My Rescaped low maintenance 2 feet

[hjbyeo]

Hi, Everyone!

My newly rescaped low maintenance tank. First time posting and definitely an amateur in planted tanks! Please lend me a hand by giving your frank views.

Tank specs:
Tank Size - 60cm x 36cm x 45cm

Lights - JBJ "Tiffany" 3 x 15W FL : Changed to HO T5 from Aquamarine (2 x 24)
Photo period - 8 hrs Changed to roughly 9 hours on weekdays. 9 hrs and 30 mins on Weekends.

Substrate - Dennerle Quartz with Deponit(base fert) and topped up with Red Sea ADA-Like substrate. Sprinkled with a little Seachem Fluorite and ADA Amazonia on the top layer.

Filteration - 2232 with Biohome and Eheim substrate

Flora -
Eleocharis acicularis
Cryptocoryne parva
Cryptocoryne walkeri
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica'
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'hybrid'
Cryptocoryne crispatula var. crispatula Changed to Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae
Bolbitis heudelotii
Echinodorus angustifolius : Pulled them out as they were badly affected by BBA at the start...

Fauna -
1x Poecilia sphenops (Black Molly)
29 x Trigonostigma Heteromorpha (Harlequin Rasbora) - Replaced them with Sundanio Axelrodie "Blue" x 30
6 x Otocinclus affinus (Otos) - They don't stay alive long don't they.. 2 stayed alive for the 6months inclusive of 4 months before this tank re-arrangement.
1 x 'Mini' Pleco (Ancistrus species, I think) - Just simply disappeared.. and I believe also deceased.
1 x Hara horai - Deceased... didn't eat much. I think that's the reason.
4 x Dario Dario (2 females, 2 males) - Deceased... They refused to eat!!!
Uncountable Neocaridina.sp. 'Taiwan'
3 x Caridina japonica

Fertilisation Regime:
- Only 5ml worth of Amtra (Aquarium Fertilizers) traces to date.
- CO2 at 2 bps. Got one of those CO2 indicator. It's starting to indicate green rather than light green.

Plant Lists

[ranmasatome]

B,
it looks good for a tank just set up.. only thing now is to wait and see what happends when it matures.

i have a feeling that your centre will be left with a hole there.. since your plants are plated at the sides only.
The wood seems to be pointing outwards..and that will only accentuate the gap more...
it seems like the wood placement alone is good.. and the plant placement alone is also fine.. but together.. they seem to be focusing in on empty space.

personally, i will change the wood placement or change the plant placement.. or get something to plug up that hole and shift the focus.

[Phillipians]

hi there, thanks for the good sales of your lights there, my father has helped me fix up the set , anyway your tank looks real good. But it looked better up close, heh. I think the central point 'hole' is an intended feature, looks rather good on the whole. I like the overall look, really natural, now hope the your bolbitis grows in and the crypts mature. NIce tank

[PeterGwee]

Add more plants...that is way too low plant mass in there for a start. Don't be stingy on the plants. Get those cheap ones and fill the tank. Remove them slowly once those plants you have in mind grows in more.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[benetay]

Yes i think there are too little plants in there, but i like the scape somehow.

According to your photoperiod of 8 hours i think it's pretty short, i don't think there are so short day length in the tropics.

Just my 2cts worth. Normally even if it's low main. I'll give it at lease 10hrs. Yes maybe for a start.

[Phillipians]

what i normally do is get difformis to float on top instead of planting and removing them. That way the substrate doesnt get disturbed. Get something to hang difformis on the side of the tank, so it doesnt get in the way iof the light. Also difformis is good for absorbing excess nutrients.
Dont dose too much for the first few weeks until the tank matures, that way ensures that algae do not get a foothold in your tank

[vinz]

Looks promising, even though it's still so bare. I think because the hardscape (wood and rocks) is pretty well done. You've got a good foundation there... I hope the plants will fill in well.

I would still recommend that you fill in with more plants sooner. The Bolbitis are slow, it'll take ages for those few rhizhomes to grow significant number of leaves. Get more bolbitis if you can. Same for the crypts... plant more and cloer together in each group. The rest of the plants seem to be fast growing ones... so they should fill up soon enough.

[vinz]

what i normally do is get difformis to float on top instead of planting and removing them. That way the substrate doesnt get disturbed. Get something to hang difformis on the side of the tank, so it doesnt get in the way iof the light. Also difformis is good for absorbing excess nutrients.
Dont dose too much for the first few weeks until the tank matures, that way ensures that algae do not get a foothold in your tank

Here's an idea... get the cheap rubber suckers for air hoses and tie the bottom of the stems to the suckers. That way you can stick them low on the glass instead of floating above and blocking light from your desired plants. They'll grow upright too, as if they are planted.

[|squee|]

Very nice hardscape, but choice of plants have to be better imho.

Good work and good luck!

