My current tanks(pic heavy)

[Konsa]

Hi all
Instead of creating multiple treats here is my all in one for the current situation with my tanks.Please excuse my phone quality of the pics.
First one is modified Betta duo with the devider removed and spray bar installed.
CO2 : none
Substrate : Ada Nile sand small leftover from couple of years ago
Hardscape :little Redmoor root and few lava rocks just to attach some plants on.
Lighting :Arcadia strech led 11w for 7hours a day
Plants:Microsorum petite
Bucephalandra mini needle leaf
Bucephalandra brownie purple
Bucephalandra alamanda v3
Staurogine repens
Dwarf lobelia
Hygrophila araguaia
Cryptocoryne wendtii green
Cryptocoryne albida brown
A bit of moss probably weeping
Anubias petite
Dwarf water lettuce
Fauna:
Red ramshorn snails
Great pond snails
Wandering pond snails
Tadpole snails
Asellus aquaticus
Crangonyx pseudogracilis
Seed shrimp and all sorts of other small cratures
Ferts:Aquarium plant food Ei kit as per their mixture
Dosed 2ml daily( macro and micro on alternative days )
Water changes:60% to 80% weekly(not very fussed on the actual volume .As it comes really )
Algae:Almost none.I have few stems of staghorn on few leaves of the java fern in the high flow but is not spreading
Temperature :24 degrees Celsius
Tank is fed very heavy on daily basis. Tetra tabs.Blanched kale ,spinach,nettle.

Second one is my 36l I setup as a temporary plant keeping tank few months ago.
CO2 : none
Substrate : soil 1,5 cm topped with black gravel 4cm
Hardscape :Redmoor root,Mopany wood and Ada seiryu stone
Lighting :24w pll lamp
Filtration :Tetratech ex400
Plants :
Microsorum petite(most of it just floating )
Bucephalandra brownie purple
Bucephalandra mini needle leaf
Hygrophila araguaia
Cryptocoryne legroi
Cryptocoryne petchii
Cryptocoryne costata
Cryptocoryne lutea hobbit
Cryptocoryne wendtii green
Cryptocoryne albida brown
Cryptocoryne wendtii brown
Pogostemon erectus
Twisted vallis
Riccardia chamedryfolia
Fissidens moss
A single stem of Monte carlo (just to have it somewhere )
Cryptocoryne willisii
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis
Amazon frogbit
Fauna:
4 Otos
12 Red cherry shrimp
Crangonyx pseudogracilis
Temperature :24
Ferts : Aquarium plant food Ei kit as per their mixture
Dosed 4ml per day ( macro and micro on alternative days )
Water changes : 50% weekly
Algae:GSA

Third one is 72l puffer tank.
Substrate : Argos play sand
Hardscape : Redmoor root and Ada seiryu stone
Lighting : 55w pll lamp
Filtration : Tetratech ex700
Plants : Microsorum petite
Hygrophila araguaia
Cryptocoryne wendtii brown
Cabomba
Cryptocoryne spiralis
Round pellia
Aponogeton crispus red
Amazon frogbit
Fauna :
2 Asellus puffers
5Amano shrimp
Red ramshorn snails
Asellus aquaticus
Crangonyx pseudogracilis
Temperature : 24 degrees Celsius
Ferts : Aquarium plant food Ei kit as per their mixture
Dosed 3ml per day (macro and micro on alternative days )
Water changes : 50 % weekly
Algae : Diatoms,Staghorn
Cabomba is struggling atm and not recovering after trimming all else doing fine.
Thinking of replacing the Cabomba with Limnophila sessiliflora or sth ( need a fast growing stem in the background )

Thats all for now.Thank you for reading and all the best from me.
Regards Konsa

 

[Juraj C.]

Last one looks the best.
Second one would look better with less floating plants.

