I decided to post a journal here in low tech as my riparium plants are no longer what I'm focused on or worried about. I've had this tank for 4 years and have decided to finally invest a little more in improving my lighting, flora and fauna. Any pointers would be appreciated!
Most Current picture is from 2/23
Okay so here is where everything started!
Attached pictures are from the original two set ups! 8/2012 and 12/2012.
Back when I had zero clue what I was doing
The 8/2012 pic might have been right after I got 4 goldfish at a wedding which started me down this path and I think I might have had some sort of tiger catfish? (he hid in that crab shack and would snack on tetras at night lolol) My fish I still have from that time is my BN Pleco (Tucker) who I got as a tiny little baby. I had that emerald Cory from then that just recently died (I got him at adult size)
the 12/2012 pic I had a lot of val and I think even some dwarf sag with wisteria and who knows what else in there. I might have had an angelfish still and I still had mollies at that point. I decided to get mollies for a while but they were fin nippers and poop machines.
The third attachment is from January 2014 when I had some great riparium plants: an echinodorus, a black mangrove, my ruellia (look how small it was!) and my good ol pothos. My lighting in the aquarium was fairly low at that time. I had crypts and other stuff. and I don't remember what fish I had at that point.
11/22/16
I finally put together an updated list of most of my plants. (except for the one in the front I can't seem to remember) I added everything on that list after my sword in the last week.
Riparium Plants
Pothos Vine
Ruellia simplex ‘Katie’
2 unknown house plants
Aquarium Plants
Java Moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri)
Java Fern (Microsorum
Crypt wendtii brown (Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Brown') I think?
Unkown plant in the middle, looks like Sag?
Sword (Echinodorus palaefolius var. latifolius )
Telanthera Cardinalis
Ludwigia Repens
Anacharis (Egeria densa)
Anubias Nana (Anubias barteri var. nana )
Rotala rotundifolia (Rotala rotundifolia)
Monte Carlo (Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo')
Staurogyne Repens
Fauna:
I just put in 8 RCS and I have 3 cherry barbs, 1 pepper cory, 2 flag fish, my bristlenose pleco, one remaining oto, 2 Florida flag fish, and a ton of assassin snails which control my MTS population. (they also killed my nerites ): ) I plan on increasing stock of my barbs and cory as soon as my LFS does its BOGO sale in december.
Substrate: Fluval + Sand + a little bit of gravel
Hardscape: driftwood in the middle plus two large black lava rocks, some assorted red lava rocks and some other stones.
Lighting: I'm adding a planted + 24/7 to the top to increase the lighting in the tank. Should be here in a week or two. Right now I have three 9.5W BR30 LED lights about 24" above that do a good job on the riparium plants but not the submerged plants below the planters.
I'm thinking of buying some metricide and doing some Glut dosing, also I put in fuorish every couple weeks.
I just removed the black background for now to help with lighting. Also I put in a few Japanese maple leaves to help my shrimp. Thanks for checking it out!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Most Current picture is from 2/23
Okay so here is where everything started!
Attached pictures are from the original two set ups! 8/2012 and 12/2012.
Back when I had zero clue what I was doing
The 8/2012 pic might have been right after I got 4 goldfish at a wedding which started me down this path and I think I might have had some sort of tiger catfish? (he hid in that crab shack and would snack on tetras at night lolol) My fish I still have from that time is my BN Pleco (Tucker) who I got as a tiny little baby. I had that emerald Cory from then that just recently died (I got him at adult size)
the 12/2012 pic I had a lot of val and I think even some dwarf sag with wisteria and who knows what else in there. I might have had an angelfish still and I still had mollies at that point. I decided to get mollies for a while but they were fin nippers and poop machines.
The third attachment is from January 2014 when I had some great riparium plants: an echinodorus, a black mangrove, my ruellia (look how small it was!) and my good ol pothos. My lighting in the aquarium was fairly low at that time. I had crypts and other stuff. and I don't remember what fish I had at that point.
11/22/16
I finally put together an updated list of most of my plants. (except for the one in the front I can't seem to remember) I added everything on that list after my sword in the last week.
Riparium Plants
Pothos Vine
Ruellia simplex ‘Katie’
2 unknown house plants
Aquarium Plants
Java Moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri)
Java Fern (Microsorum
Crypt wendtii brown (Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Brown') I think?
Unkown plant in the middle, looks like Sag?
Sword (Echinodorus palaefolius var. latifolius )
Telanthera Cardinalis
Ludwigia Repens
Anacharis (Egeria densa)
Anubias Nana (Anubias barteri var. nana )
Rotala rotundifolia (Rotala rotundifolia)
Monte Carlo (Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo')
Staurogyne Repens
Fauna:
I just put in 8 RCS and I have 3 cherry barbs, 1 pepper cory, 2 flag fish, my bristlenose pleco, one remaining oto, 2 Florida flag fish, and a ton of assassin snails which control my MTS population. (they also killed my nerites ): ) I plan on increasing stock of my barbs and cory as soon as my LFS does its BOGO sale in december.
Substrate: Fluval + Sand + a little bit of gravel
Hardscape: driftwood in the middle plus two large black lava rocks, some assorted red lava rocks and some other stones.
Lighting: I'm adding a planted + 24/7 to the top to increase the lighting in the tank. Should be here in a week or two. Right now I have three 9.5W BR30 LED lights about 24" above that do a good job on the riparium plants but not the submerged plants below the planters.
I'm thinking of buying some metricide and doing some Glut dosing, also I put in fuorish every couple weeks.
I just removed the black background for now to help with lighting. Also I put in a few Japanese maple leaves to help my shrimp. Thanks for checking it out!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro