Latest Update of my 45 Gallon 28/05/04

[arclaveus]

***Pics r at the bottom***
Hey guys, its me again...my 3 footer is now a month plus old and the plants seem to b flourishing well! Bt i tink there is a little bit of brush algae beginning to form n i'm doin my best to keep in under control

Below r the tank parameters for the 3 footer, pls advice wad to do abt the brush algae...perhaps the Florida Flag Fish aka America Flag Fish??

Tank Dimensions (LxWxH, specify units): 90cm x 45cm x 45cm

Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 182
Number and type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) : 4 x PL Tubes (2 x 36watt & 2 x 55watt)
Age of light bulbs : Average 2mths old
No. of hours your lights are on : 8hr/day split into two 4hour sessions

CO2 Injection Rate (bps) :1bps
Type of CO2 (DIY/Liquid/Tank) :Tank
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor) :Reactor

Liquid fertilisers Used (Product name. E.g. Seachem Flourish) :Seachem Flourish Iron & Seachem Flourish Potassium
Fertilization regime (Frequency and amount per dose) :As per instructed at a Weekly basis

Thickness of gravel :3 inches
Grain size of gravel :Abt 2 mm/grain
Thickness of base fert :1inch
Type/brand of base fert (Product name. E.g. JBL Aquabasis) :ADA Aquasoil
Age of base fert:1 yr old

Other fertilisers (Product name. E.g. Root Monster) :Nil

Other additives (Product name. E.g. Seachem Prime) :Nil

Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister, Product name/model if possible) :Eheim Porfessional 2
When was the filter last washed :Nil
Filter media used :As accompanied with new cannister
When was the media last changed :Nil
What was changed :N.A

Age of setup (i.e. since initial setup or last major re-do ) :1mth 1week

Water change frequency :Weekly
Amount changed :25%

Water surface movement (None/gentle/turbulent) : Slightly more than gentle
Circulation (None/gentle/turbulent) : Gentle

Tank Temperature : 26 - 29 degrees celcius

Chemical Properties (Fill what you can)
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KH (dKH): 3dkh
GH (dGH):
pH : 6.7-6.8
NH4 (ppm): 0.25ppm
NO2 (ppm): 0.05ppm
NO3 (ppm):
PO4 (ppm):
Fe (ppm):

Bioload (Number and type of fish and plants)
Flora:
1 x Anubias Congensis
1 x Anubias barteri
1 x Anubias Nana
1 x Bacopa
2 x Cabomba
1 x Pennywort(Hydrocotyle leucocephala)
1 x Egeria Najas
1 x Tiger Lotus(4 colour)
1 x Amazon Broadleaf(Echnidorus Bleheri)
1 x Melon( Ech, Osiris)
HC on small rock
Abit of Xmas Moss n Taiwan Moss on DW
Fauna:
15 x Rummie Nose Tetra
7 x Corydoras (Diff Breeds)
30 x Cherry Shrimps
8 x Yamato Shrimps
10 x Bee Shrimps
1 x Mountain Shrimp
5 x Otos
4 x Regal Whiptail Catfish
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Front View


Closeups






Night Lights


Nite Shot

[juggler]

It's nice and simple.
Quite amazing that with quite a lot of lights, your slow growing Anubias are not getting any spot algae?

Why not have more plants with roots especially in the foreground? Some say the substrate can go anaerobic without roots supplying oxygen to it.

[arclaveus]

I did tink of wad u suggested abt planting runners in the foreground, but tis is kind of a prob as i haf quite a substantial number of corydoras in the tank. They tend to dig up my newly planted runners like E. Tenellus, making it very hard or the runners to root themselves n start "running". However, not giving up, i haf recently planted some more E. Tenullus n hopefully tis round they will succeed in rooting themselves n start to "run".

Regards to the question of spot algae on the Anubias...i tink maybe coz of the shrimps, otos n regal whiptail catfishes, they haf seemed to keep the spot algae away

[wong1979]

Wow! That's way too much light considering the type of plants you are growing. I will be surprised if you can maintain it algae free with just that amount and type of plants you have in there. Do post a pic 3 months later

[arclaveus]

Wow! That's way too much light considering the type of plants you are growing. I will be surprised if you can maintain it algae free with just that amount and type of plants you have in there. Do post a pic 3 months later

Point taken! Will cut lights down to 6HRS/day then...thanks for the feedback1 Been wanting to do tt but coz i was trying to get the E. Tenellus running so i kept the duration of photoperiod

[wong1979]

In my opinion, I feel that the photo period is just fine. The intensity is just too strong on those slow growing plants. But then again, you also have some fast growing plants that requires strong light to stay red and healthy. What I would suggest is that you try to keep the same type of slow-growing plants and reduce your lighting by half. That would mean dimmer conditions which is not very favourable for pleasant viewing, but you could always turn on maximum lighting when you are at home, assuming that you are away working during the day.

Alternatively, if you still insist on strong lightings, you may get more fast-growing stem plants, and I mean a lot , to provide some shade for your anubias as well as to remove excess nutrients that may encourage algae growth.

Understand that you split the photo-period into two periods. What is the timing like and why so? From what I observed, fast-growing stem plants have a biological clock that wakes them up at the sense of daylight. For example, if you on the lights from 2pm-10pm, then from 9am-2pm, the plants would have woken up for photosynthesis but could not find sufficient light. This would tend to make them grow longer and uglier.