 

[Konsa]

Hi
After doing hi tech tanks for couple of years on and off desided to have a go with low tech setups.Atm mainly experiments nothing long term.
First is my snail farm.Not even thinking about scape there just lots of plant mass to keep the water quality good and provide oxygen in the sand.Heavy trims every 4 weeks ish.
Second is a temporary tank for housing some plants until manage to get myself two aquanano 40.Not much trimming there as hardscape is a bit wobbly and most of java fern is free floating above it.tried to arrange it a bit tho.Need the floaters to dim the light as too strong for low tech in all tanks
Third one is my girlfriends arrangement and substrate choice(play sand) so atm just experiment with what could make it there as the sand is very fine.She doesn't want too much plants too
In all tanks floaters are redused a lot on wc days but they just grow too fast
Regards Konsa

 

[Konsa]

Hi all
Its been a while and its time for update.
Will start with the Betta duo.
Its been doing really well but fancied a change and went for a rescape 3 days ago.All plants were growing happily with 200+Ramshorn snails and other bugs no speck of algae in there.That proper busted the mith that snail will eat your plants lol. There were some damage if I underfeed tho but very little .I will try to carry on keeping it low tech if I can without the massive cleaning crew in it.Sand substrate again and Mini landscape rock with daily 1/2 ish of EI all in one mix.
Curent plant list:
Hygrophila Araguaia
Buce Alamanda V3
Buce Brownie puple
Buce Needle leaf
Riccardia
Cryptocorine albida brown
Cryptocorine lutea hobbit
Cryptocorine costata( not in yet)
Cryptocorine legroi(not in yet)
Fissidens (not i yet)
Dwarf watter lettuce
Single stem of monte carlo (just to have it somewhere possibly will remove it later )
Critters:Cherry Shrimp about 15-20
Shrimps not in yet as needed to nuke the sponges and sand to kill the remains of the Californian black worms I had in it.All Siporax matured and preserved is back in.Wil add some purigen too.Will give it about 4 weeks before stocking slowly with 5 shrimps a week for 3 weeks
Regards Konsa

 

[Konsa]

Will be closing down the 36l tank as soon as I get the cherries out.
And have a new project on the way
Fluval 125l
Lights T8 6500k from Lampspecks
Hardscape:
Redmoor wood
Maple leaf rock
Hugo Kamishi Polario fine gravel mixed with a bit of silica sand as substrate
Fauna: Pair of Neolamprologus brichardi daffodil
Plants will be:
Anubias pettite
Buce Brownie puple
Buce Needle leaf
Buce Alamanda V3
Fissidens
Riccardia
Java fern pettite
Dwarf watter lettuce
Watter sprite
Filtration thinking of Tetratech ex1200 plus

Update:
Flooded the tank today to start cycling it.Started with a Eheim pick up filter I had in storage till I can put some cash together for a tetratech ex1200plus.A bit of purigen and soaked the sponge in mucky water from cleaning the prefilter of my other tanks.Added some small lava rocks that were in my little tank sump for about a month and a half and handfull of sand from my puffer tank to start the bacteria going on the tank surfaces. Will hook my mature Tetratech ex400 from my 36l I am about to close as soon as I can.Will do few daily big watetchanges and will start planting in 3-4days.For now some floaters only.Already added some Californian black worms ,Asselus aquaticus and Crangonyx Pseudogracilis(I had in a small unfiltered tub for a week)to eastablish food colonies as not planing to get the Brichardis in for at least 8-10weeks.

Thanks for reading.
Regards Konsa

 

[SKYE.__.HIGH]

Dang, the second one is my favorite. Do you happen to know were you got the petite java fern. I would love to purchase some, thanks a lot, skye


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[SKYE.__.HIGH]

View attachment 114439 View attachment 114440 View attachment 114441

Will be closing down the 36l tank as soon as I get the cherries out.
And have a new project on the way
Fluval 125l
Lights T8 6500k from Lampspecks
Hardscape:
Redmoor wood
Maple leaf rock
Hugo Kamishi Polario fine gravel mixed with a bit of silica sand as substrate
Fauna: Pair of Neolamprologus brichardi daffodil
Plants will be:
Anubias pettite
Buce Brownie puple
Buce Needle leaf
Buce Alamanda V3
Fissidens
Riccardia
Java fern pettite
Dwarf watter lettuce
Watter sprite
Filtration thinking of Tetratech ex1200 plus

View attachment 114442 View attachment 114443

Will update the 72l tomorrow
Thanks for reading.
Regards Konsa

Looks like this one is gonna look really nice too.

 

[Konsa]

Dang, the second one is my favorite. Do you happen to know were you got the petite java fern. I would love to purchase some, thanks a lot, skye


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi
It was years ago but think it was Aquaessentials I got it from.

