George's 34G, view from my sofa

[George]

My 34G. The Angels are being re-housed soon, they've outgrown the tank and are becoming too aggressive whilst spawning. Replacing them with loads more Cardinals.

[Thanks]

looks really nice! i like the arch of valls and how it shields the tank of light in the middle; looks really well thought out. Maybe you could replace the angels with a few Apistos or Rams? That would make the tank, i think.

[aquaphish]

Very nice setup. Plants seem to be doing great. Can you please give a little info on lighting and water conditions and maybe filtration. This would be very informative and al constant learning experience for all!!

The angels should be moved to a larger tank, And I agree with ThANKS. Rams would look great,but are very finicky on water quality.

[George]

Thanks guys. I was thinking of more Cardinals and maybe a pair of Gold Rams. I think the bright yellow would go well. My water is good enough for them I think; pH 6.6, KH 3, GH 6, NO3 5 mg/l PO4 0.25 mg/l. I took a water sample to my LFS for testing (they have a computerised testing faclilty better than my liquid reagents). The assistant was very complementary in my water quality.

Lighting - 3 WPG (99W) (mix of Dennerle (3000K), Life-Glo (6700K) and Arcadia (7500K)), with reflectors. On a two timers for sunrise/sunset simulation, 5 hours on - 2 off - 5 on, I find the siesta great for limiting algae growth.

CO2 - Two Nutrafin units, DIY mixture (purchasing compressed setup with solenoid soon)

Substrate - 1 - 3mm fine inert gravel with laterite and 25W heater-cable on timer.

Fertilisers - Dennerle S7, E15 and V30. Pottasium nitrate added to acheive NO3@5 mg/l

Filtration - Juwel internal (factory fitted) and Fluval 204, outputs dorected to minimise surface agitation. It's probably over-filtered but I like the back-up

Fish - Pair of Angels, 8 Cardinals, 8 Rummynose, 5 Otos, 2 SAEs, 2 Cory julii, 2 Candy-Striped Loach (snail control!)

Plants - Echinodorus bleheri, E. tenellus, Vallisneria torta var. rubra, Rotala indica, Hygrophila polysperma, H. stricta, Limnophila sessilflora, Nymphaea japonicus, Cardimine lyrata, Microsorum pteropus, Vesicularia dubyana, Lysimachia nummularia, Eleocharis acicularis, Vallisneria spiralis

Most plants are pearling after 1 hour of light.

[Steven_Chong]

Hey dude-- the added light definitely did the trick. Cool to see that the picture has finally filled out to the sides, and the growth of your java ferns has become very dense and bushy! Interesting that you used the hair grass as a mid-ground instead of using it to fill in the foreground. How has the E. tellenus been doing? And I see that your Java moss has swamped the bog wood too.

I second the dward cichlids! Go for it.

[George]

Originally Posted by greenmiddlefinger

Hey dude-- the added light definitely did the trick. Cool to see that the picture has finally filled out to the sides, and the growth of your java ferns has become very dense and bushy! Interesting that you used the hair grass as a mid-ground instead of using it to fill in the foreground. How has the E. tellenus been doing? And I see that your Java moss has swamped the bog wood too.

I second the dward cichlids! Go for it.

Thanks. The hairgrass was actually a bit of an experiment to see if it thrives in my tank. It grows well so I'm thinking of replacing the E. tennelus with it and having a lush carpet. I'm a little dissapointed with the tennelus as it keeps very low and tends to get covered in green algae although my SAEs do their best.

Any ideas how to start hairgrass (Eleocharis acicularis) off as a carpet? I was thinking of buying it potted as supplied by my LFS, removing it from the pot, removing the wool, separating it into numerous small bunches and planting the bunches using tweezers. Does this sound feasable?

I have to regularly thin out the Java moss. I did have slight hair algae growth amongst the moss but it has dissapeared with no intervention, few!

I was considering buying some Algae Shrimp (Caridina japonica) too when the Angels have gone. Hopefully they'll keep the (potential lawn of) hairgrass clean. How many do you think for my tank?

[Steven_Chong]

This sounds like a pain, but I think the best route is to buy the hair grass bunch, and trim the tops-- the plant will be forced into new growth. Then, using tweezers, plant individual plantlets in pairs, not lots in bunches. Or at least that's what I've read to do.

Don't know that much about shrimp-- I just use the "feeder shrimp" sold at my LFs. I'm breeding red crystals, but don't ever plan on keeping them with fish. You could probably keep a significant number of shrimp in your tank, mostly depends on how often you want to see them and how heavy your algae load is.

[George]

Hey Tear-scar!! Thanks for the advice my friend.

[John P.]

Looking great, George!

Re: the hairgrass carpet--yes, that's exactly what you'll need to do. It's agonizingly tedious, but you're results will be worth it. I found it easiest to soak the rockwool in water as I pulled & cut plantlets out & put them on a plate lined with a wet paper towel. Make sure you have a nice, long tweezer, too.

Make sure your CO2 is over 20ppm during the day, or the grass may get choked with algae.

[Urkevitz]

Just beautiful, you got skills! The right amount of color, and light and dark spaces in the tank, the plant placements are perfect.

[aquaphish]

As for the Caridina Japonica shrimp I would get oh say 8. At least that is the amount I had in my 40 gal. and they did wonders to the algae problems.

Plant the dwarf hairgrass just like everyone has been advising. This plant is really a tuff little plant. I bought some oh some 6 months ago but was covered by the E Tennilus,which I also got rid of, and did not grow. When the E. Tennilus was removed I found these very small dwarf hairgrass plants. I mean SMALL . I very carefully removed them and replanted them in the right front corner of my 40 gal and soon after they just shot up and started to have runners!!! I hope very soon I can replant them in the center center of my tank for a great looking foreground!!!

[George]

Originally Posted by John P.

Looking great, George!

Re: the hairgrass carpet--yes, that's exactly what you'll need to do. It's agonizingly tedious, but you're results will be worth it. I found it easiest to soak the rockwool in water as I pulled & cut plantlets out & put them on a plate lined with a wet paper towel. Make sure you have a nice, long tweezer, too.

Make sure your CO2 is over 20ppm during the day, or the grass may get choked with algae.

Thanks John, great advice.


Urkevitz - Thanks for the compliments. There is room for improvement though, every time I look at Amano's work (and some tanks on this forum) it becomes very evident. I have only been in the hobby for two years, plenty of time yet to acheive something close to my dream of being limited only by imagination.

[George]

Originally Posted by aquaphish

As for the Caridina Japonica shrimp I would get oh say 8. At least that is the amount I had in my 40 gal. and they did wonders to the algae problems.

Plant the dwarf hairgrass just like everyone has been advising. This plant is really a tuff little plant. I bought some oh some 6 months ago but was covered by the E Tennilus,which I also got rid of, and did not grow. When the E. Tennilus was removed I found these very small dwarf hairgrass plants. I mean SMALL . I very carefully removed them and replanted them in the right front corner of my 40 gal and soon after they just shot up and started to have runners!!! I hope very soon I can replant them in the center center of my tank for a great looking foreground!!!

Thanks. More great advice, I like this forum.