The makings of a 20 long

[confuted]

I didn't test the rocks before I put them in the tank because frankly, I don't know what the big deal about it is. What's the worst case scenario? The rock dissolves a little and adds some calcium and other minerals to my already-hard water? Alters the pH a bit? That doesn't seem so disastrous, and the fish and plants are thriving. What's the point of testing?

I have others of the same type that I could test if someone can convince me.

Ferts - I dose like crazy. I'm dosing EI macros every other day, and on the off days, I'm adding Flourish and roughly double doses of Seachem Flourish Iron. There are also some plant tabs in the substrate, although I suspect nothing is taking full advantage of it except the apongeton crispus.

With the growth I'm seeing, I suspect that all available ferts are getting used. I scaped off some GSA a little over a week ago, and I'm starting to see a little bit return - leads me to believe I'm not dosing enough.

I like cyrpt wendtii and crypt parva, but I'm not sure about the slow growth rate. I'm also pondering some blyxa japonica and the tiger lotus. Thoughts?

Canister filters are pretty spendy - what size would you suggest and where can I get one on the cheap?

[chase127]

ebay - eheim 2213 or rena xp1

[confuted]

Here's the best full tank shot I could get at the moment. I used the panorama mode of my camera; there aren't actually two three spot gouramis in there. I might be able to get better pictures after dark. You can't really see the sunset hygro in the back here, but it has great color.



As you can see, the tank is overgrown. Buy my plants!

[confuted]

I did some serious work on the tank today. I uprooted all the hygro. difformis (more than I thought!) and all the hygro. ceylon. I replanted the difformis as best I could in the front right. You can see the rock on the right side, though not quite as much as I'd like.

I sold a lot of the hygro. ceylon (there's still a lot left), and planted the remainder in the back middle.

I sold the ludwigia repens, which turns out to possibly be some other species of ludwigia anyway. In another thread, we decided my siamese algae eater was probably responsible for its damaged leaves, and not any sort of nutrient deficiency. With it gone, I can actually see how big the apongeton crispus has gotten and the hardscape on the left side shows up more.

In a PM, prettyrustyrobot notified me that my stargrass is probably rotala rotundi, which seems accurate. No matter, I think I'm going to sell it.

The SAE might also be responsible for keeping my hygro. difformis short. If he knocks a stem over, it probably roots again, creeping along the substrate. I don't mind that now that I've repositioned it though. I'll probably trim it looking for that effect.

I also gave the asian ambulia a significant haircut, but I'm sure it'll be back to the top of the tank within a few days.

Updated pictures tomorrow when the water clears and the lights are on.