Regards Konsa

 

[Konsa]

Hi all
As promised a little update on my 72l puffer tank.All epiphytic plants doing great did a bit of thin out of the Java fern leaves today on the waterchange day.The rooted plants not doing great bit still in ok health just not growing as fast.Probably the playsand is too fine choking the roots blocking water circulation deep in substrate.About 3 months ago bit the bullet and added 15 linni monows and 4 corries because my SAP puffers are so good tempered.Since then they all get along fine odd scrap on feeding time now and then but tbh the minnows are asking for it the little beasts.Puffers act much more calmly and are not as scatty as they used to be when on their own.Surprisingly they not bothered to eat snails and have a good 50 ramshorns with them too.Maybe they will have a go at the babies.I am not overfeeding them as they get one meal a day only .Their diet is Daphnia, Glass worm ,Bloodworm and Californian black worms on rotation.Limnophila sessiliflora keep getting stunted from time to time but then shoots new growth near the top sections of the stem.Tbh the flow and distribution is not great because of hardscape and plants growth plus the 55w pll lamp is far too strong for low tech so overal happy with plant condition.There is definitely room for improvement but on the bright side at least no algae problems in there and tank is ticking slowly slowly.
Thanks for reading.

Regards Konsa

 

[Tim Harrison]

Very nice Konsa

 

[Konsa]

Thank you Tim

 

[kadoxu]

Surprisingly they not bothered to eat snails and have a good 50 ramshorns with them too.Maybe they will have a go at the babies.

They can't really eat the big ones. They may take a nibble or two, but won't be able to suck them out of the shell. My puffers cleaned out every single snail in my tank apart from a big Zebra Nerite snail. You can see a few dents on it, but they can't actually kill it. But try to starve them for a couple of days and you'll notice a difference in snail numbers for sure. The minnows won't probably like the increased aggressiveness though...

 

[Konsa]

They can't really eat the big ones. They may take a nibble or two, but won't be able to suck them out of the shell. My puffers cleaned out every single snail in my tank apart from a big Zebra Nerite snail. You can see a few dents on it, but they can't actually kill it. But try to starve them for a couple of days and you'll notice a difference in snail numbers for sure. The minnows won't probably like the increased aggressiveness though...

Hi
Yes U right that they wont be able to eat the big ones but they do not even have interest in them whatsoever I do not feed on waterchange days.There always been little ones in there too. As for aggression towards the minnows I am not really worried as my SAP puffers are way more peaceful than a pygmy puffers and the minnows are the boisterous fish in that tank
Regards Konsa

 

[Konsa]

Hi all
Update on the new tank.Started planting yesterday .Some Java fern pettite ,Buce Brownie purple, Buce mini niddle leaf and Anubias pettite.Need to put a bit more anubias and more buces but will keep an eye how they will go first before cutting my plants from my other tanks.There are few temporary plants (few crypts and Limnophila sessiliflora) to help with the cycling of the tank.My idea was to have nothing rooted in the substrate as the Brichardis are diggers but will be challange for me to leave so much unplanted space.lol
Here is a quick phone picture of tank current state.

Will post more pics once I finish the planting.
Thsnks for reading .
Regards Konsa

 

[Konsa]

Hi all
A little update on my tanks. As is been a while since my last one.
The new project is doing fine.Managed to find myself a good sized pair of Brichardis at last.They were extremely shy for weeks on end untill they spawned.Barely saw them out of tha cave and had to feed before lights out.Once their first batch of fry start swimming the male is always out and the female comes out more confident.They had 2 spawns and third on the way.Its a fun and very active tank to watch with all sorts going on.On the plant side of things not so great atm as since I started feeding the fry with powdered food and decap Brine shrimp eggs have been getting a bit algae on some plants and some have melted a bit due to food settling on the leaves plus infrequent fertiliser dosing. I gave the tank a good trim and think will try the Aquascaper fertiliser to see how it will go.There was a raft of Limnophila sessiliflora floating in the front but removed it and replaced with dwarf water lettuce as was catching to much debry while growing strong .It is challenging to have rooted plants with this fish but most of tank bottom is left alone.Having said that any plants arround the nest he dug out are destroyed.Had to move few buces and crypts out of the way and now waiting for them to recover. Planning to try some Cryptocorine balansae in the background to see if it will make it.
Here are few phone pics:

