Hi Deansie,
Your tank /plants are looking tremendous, love how big your anubia and crypts are getting.
it'
I'm happy to answer anything I can.
what is on the sides of your tank that have the climbing plants?
It's the Juwel foam backing - I regretted installing it almost immediately,it takes up far too much volume for my liking (approx 1 1/2 - 2" thick) so after the honeymoon period I started poking all sorts of plants in as an experiment. I've even super glued stems (alternanthera mini, super red ludwigia) the stems actually did well but their ariel roots look rubbish in my view so removed. In there's the usual java fern normal
type and windlov (I didn't realise there are so many types e.g. trident, mini, narow leaf etc) which I basically poked a hole in with the a screwdriver and squeezed the rhizome(?)/stem/stalk.
Anubia Nana Petite and a couple of
bucephalandra rhizomes (god knows what's what - brownie blue, Brownie Brown and Brownie Helena.
Over the year I've bought various mosses from ebay the 1 2 grow copies where you buy 2 get 3rd free - had no joy whatsoever until I started injecting co2. Tried flame, Christmas, Willow which brought about the onset of the bba outbreak (I'm not blaming the newer mosses as the tank wasn't balanced, but funny how I associate that with the algae so haven't used them (ebay again).
Are you using in tank heating and filtration?What's your spray bar set up
I ran the stock internal Juwel filter up until about a year ago when I upped the pump to 1000 lph (a very trusted member here advised that when he did this it wore out his juwel sponges quickly, I'm just now beginning to see courser ones beginning to lose their springyness but still happy with them). I put one of the cirax cartridges in at the same time as the new pump so maybe that offers some protection to the finer sponges. (Bottom - Finest sponges x 2, cirax, coursers sponges x2) when the courser sponges finally go I'll replace both or either with another cirax. I broke the heater within a year of getting the tank - I'm a clumsy so-an-so but luckily had the eheim thermo (2322) running at the same so no need for it.
The eheim has the 16 mm installation kit on the filter intake then converted down to 12mm at the filter with one of eheim plug things as I found it was getting too clogged with the 12 mm basket. That all runs down the side of the Juwel filter box with intake approx 3" off bottom, with ebay Co2 diffuser in back corner so bubbles go either up eheim or sucked into juwel. Juwel is pointed down toward front parallel to the straight wall,- if you can make sense of that description you're a better man than me - here's a pic,
in the pics earlier in the post you can see the black circle of the juwel output opposite the drop checker.
The eheim sprays from one straight to the other straight so that surface is broken all throughout (think you can see some of the rigid 12mm eheim pipe i used to make a spraybar) (prevents need for skimmer). CO2 goes on approx 1 1/2 hours before lights via solenoid (need to check the timers to be sure but was thinking of gettng a 12v solenoid so that it could be run off a tc420 in future). co2 goes off half an hour before lights off.
light duration?
Lighting 13:30 - 23:30 (its in a very bright south south east facing room with a glass door right at the side some think that also helps with my low intensity but plays havoc with algaes on glass (that's my excuse)
I hope this makes sense -I was tying myself in knots trying to put into words the spraybar arrangement
The corries and two remaining loaches (Zebra and polka dot) and my two amanos and gazillion cherry shrimp have other ideas about my designs on a carpet, I used to have a downoi carpet at front then it just melted and for some reason I can't grow it at all - I blame the rummy noses personally
Hope you're in good form, I've lost hope/vision with this tank so many times yet it just bounces back. Think cause it's in my folks it just gets time to settle and sort itself so when I see it the changes are noticeable whereas when they're in my place my armpits are nearly webbed they're over the tank so much.