60cm beginner's journal. (Finally set up my tank)

[CPONovice]

Alright thanks going to get crypts for my tank and I was just researching on echinodorus hadi pearl lol

[erwinx]

This week decided to zoom out to get an overview of the whole tank and showing the 45cm "testing/quarantine" low-tech tank on the left of the 60cm tank. Just for reference, these are the plants that are growing pretty well in my 45cm.

Enchindorous Rose - very healthy leaves and moderate size. New leaves are reddish but turn fully green when fully grown.
Saggitaria Subulata - Easy low-height midground plant (If you find Blyxa too messy, consider this?)
Vallisneria - the stem broke the surface with white flowers which I guess is a good sign.
Hygrophilia Polysperma - Even in lowtech, most of the leaves have the pretty white veins.


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Back to the main 60cm tank:

Getting some hair algae on leaves, possibly a sign of weak water circulation Alternative explanation is that 2 guppies seem to have died and I didn't find the bodies, probably the decomposing bodies may have affected the chemical balance of the water and encouraged algae growth...?

[Urban Aquaria]

The tanks look great, plants really filling in nicely!

Good info on the plant growth in your low-tech, i might also try out Saggitaria Sabulata too, sounds like an ideal midgeound plant.

Back to the main 60cm tank:

Getting some hair algae on leaves, possibly a sign of weak water circulation Alternative explanation is that 2 guppies seem to have died and I didn't find the bodies, probably the decomposing bodies may have affected the chemical balance of the water and encouraged algae growth...?

If you have a good population of hungry shrimps in the tank, they will usually clear up small fish corpses within a few hours, so it probably wouldn't pollute the tank as much.

I experienced it a few times too, especially with tanks where the plant mass is too dense to pick through. Sometimes i don't see a particular fish for days, then one day spot 2 shrimps fighting over that fish's head.

With easy access to meaty food source, the shrimps probably slack on eating algae and produce more waste, which might contribute to the increase in algae. Once they are hungry again they should resume algae clearing duties.

What i usually do in such situations is greatly reduce the feeding in the tank for a week, and also do more frequent water changes, to account for the extra "bonus" food in the tank.

[erwinx]

I removed the Alternanthera 'Rosafolia' as they did not respond well to trimming the tops off. They developed some side shoots but these hardly grew for some reason. I also started getting some hair algae on the Ludwigia Brevipes and I suspected that there was lack of water flow at the back of the tank due to the density of the Alternanthera. Sure enough, after removing the Alternanthera (coupled with spot excel injection), the hair algae disappeared from the Ludwigia Brevipes.

Other than that, nothing to report. I am happy with slow and steady progress, no disasters, and low maintenance



I planted a single row of Ludwigia Brevipes at the back of the tank, and in front of them, I planted Alternanthera Reinickii 'Mini' which should be much shorter and hopefully I will get a front/back layout with Alternanthera in front of the Ludwigia Brevipes.

[sammajor]

Nice one. The height of the 60cm tank looks rather high. Height is 45cm? Care to share what light set you are using and temperature of the water?

[erwinx]

Hi Sammajor, its a 60x45x45cm tank.

The lights are 2 x Up-Aqua LED 8000k at the rear, 1x Beamswork 3w LED 6500k in the front. In real life, the lights look fine, but when I take photos, the colours always seem a bit off. People are saying that the Maxpsect Razr had better colour rendition, so I'm always tempted to upgrade as well...

The tank is in the living room so it should be room temperature (I don't monitor the temps).

[erwinx]

Nothing to report, just posting a sharper photo.

I am now thinking about replacing the E.Ozelot. I thought I could contain it by planting it with the small black plastic container that plants usually come in but the leaves are still huge. The soil around the plant is also (deliberately) surrounded by rocks so the spread of the roots should not be so great.

Anyone have recommendations for smaller Enchindorus. I bought my E.Hadi Red Pearl from GC so I could go there for a different fancy smaller Enchindorus, but wonder if there are other sources and which species. I don't need super tiny, anything smaller than the ozelot will do

[cherabin]

From GC, you will be able to get ozelot dwarf, aquartica and opacus, all of which all considered 'small size' by Echinodorus standard.


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[erwinx]

My E.Hadi Red Pearl suddenly exploded in growth. The spot it is planted on has actually very little soil as there is a large rock right behind it and below there are plastic egg crates which I used to build up the slope. So surprised that it can grow so much.

Cherabin, planning to go to GC to get a smaller enchindorous. Thanks for the info on aquartica and opacus as well.