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400 gallon.

The Hydrocleis is turning out to be a small pain in the butski. If left unchecked it will grow large, lots of sprouts on top and kill all the light. Thus i need to thin it out regularly. I am hoping the Nymphaea glandulifera will be better, it will get floating leaves (thats what i am looking for) but will be easier to maintain since there are only the leaves which come frome the base of the plant. I will be getting some more Eichornia azurea next week. and some Eichornia diversifolia. (if i manage to find a way to propagate them better, i will let a few shoots get to the top again and see if i get them to flower)
The large floating plantmass on the right top is Najas sp "Roraima". It's not as red as it was with CO2, but it's nice for the fish, and it's not in the way (just floats there and hides the overflow). On the left side i have wrapped Hydrocotyle leucocephala over a brace, letting it hit the water. There are submerged shoots and a lot of roots there over the driftwood, thus creating some hiding spots for those who want it too.
The swords have had a bad time through too much cover, and too little light. Like it is now they should recover. Hoping the Nymphaea's will do better now they get more light. I want 3/4 plants giving floating leaves, then i can reduce the Hydrocleis to 2/3 plants. In the end i should only have plants which are found in the Peruvian amazon as are the fish. Only thing needed then is seting up a reasonable facsimile of a small clear water stream.
 
Sorry to hear it's being such a pain! I really like the effect though, so hopefully the other one will be easier to maintain.

Thanks for the update, this is very similar to what I'm hoping to achieve if we can ever find a house to buy!


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I could probably work in a smaller tank, which is easier to maintain. I have to get up a ladder (and sometimes even strip down to my undies and stand in the tank) which makes it harder to do proper intensive maintenance.
 
Ooh err!

How deep is it? I'm considering a 6'x2'x2' but think it may be too deep - I only have little arms!


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Update: added the Eichornia azurea just left of middle behind the zosterifolia, and the Eichornia diversifolia on the right (also a few strands on zosterifolia there which have to be replanted)
22065230079_e7c9088f3e_k.jpg1400pano17102015 by Ed Prust, on Flickr
 
Just did some maintenance yesterday. Real life has me busy a bit and so besides daily ferts and automated waterchange i didn't do much in the tank for 6 months. The tank has the tendency to absolutely grow full on floaters thus blocking the light and the submerged plants suffer from that (though the fish like it). So maintenance is weeding out a lot of floaters ( Ceretopteris pteroides, Pistia and runners/shoots from the Hydrocleis). Opening it up again will allow the swords to grow a bit more. Will keep it like this (try at least) and see if they can get a bit more mass. Pics will follow later.
 
Quick and dirty pic:
DSC_7070.jpg
 
Quick handheld phone update: ( i got a carpet!!..........well it's a layer of moss;))

The biotodoma's are dying one by one, no obvious signs, so i am guessing age related, they are about 4 years in the tank. Thinking of adding all the Apistogramma eremnopyge fry.
 
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