My First Planted Tank - Stocking Suggestions?!

[LyzzaRyzz]

What fry are those? Your barb is so pretty!
I always thought they were gorgeous, but they are fun nippers so none for me...
Plants are looking great!

[iter]

OKAY GUYS, HOW DO YOU TRIM GLOSSO AND HG??????

This is what my tank looks like, sorry, iPad picture. The plants are 20 more vibrant and green. And please excuse that giant anubias, its temporary .

[iter]

What fry are those? Your barb is so pretty!
I always thought they were gorgeous, but they are fun nippers so none for me...
Plants are looking great!

Thanks for the compliments and the post! Starting to get lonely updating things for myself .

I am not sure what you mean by fish fry....

P.S. The Tiger barb is about 6-7 years old

[GMYukonon24s]

Originally Posted by iter

Thanks for the compliments and the post! Starting to get lonely updating things for myself .

I am not sure what you mean by fish fry....

P.S. The Tiger barb is about 6-7 years old

I think that when LyzzaRyzz asked about the fish fry. LyzzaRyzz was thinking that the fish in the bucket were fry. At first I even thought they were fry until I seen the next pic of the oto.

The fish in the bucket are otos right?

[iter]

The fish in the bucket are otos right?

Yup

[iter]

Okay, here is before and after of the trim. Trimmed everything as low as possible and replanted the HG. And sorry, no High Quality pictures for a while until we buy a new camera

Before:


After:

[iter]

Yay!! The dslr is back!!!! Good pictures now!!!!

[iter]

Okay, here is the update for 1-29-13!!

FTS and side view




As you can see, the water is crystal clear and algae non-existent
You can also see all that vacant space, which was once filled with rotalas. I am going to try again with rotalas. This time with experience and knowledge of how to plant them


Crypt Green finally growing as I wanted it to. The only problem is that it is not getting the vibrant green that I want, but we'll see what will become of this.



Crypt Tropica. Normal and growing properly



The glosso after the trim is recovering REALLY FAST; so many new leaves and finally horizontal runners



The hemianthus was really healthy this time:



As you can see, I temporarily removed the wood. The reason is that the nails which supported the wood from falling wasn't stainless steel, so it rusted. I will tie a stone this time to the wood to anchor it.


Just a nice angle




Just as a side information, I currently spend about 4 hours a week on this. Most of it is just the water change, trimming doesn't take to long.

My next project: Build a DIY surface skimmer and start my EMMERSED PLANT "FARM"!!!!!!!

[scapegoat]

you need to rehome that tiger barb. they do best in schools of 7+ and 7 of those will get too big for your tank. this lone guy may start harassing other fish.

otherwise, looking good. looking forward to seeing those plants growing in the corner

[iter]

I had fun is all I can say







Now to get on with the emmersed setup

you need to rehome that tiger barb. they do best in schools of 7+ and 7 of those will get too big for your tank. this lone guy may start harassing other fish.

I understand that tiger barbs need 7+ of their kind to avoid damage to other fish, but he has been alone for about a year now, and there is no sign of nipping or aggressive behaviors. He is tamed and is calm; you can hand feed him and play with him. He sometimes even play around with the decor and equipment . He has been through harsh treatment for 6 years under my inexperience as an aquarist, but now I know he is happy in a planted tank .

[BoxxerBoyDrew]

WOW,

Your tank is looking very good!!! The Gloso is spreading very well and the crypts are sweet!!!

The Tiger Barb is looking Happy! They are TOUGH FISH!!! It is good to see them when they get full grown and their adult colors are cool! At the age he is I doubt you should have any problems with aggression! The rest of your fish look very happy as well!

The DIY skimmer is a good idea, but when the water evaporates it will go out of adjustment. I would get one of the Fluval surface skimmers that is attached to your filter input. I have used them for years, and they work VERY WELL! The skimmer floats, so it will adjust for evaporation, and it pulls water from the top and middle of the tank too, so it does a good job of removing waste! They are pretty cheap to IIRC. I think the last one I got was around $12. But that has been 6 years ago, so it might have gone up like everything else!!! GRRRRRR

Anyway keep up the great work, and I really want to see the rest of the tank fill in!
Drew

p.s. Are your lights HO(high output) or Normal output? I am asking because I have a 29g that was given to me, and since you are getting great gloso growth with your light setup, I was wondering! Thanks

[iter]

Originally Posted by BoxxerBoyDrew

WOW,

Your tank is looking very good!!! The Gloso is spreading very well and the crypts are sweet!!!