[Phillipians]

oic, ok thats a great idea, and yea, when they float they always seem to grow 'weirdly'... Thanks for the advice.

[Fei Miao]

Looks good for a new set-up. I like your hardscape, what you need to do is to add more plants, fast and easy growers to prevent any algae from getting a hold.... fill in the gap between the woods...and do keep us update.

[hjbyeo]

Thanks for all your views! REally appreciate it.

TO: ranmasatome
I was also a little disturb by that empty space there where I planted hairgrass and parva.

I have the thought of Harlequins schooling if I give them a little bit more space...

Actually, my intention was to have Cryptocoryne crispatula var. crispatula growing really tall and give the scape the umbrella look in this two locations. See image below.



TO: PeterGwee and Benetay
I can understand your advice to have more plants fill in now. I'll look into that to prevent the dreaded algae growth (especially bba)...

I'll start to close in on 10 hours by the end of the 2nd week.

TO: Vinz
I would love to get another port of Bolbitis, but ain't they expensive man! I got them about 10 solid hard-earned bucks for this much! ( ...

And yes, it's a great idea to place nutrient Zapping plants the way you suggested.

TO: Squee
Can you suggest some plants which you may have chosen? It's always great to hear a second opinion.

Keep your views coming in ... I'll keep all updated once the plants starts to grow in.

[hjbyeo]

Tank Update



Guys! I know my photography sucks, but let me know what you think of the scape after allowing it grow for 4 months.

I had replaced those Cryptocoryne crispatula var. crispatula with Balansae just about 1 month ago, so it's still very not matured for the scape. And of course, pardon the recently re-tied moss as it floats up already!!

Thanks in advance for your comments!!

[AquaObsession]

Nice hair grass....How long did it take to become like that?? 1 month or the full 4 months?

[richietay]

wow, a very nice planted tank! nice hairgrass lawn..
keeping any shrimps?!

[ranmasatome]

Hey.. nice job man!! its lookin good..

[gregorsamsa]

i think you should send it in for submission too man...


however, i think the moss on those right side branches look as if they are just planted.


nonetheleast, the increase in plant mass and the hairgrass lawn is definitely refreshing

[hjbyeo]

Thanks for the compliments, guys! ADA?? I am not so sure ler... I've seen some too many nice tanks in AQ, and don't quite believe my tank match up. Maybe scape more tanks may help ?? !! ... (kekeke, if the "home authorities" allows more than a tank).

Plants and their growth
The lawn took me about 2 months to fill but 4 months to have the growth that compact.

Guys, do you think it needs a trim? Or just let it be? How do you lessen the compactness of the HG? Pull out strands after strands?

Btw, I had a patch bare, devoid of HG just a little behind the left bunch of hairgrass. And you can't see it. There used to be some mini pellia there. Also grown too thick that it "burst" out of the nettings on the rock. So I decided to move that out.

The mosses on the right had to be re-tied. The growth got too thick that it got loose and was literally floating on the driftwood.

Seriously, I didn't even increase plant mass. It just simply grew into this state. The hybrids simply grew and grew.. the hairgrass too.

And guess what, I hardly dose!

On the left hand side is what I believe to be c.walkeri and i find it growing a little too slow for my liking. Maybe it's devoid of light? Anyone has experience with these?

I changed water 2 times recently and that's why the tropica stearted to melt a little. DARN! All because I think I fed the fishes too much and I smell a little ammonia... kekeke...

I did add another piece of wood in the centre, letting it rest to the top left hand corner of the tank (it actually extends out of the tank).

By the way, guys.. any one know of some plants that you can tied on the driftwood that can some parts of it emmersed and some parts submerged? I know some ADA tanks have that creeper plant, just that I can't point to any images. Any one?

Also, how can I get the balansae to grow "bronze - red"?

Photo-taking Questions:
Do I have to stop the filter first before taking photo? Otherwise, those leaves from the balansae flows to the left (as you see in the photo now).
If you look at the photo, it appears that I am standing tall taking a photo plan view.. Should I lower the camera down further and taking a picture of the tank looking up?

Fauna
I think I better take the pair of RAMs out of the tank before taking photo?
Are the axelrodies a good choice of fauna? Wanted very much to depict close to a SEA region tank. Except my sudden infatuation with RAMs...

[ranmasatome]

well.its not about winning or mathcing up.. if only winner wants to submit then the whole competition only 10 tanks enough..
there will always be nicer tanks.. no matte how good you are.. its a matter of taking pride in what you do..
you mean to say you are ashamed?? i dont think so right.. if not also wont display it out here for us to see mah... i find your tank very nice....
Dont worry.. just submit.. at least also get one free ADA book right??

[hjbyeo]

Thanks for the support!

Yeah.. I do take pride in the "job" I've created here in this tank. Took lots of trial and errors in my earlier setups ( 1 feet, riccias, lights, dosing etc) to do something I felt good about.

Let me search up what are the guidelines and things to prepare to submit my entry.

Thanks again!