has got slightly better but when I look at the 60g's pristine water I know it still has a long way to go .
At times I even imagine that it looks like it has a green tinge ( Green Water , ).But I'm fairly sure that its my imagination running wild and the green look is just the reflection from the plant mass .
The algae problem continues to grow ( no pun intended ) and I have upped the fert regime to try to make sure the plants can out compete the algae . So far only some green spot algae which you will see in the photo's to come .

Growth of the plants has been very solid during the week , with the tennulus shedding nearly all of the old growth ( could be providing meal for the bacteria ) and sending out lots of runners and baby plants . I've been tempted to plant the ones that are floating in the substrate but have resisted as I want to see what happens ( Patience again !!!)So far quite a few have sent down roots and I'm facinated to see if they will pull down to the substrate . We will see

The Amazons are throwing up lots of new leaves as well as some spikes which are heading for the surface .
I've never seen this before and I'm not sure if this is good or bad ? anyone got any thoughts ?

You will remember Ingo telling me to carry a pen when I buy plants so I can write down the name .
Well one of the plants that I got that day has really taken off and is now visable behind the Java fern .
Anyone got a clue on this ones name . ?

I had to move the Anubia Barteri as they were being shade by the Ludwiga , only moved to the front of the grouping on the left side .
The Ceratoperis Pteroides has made a very strong comeback after nearly completely rotting away .
The Ludwiga ,Wisteria , Hygro and Water Sprite have continued to grow very well and I had to do my first trimming of the Water Sprite as it was shading the the Pennywort at the front .
The Hairgrass has continued to spread .

On the fish front I have added my 3 Opaline Females , 1 Male Pearl and 1 Male Gold Gourami . All SAE's and Ottos have survived the week .
We also have a hitchhiker( Black Molly Fry) from the SAE purchase which has survived much to my amazement .

That will be it for the moment as I want to get the tank right and get rid of the bacteria bloom before I move the rest of the troop over.

So on to the photos , Firstly the tank as it was last week .
You may note a slightly different look to the photo's as I've been trying to learn more about photograpy and have been experimenting with Depth of Field and White balance to try to give a more realistic representation of the tank .Let me know if you think the photo's are any better .

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The full tank shot from this week .

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The Right Side

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The Left Side

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Looking down the River

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An Example of my frustration " the White Water " from the end of the tank.

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Now on to some detail shots of the Plants , firstly the Anubia Barteri moved to in front of the Ludwiga

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The Amazon Spikes ??????

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The Ceratopteris pteroides

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A couple of shots of the Chain Sword Babys

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Another of the Chains

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The Crypts

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The Hygro behind the driftwood

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The Hairgrass spreading

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