Now a little for my puffer tank too.
Got 3 more puffers and due to not quarantining them was rewarded with a nasty ich infestation wich took me few weeks to get rid off.Unfortunately lost two of my ottos along the way.Rehomed the minnows as with 5 puffers the tank is overstocked anyway.Currently only 5 puffers,4 Corys,2 ottos and 5 amanos in the tank.
On the plant front things went a bit tits up with the temperature increase while treating the ich. Had some melt and algae settled in too but after good trim things seem to be perking up again.Thinking about getting bigger tank to home the puffers into as will be a struggle to keep good water in that size tank as they grow fully.
And some phone pics of this one too

Thanks for reading
Regards Konsa

 

[Konsa]

Hi all
A little update again.
The Cryptocorine balansae went in and thinking for some more Cryptocorine beckettii petchii in front of them.I think it looks better with them already.Can't wait for them to grow in.Started using the Aquascaper fertiliser too.Will give it few months and see if will make any difference as had trouble with my mixes due to laziness and not getting RO/DI water for them.Will be challange to keep algae at bay due to rapidly increasing bioload and no time for more than one big WC. But at least the babies are growing fast and strong.Trying to blow plants (Java fern )with turkey baster every day as traps loads of debris and fry food.Circulation in tank awesome Jbl e1501 doing great job aided with the eheim surfase skimmer.Regreting not soaking the stones for a week and power washing them as there is a lot of clay (dirt) in the pores when blowing them on waterchange days(think is natural stone composition rather sth else) even after good wash on tap but will know for future.

Thanks for reading
Regards Konsa

 

[Costa]

Very nice tank Konsa. Your ferns are so lush. Mine look like sh..

 

[Konsa]

Hi
Thank U Costa.
It looks better on picture than it is.I have issues atm too.Had big melt due high temperatures but recovering nicely after a big trim of damaged leaves.
Regards Konsa

 

[Konsa]

Hi all
Update time again.
Will start with my Brichardi colony first.
It is my fav atm.
The Balansae and other cripts added are doing well.Some stunted Aponogetons I had in puffer tank are gaining momentum and growing well.Added some Heteranthera zosterifolia and Hygrophila Siamensis B53 few weeks ago to try to balance things as the tank is well overstocked with the juveniles.They are doing their thing addapting and there is visible growth on both.There was 3 stems of Hygrophila polisperma that didnt do anything for few months but they desided to grow lately too.Surprisingly the original plants(Water Sprite and Hygrophila Difformis) I had chosen have struggled with minimal if any growth and desided to replace them.Think sth to do with low light as run 2x18w T8 bulbs but one is partially blocked by floaters.The Brichardis are well behaved atm regarding digging and 3 days ago added some Hygrophila Araguaia, Rotala Rotundifolia and Bolbitis Heudelotii tissue cultures that got on deal from Ebay to all tanks to see if they will like it somewhere in them.
The male Brichardi and I have been in constant Battle/clash of wills about where the Bolbitis will be positioned.On the left side slope of the stones is where I want it but he keeps pulling the thing off.Waiting on some glue as I run out and I will show him the little rascal.There was meant to be a buce there but he dont like it and keep striping the leaves off.The rhizome is alive and there is new buds forming.I will need maybe half an year to observe how things will develop and then may try to rearrange the successful plants.Until then the back and sides will be just a mixed mess.
Here is a phone pic from a week ago as don't have anything else better.

Now about the little modified Betta Duo.
This tank has suffered after the rescape and all my Hygrophila Araguaia melted.That really pissed me off and tank is been sort of let to its own devices for long time.I don't currently dose any fertilisers in it too only weekly 30-50% WC.The cherries inside are doing ok but still not breeding properly.There are babies popping now and tgen but nothing prolific.The Californian black worms have managed to stay despite my efforts to evict them on rescape and are now in decent numbers like before.Since they reestablish properly seems the plant growth has improved despite not adding ferts.The cripts are growing better than before and the Riccardia is growing very well and has completely overtaken the hardscape.There is now some new Hygrophila Araguaia and Rotala Rotundifolia to see if they will make it in mature substrate naturally enriched with worm poop .
Thinking on rescaping again but havent made my mind what to do with yet.Wandering between a mountain scape with Riccardia and Fissidens (Inspired by Nigel95 's tank ) Or adding wood and going jungle again.What Do U think???
Probably will make a shoe box mock tank and have a play with it.
Another phone pic here too.

Will post info on puffer tank later as dont have recently taken pics of it.
Thanks for reading

Regards Konsa

 

[DutchMuch]

i like the idea of a jungle but i always will take jungle over mountains