Thank you, it really means a lot to me! I worked hard to get these results.

As for the skimmer, I only use it for about 10 minutes in the morning to clear things up for the rest of the day, then I take the cup out or else it will start to fall apart (it's paper). It is not a permanent piece of equipment.

Originally Posted by BoxxerBoyDrew

p.s. Are your lights HO(high output) or Normal output? I am asking because I have a 29g that was given to me, and since you are getting great gloso growth with your light setup, I was wondering! Thanks

DON'T REMIND ME OF THE DAYS OF CHOOSING LIGHTS!!!

Just kidding
My light fixture is a Hagen Glo 36 inch Dual-bulb T5HO fixture with the bulbs being Giesemann Aquaflora and Midday both being 39 watts.

This is where all my light problems came to an end: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...61#post1951661

Thank you Hoppy!!!


There is a chart that shows the PAR measurements of common fixtures, which is what I used to pick my light. It may not seem like it but my tank is considered a "low light tank" according to the chart. I don't have enough experience to say too much about why I am getting good growth, but I have to say when I got my CO2 down and started sticking to a good fertilizer regime lots of things were fixed. Good luck on that 29g!!!!

I might halt the rotalas for a while since we are getting a dog; things are gonna get hectic here

[iter]

I encountered a problem with the glossostigma a few days ago.

I apparently didn't plant the glosso very well in the first place, which led to its runners not staying on the surface or under the surface of the substrate. This means that every time I trim I basically kill everything.

Solution: Pull out the glosso and replant it.

Was back-breaking

Here is a pic 2 days later:


After the middle area stabilizes, I will move on to replant the back and some other parts too.


Some other good benefits: I was able to suction out LOADS of crap from under the glosso from my last trim. Plus I really crippled the snail population; those snails....

[iter]

Tank is currently in a mess.......
Until things get organized here I can't take pictures


BTW I got shrimp for the first time ever; so interesting critters . They were marketed as amano shrimps but I don't really think so.....nonetheless, blue shrimps are cool


Sadly, there was a catastrophe......my 7 year old tiger barb and some other fish died overnight. Cause: forgot to add dechlorinator
Never thought that it would make that big of a difference when not adding dechlorinators.....

THERE DEATHS WILL NOT BE IN VAIN. THEY WILL SAVE COUNTLESS FISH IN THE FUTURE FOR I WILL NEVER AGAIN FORGET TO ADD THAT BOTTLE OF SEACHEM PRIME.

[iter]

Finally, update!!!

I will start by saying that I took out all the glossostigma, took away all the dead parts, and with the patience of a snapping turtle I spent 8 hours over 4 days planting them individually . I think I worsened my scoliosis .

Anyways, here is the glosso as of now:


I am putting special attention to the glosso, hopefully it would pay off by it growing horizontally.


I also found some Ludwigia arcuata from Petsmart in Topfin packages, still trying to cultivate them:



The Hemianthus is growing like a weed, I will trim it next week:



The crypts are finally growing the way I want them to, which is to have big broad leaves, though the right corner needs more time:



Found some Cladophora last week and quickly removed it :



The shrimp pictures that I promised-

Amano:


Unknown, anyone want to take a guess?




FTS and angle shots:






Can't wait until glosso fills in properly . Still trying to source some more Rotala rotundifolia's.....

Currently no sign of algae and everything is growing at its best! CO2 at about 4 bps. Normal EI. About 65% water change once a week on Saturday. I did lower the light by an inch to increase growth.

I also finally got the filter output and the CO2 venturi at the right places to minimize CO2 loss and waste.

Now the hard part: PATIENCE FOR THINGS TO GROW.......


Enjoy!!!