update on my 4 foot

[clouser_minnow]

i everyone! the algae seems to have almost passed! yay!

with the algae problem



and now this is the look


whatcha guys think? i still havent found a nice bit of drift wood. still hunting high and low. cant find the piece i want. thanks for all the help and comments, both good and bad.

misc stuff

bubble count: i dunno the BPS. its proabably around 6 or more. its uncountable

filters
2x Eheim 2228

fauna
3 oto cat
5 whiptail
2 pleco
1 puffer fish
20sth congo tetras
7-8 apistogramma cacatuoides "orange flash"

fertilisation
i just go by how the plants look like. its probably around 20 ml per week or so.

lighting
4x 55w PL
4x 36W PL


best regards

Minnow

[uorme99]

Nice Scape bro!

[stmoo]

wow.. very nice tank

but your lighting is it abit too strong.
4x 55
4x 36

you on it for how long?

[augi_ow]

haha... Your photo looks like those slimming centres photos. Those before and after photos =)

[zenscape]

haha... Your photo looks like those slimming centres photos. Those before and after photos =)

LOL actually i thought of that too. But I must add that the plants in the "after" photo is so much vibrant and the fish are more alive. Its like autumn and spring. A source of encouragement for folks fighting algae.

Well done clouser_minnow

[Fei Miao]

Nice tank, IMO looks good without the driftwood, sort of a dutch scape. The congos look at home there.... See some tiger barbs there...

[clouser_minnow]

wow.. very nice tank

but your lighting is it abit too strong.
4x 55
4x 36

you on it for how long?

thank you for your kind comments.

8 to 10 hours per day... the lighting i do agree is strong, but it seems to be working wonders for the lotus. the only thing is to keep feeding the tank with fertilisers. NPK, fert sticks, etc etc.

[clouser_minnow]

LOL actually i thought of that too. But I must add that the plants in the "after" photo is so much vibrant and the fish are more alive. Its like autumn and spring. A source of encouragement for folks fighting algae.

Well done clouser_minnow

thank you very much!
any ideas on making the scape better?
today did some trimming and pruning.. the problem with such heavy planting on the right is that some of the leaves and plants don't get any light so they die or turn white. so fixed that today. gonna let the plants grow more for now. anyone want cuttings? got some to give away of the round leaf plant on the right.

[clouser_minnow]

Nice tank, IMO looks good without the driftwood, sort of a dutch scape. The congos look at home there.... See some tiger barbs there...

thank you very much!
i like my congos very much beautiful fish aren't they...
the original idea was to have african fish but it was not to be as the tank seemed to lack a contrasting fish and i thought "hey! those tiger barbs sure look cute" and as they say, the rest is history. i put them in the tank. however, they seem to be much shyer than the congos. perhaps its still early days and they are settling in. had them for about 1 week.


PS: any more ideas to improve the tank?

Best Regards

Minnow

[Fei Miao]

The tank seems to lack some darker shade of greens, if you still keen on having some wood, some java ferns and nanas on bigger wood would look good with the congos and tigers

[clouser_minnow]

the only DW i have is the one in the pic with the algae problem. got some java ferns and stuff to tie on. but just wondering how to do it, since they are so small and the wood is an odd shape and size. hmmm hmmm...any tips on tying on really small java ferns?

[Fei Miao]

I would have strip that wood of plants and bleach it if it's really that badly infested, now that the tanks seems settle in, why not get some new pieces ready tied.... , You can put these together to make one or two bigger piece, and adjust to get the right feel, nanas can be tied smaller rocks and place accordingly.

[clouser_minnow]

I would have strip that wood of plants and bleach it if it's really that badly infested, now that the tanks seems settle in, why not get some new pieces ready tied.... , You can put these together to make one or two bigger piece, and adjust to get the right feel, nanas can be tied smaller rocks and place accordingly.

i think its time to get new driftwood. its falling apart. lol. going drift wood hunting when the new tank comes along *rubs hands*

the newest addition to my tank... a very cute little pleco that sampled some of the leaves and seems to like longifolia the best. but the favourite is still the algae tablets.



isnt he cute?

[Fei Miao]

Swee must be X..I'm lousy with plecos, so this L..??

[Quixotic]

If I think it is what it is, should be L204. Used to have one and isn't that easy to keep in planted tank, sometimes mine will uproot plants. They will grow beautiful caudal extensions.

However, as they grow older, their white strips will slowly turn yellow, break up, become spots.

[clouser_minnow]

Swee must be X..I'm lousy with plecos, so this L..??

yah man... extremely ex... got it from a forummer actually... you looking for plecos??

[clouser_minnow]

If I think it is what it is, should be L204. Used to have one and isn't that easy to keep in planted tank, sometimes mine will uproot plants. They will grow beautiful caudal extensions.

However, as they grow older, their white strips will slowly turn yellow, break up, become spots.

cool!! sounds like fun!! why is it difficult to keep them in a planted tank? is it because they love to eat leaves? he seems to prefer wafers. what will he/she look like when she gets bigger?? do you have a photo?

[Quixotic]

The problem is when they get startled or go excited for some reason, they will trash around the tank like a lawn mower and therefore, uprooting plants as a result. So try not to spook them.

They eat wood and will take vegetable matters, so algae wafer is good.

Here are some pictures of juveniles and adults from PlanetCatfish. Look at those beautiful caudal extensions.