4ft growth update

[bubberls™]

Just thought i post a summary of my tank. And need some advise to keep orchid lilly small... its like a giant in lego land now

Some problems i encountered;
- hair algae
- thread algae

Did a 2 day blackout and added 5 yamato shrimps. All hair algea gone... well almost

thread algae still got some visible so manually removed but visible loss.

Inhabitants (as much as i can recall they are swimming all over the place so hard to count... well u know what i mean yah?)
1. black widow tetra x 15
2. cardinal x 25
3. sae x 2
4. golden algea eater x 2
5. Poecilia wingei Venezuela guppies x 11
6. panda cory x 6
7. platy x 2
8. cherry shrimp x 150
9. unknown tetra x 1 (will update when i get the name)
10. rummy nose x 1
11. Dr Fish x 10
12. unknown guppy x 6
13. yamato x 3 2 died on me
14. 3 cory that has some spots and are very small... forgot their name.. bought from biotope.

Flora
1.Hygrophila balsamica
2.Tiger lotus(Nymphaea lotus)
3.Singapore Moss (Vesicularia dubyana)
4.Crinum calamistratum
5.Barclaya longifolia (Orchid Lily)
7.Anubias barteri var.nana (Dwarf Anubias)
8.Hemianthus callitrichoides
9.Pogostemon stellatus
10.Needle leaf Ludwigia
11.Eriocaulon setaceum

If i got any of the plants ID wrong or missed anything do let me know am trying to keep a proper record on what i have...

I really suck at plant names... hmm fish names too haha

(When it all started)


(The tank as of 25th June)







(My super cleaning crew)

[Reforma]

What's the name of the red plant in the center of the tank?
Your doctor fish is garra ruffa? Planted Fish spa at home. Nice!

[bubberls™]

What's the name of the red plant in the center of the tank?
Your doctor fish is garra ruffa? Planted Fish spa at home. Nice!

naaa i dont think they are although at lfs the name is so. $1 each cannot be the real thing but they are fun...


The plant is orchid lily. should not be so big.. it kinda mutated and grew to this size. think the new substrate a wee bit too potent.

[naturalmystic]

Hi bubberls,

When I saw your Barclaya Longifolia, I was kind of worried.
They are huge!
Mine are growing leaves that are only about 10cm each when matured.
I know they are supposed to grow big but I like it this way
Hopefully they stay small and cute.
No idea what I did but my substrate is AquaSoil with root supplement and weekly dosing of liquid fertilisers.
My 'giants' in LegoLand will be my 2 Nymphaea Lotus 'Red'

[bubberls™]

Hi bubberls,

When I saw your Barclaya Longifolia, I was kind of worried.
They are huge!
Mine are growing leaves that are only about 10cm each when matured.
I know they are supposed to grow big but I like it this way
Hopefully they stay small and cute.
No idea what I did but my substrate is AquaSoil with root supplement and weekly dosing of liquid fertilisers.
My 'giants' in LegoLand will be my 2 Nymphaea Lotus 'Red'

LOL yah thats why am reaching out for advise to keep it smaller.

For your lotus you can try constant trimming if you can afford the time as i tried on my lotus. Trimmed it almost every 4-5 days and they grew to a thick pad of leaves kinda like a lotus flower but the flat kind. these plants are really hardy.

For barclaya i noticed that rimming kinda kills it as leaves are slow to form but when new leaves are grown they keep on growing in size.
Trimmed them once and they took really long to grow new leaves and i thought i killed them.

[zenscape]

Is that HC in the foreground? Beautiful! What type of soil you are using and the lighting system?

[ct13]

where you bought the doctor fish?

Thanks.

[bubberls™]

Is that HC in the foreground? Beautiful! What type of soil you are using and the lighting system?

thank you. yup HC in the foreground.. still quite patchy though... might be some lighting issues cause some bald patch in the foreground.

Am using amazoniaII. as for lighting i was using 2x150w 10k MH but changed to 6500k osrams dus to some spot algea i have on the glass.

not sure if it is psychological or the lower kelvins made a difference.

[bubberls™]

where you bought the doctor fish?

Thanks.

bought them from a lfs in yishun some time back.

[heeroyu16]

Just went to Yishun aquastar and they have them. Price increased, guess even lfs also cannot escape inflation. Sighh...

[bubberls™]

haha oil prices go up so transportation for the fishes affected

[Verminator]

I love the Orchid lily! Amazing! I want! I want! I want!

I shall have soon Beautiful plant!

[bubberls™]

I love the Orchid lily! Amazing! I want! I want! I want!

I shall have soon Beautiful plant!

they prob by seeds so mail order should be easy..

look forward to your red giant

[Verminator]

A new list for Ben is in order i think I'm looking into getting 2 new tanks, just two simple 35cm cube tanks. Take my total tank tally to 4 in my bedroom. Mum won't be pleased, ah well!

How long has you HC taken to spread. Its looks quite lush. Patchy as you said, but its looking very healthy.

[bubberls™]

the first pic was on 1st may 2008 and thats how much HC i started with. Till date its been about 2mths...

I think i should have planted it closer from the beginning.

[Verminator]

Even so, given time it will form a thick carpet. I suppose planting it further apart gives you a longer lasting lawn, meaning it will take atleast a few years to become over grown haha! Personally, i think you planted it well in the beginning. Certainly i would have done the same.

[Jervis]

I think your HC growth is very encouraging... give them another 1 month

[bubberls™]

Hey verminator,
thats true it would be longer lasting and not so easily overgrown... didn't think of it this way before

Thanks Jervis. More time it is for the HC

[aquaman]

hi bubberls,

may i know where you bought the orchid lily

thanks

[bubberls™]

hi bubberls,

may i know where you bought the orchid lily

thanks

i got it from a local farm in LCK about 5 min from gan aquarium. near the guppy centre.

not sure what is the name but i was given the last 2 and no new ones yet so might have to wait for a while b4 they have again. not sure when they importing new ones but you ca still check it out.