New to the forum, my tank:)

[cicjay]

Been checking out this forum for a while now and must say, I love the quality of the work.
I'm going to start a 4 FT tank soon, probably with a journal. So I may be picking your brains for help and ideas

Anyway, here is my last tank which has recently been stripped down.



Started life out as a basic aquarium with limited nutrients, then I found Nature Aquarium Book 1

Well hope you like and hope to get some feedback for when I scape my new tank.


Thanks.

[blue33]

Nice tank you have there! Looking forward your new setup!

[Verminator]

Welcome - glad to have a fellow united kindomer

Nice scape. I love the patchy affect of the HC where it hasnt carpeted yet.

I see rummy nose - few people i know (especially from where i am) have trouble keeping rummy-nose, something to do with differences in water quality round the country - wondered if you've ever experienced such difficulties. I myself have only lost 1 early on from my oringal batch of 10 which i got 3 years ago.

Looking forward to perhaps seeing a journal of your upcoming 4ft

[cicjay]

*sings Rule Britannia*

Hey, yeah I had some good coverage coming along with the HC, even in sand, actually a mix of pogostemon helferi in there too. That picture is about a month or so before I stripped it. This tank was mostly me working out how to grow healthy plants more than scaping. I had to do that in bit parts whilst all the fish etc were still in there. (never again)

My Rummy-noses all did fine in there and are still doing great in my holding tank. I use just normal good old London tap water for changes and the CO2 injection helps bring down the pH. I brought 9 originally and only lost 1 when I did a water change and forgot to de-chlorinate
But they're fine, good red colouring, actually runs down the back a bit. Think I've only a couple TRUE Rummy-nose, the rest are the mimics I think.

I love them!! Definitely going to increase their numbers.

[Verminator]

My rummy-nose have stunning red heads with a faint thin red line running down their backs. No idea myself as to which of the three breeds of rummy-nose they are though

I myself am currently trying to learn the art of healthy plants, although i've made the mistake of trying it in my existing 3ft tank with dempseys and clown loach - with the dempseys uprooting stuff and my loach just eating the leaves, they even have a taste for tuff Anubias leaves

In that tank did you have any base ferts? I envy you for actually being able to keep HC, it always melts on me. I wondered if it was something to do with the Coventry water system Alas i shall try again soon in my 2ft up'n'coming tank

[cicjay]

Clowns and Dempseys in a planted tank? OUCH!! hehe.
the tank did have a small layer of Tetraplant ferlizer but it was very compacted with the sand on top of it. The roots to the HC just trailed on and in the sand.
The thing I found in trial and error with HC is that it loves Co2 and nutrients so I started dosing EI method with good 24 hour Co2 and it really picked up with nice pearling. I did'nt even have a lot of light, just 2 40Watt T8's and it grew, then I added a 24Watt T5 and it picked up. Can't wait to see how it comes along in my next tank with all the Aqua Soil under it.

The only problem with the HC was my corydoras turfing it up

[Verminator]

Yes, clowns and dempseys in planted tank. Started off a planted tank - which didnt go to well due to having only 2 30Watt T8's for a 3ft tank. Then i was in A5 Aquatics near Nuneaton and they were selling Dempseys. I just had to buy a pair - they've been my long term dream goal since i started out in the hobby 3 years ago. So they got added to my 3ft "planted" tank (failure) and it is slowly adapting to there home. Then my female dempsey started to get slightly over zelous attention from the male and lost colouration, so my clowns were added as lively distractor fish, its worked 100%. Female is out and fully coloured again - only downside is the pesky blighters have started nibbling on my Anubias and Lobelia. So there going to be evicted to another tank. Then other fish shall move to my high tech 2ft (which will have NEW lights ) **sigh** i'll get it right one day.

What is your experience of Tetraplant ferts? I nearly bought some last saturday from my LFS, but was unsure what substrate to place over the top seeing as i want to grow HC as my lawn in a 2ft tank. If i can't find the right substrate, or find a better alternative i may just go with an out and out fertile soil such as Dennerle or ADA?

Know of any good substrates to get that are generally widely available within UK?

[Flowerhfanatic]

looks kind of pro for a newbie. me too a newbie. looking forward to setting up my first 3ft in a weeks time

[cicjay]

Dempseys are worth it, beautiful colour.

Having only ever used Tetraplant I can't really say whether its any good up against the big hitters such as Ada etc..
I can tell you that it worked nicely for my crypts and echinodorus species, but I do think it exhausts it nutrients fairly quickly. I put sand over the Tetraplant but I don't think I would bother if I used it again, just give it a good rinse.
I've got recieved a few bags of Aqua Soil Amazonia as what I am always reading is its the best you can get, and judging by price versus amount you get... Tetra plant 5.8Kg @ around £15-18 or ADA Aqua Soil 9Litres (works out about 9Kg) @ £28. So I will in future always stump up for ADA Soil.


To get it I order online from The Green Machine
Based in Wrexham if you would want to go take a look for yourself.

Or Aquaessntials

Both excellent service and everything you want for a planted tank

[Verminator]

Yes, Aquaessentials is what i'm starting to use.

from ADA i hear its very easy to cloud the water when doing even small adjustments. So i'm sceptical whether its the right choice for someone like myself - always tinckering with my tanks, never fully satisfied

[Morgan01]

lovely setup. please share pictures of your new 4 ft. agree...my water is always cloudy with tiny particles as i m always tinckering with my tank.

[Morgan01]

Cicjay, can you kindly advise what plant is this in your background?
plant.JPG
thanks!

[cicjay]

Hi Morgan, that is a mix of Bacopa monnieri and bacopa australis. Really nice cushion was created once I trimmed it and easy to grow too.

yeah I've read about it clouding up when disturbed and that has put me off in the past, but all you need is a couple of largish water changes and its fine.
I am hoping not to be changing my next scape too often as it will be more of a long term show piece

Got a 60cm tank I'll be setting up up after to use for all the ideas I get. Be using Aqua Soil in that also as the water changes will be easier on a small scale.

I reckon if you don't like the idea of ADA then you can easily use anything else. Could use inert sand as long as you dose the water column really well... you can grow anything. Aqua Soil just gives you a lot of room for error or forgetting dosing.