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Thanks, appreciate the comment. The neglect was definitely real!

Oooooh, for first time in ages I found some good wood while walking. Could I rescape? Hard to think about changing such an established tank...

Love this. Mad, but excellent.

Starting to recover after the brutal trim. Have acquired some Blue Tetras and, unplanned via a friend, a load of guppies. I actually like the guppies a lot more than I expected. I hate duckweed too.

It's an integral part of the scape, central to my vision.

Long time, no post. After 6 months neglect, no gas, barely a water change, I got back in the game last weekend. Hacked back, got the gas back on, let's see how we go.

That would be a feather in my cap, not heard of anyone actually achieving evolution.

They can barely move!

Back at a point of total overgrowth, little free space, quite a lot of emergent growth, bolbitis, crypts, rotala, buce, moss. Can't manage java fern. Should really do something with it.

Thanks @zozo !

Thanks all, I'll try and top up. Actual water changing is highly impractical given ponds location. My own theory I think is around oxygen levels. Some kind of crash as a result of the warmth. I've also invested in a new, bigger, solar air pump to try and get some movement. I will report...

Hi, here's some pics. It's gone from crystal clear and full of life to stinking like a sewer in the space of 2 weeks I'd say. Appreciate any opinions.

Hi, thoughts please on this one. My well established, heavily plant filled wildlife pond has just crashed into a stinky effluent smelling soup. Is it likely to be the long spell of hot dry weather that's the cause? Warmer water, less oxygen, dying plant material, rot, bacteria bloom, oxygen...

Sadly this little project is deceased. Last summer I forgot about while we went on holiday, it dried out. After watering it managed to regrow, but by the time autumn and winter hit all the new growth got battered by the cold and frost. This spring it was dead as a dodo. Good while it lasted.

I've had to do some fairly radical and extensive cutting back to create some space as the tank was almost entirely full of plants. It'll grow back in fairly fast. The other thing I'm liking is this wee patch of rotala that just appeared of its own accord.

@Myrtle im not sure what it is. I have java moss, fissidens and 'mini Xmas moss' in the tank. The moss on the emersed wood just appeared without my intervention. I have a suspicion it could be the emersed form of mini Xmas moss, as there was some stuck on below the water line. Or it could be...

It is going well at the moment, moss and tripartita are mounting quite an aggressive take over of the whole tank just now. Going to let it go and see what happens.

This is one of my favourite aspects of the tank at the moment. This crypt is basically growing like a epiphyte, half above the water line.

It's me that needs that!

Latest. Not much fish room...

I'm reaching a point of severe overgrowth and starting to get BBA on buces and anubias, plants pressing against the front glass. Major trim or even rescape might be needed...

Actually 5 males and 1 female. All going well though.

Wow, thank you. I must confess, there is a bit of BBA which I'm working at. Result of gas running out while on 3 week holiday...

The tank continues to evolve. So much java fern now.

Don't know, don't know and don't know. I do know my water out the tap has a TDS of 30-40, so almost no hardness.

Hard to get a good pic, they are very skittish. I appear to have 4 males and 2 females, which is a bit unfortunate.

Latest.

Some pics from this morning.

Latest update, everything about to flower, including the Saracenia for the first time.

Current state of play...

Thanks, appreciate all the info.

Thanks for the inpu. I'd say it's occasional at the moment, but having lost one already I may just do a precautionary treatment. Is there a treatment that people recommend for flukes?

Hi, I have 6 Dicrossus filamentosus and 5 corydorus hasborus in a 60 ltr tank, journal is Leafy Experiment. The corys in particular are 'flashing' against the decor. Seems a sign of whitespot but I can see no visible evidence. Corys have been in the tank a week, I've already lost one which was...

That way madness lies...

Another trim, took the plunge and removed all the moss from the right hand side to try and open up the view a bit. Feels better I think.

Popped in to LFS earlier this week and as per @Courtneybst suggestion there were some juvenile Dicrossus Filamentosus, so I got a group of 6. If it gets a bit cramped I have the option to redo the big tank to accommodate them. So far so good, they potter about in staccato fashion...

Can you guess what it is yet?

Thanks for the suggestion and the offer, Nottingham is a wee bit out of the way for me though!

Cheers @Wookii. It is 60cm. Funny how things you chuck together in 5 minutes often turnout quite pleasing.

Great suggestions, Thanks!

The leaves mostly came from my pond. Got some hitchikers.

Who knew?!

We can compare notes!

Did some messing about with my second tank this weekend. Going for a dim leafy thing. No attempt at any specific biotope, just something very different from the high tech big tank. Suggestions for fish welcome. I'm thinking a pair or small group of something that might like very soft water and...

Hi Matt, Its heteranthera zosterifolia, regularly trimmed to.keep it short. K

You are probably right about the rotala. I need to remove all the moss that obscures it, but it's so lush and green...

Big trim today to try and get it under control. Removed some moss to make some space. Tripartita is a bit over the top dominant. I'll maybe thin that harder next week.

Not quite 3 months into this scape and it's hitting the "where's the hardscape?" stage. The tripartita is making a concerted effort to take over the tank.

The feeding corner! Greediest fish I've ever had.

Wee pic for a Friday night.

Local fire protection place. £15 for 2kg. Very easy.

Hi, frustrating! I'm not a fertiliser expert, but why are you not also dosing potassium and you appear to not to be dosing micro trace elements either? And how are you reminerlising your RO water? K

Thats what I have tried - pouring it onto a rock when it is still liquid. It's quite tricky though and doesn't adhere very well in my experience.

Hi, my gut feeling is that if you have algae problems its unlikely that this apparent water change day fluctuation is the cause. In my own tank I do 50% wc a week, plant health is good, no algae to speak of. Hundreds of other people do the same. I've had weeks where co2 has stopped for a few...

I think I've seen what you mean on Amazon. I think you can do either. Keep it on the mat and place the mat where you want it, but don't let substrate cover the rhizome. It will grow and spr3ad off the mat over time. Or remove it from the mat and tie it/stick it it where you like, just try to...

Not seen it on a mat before? Do you have a pic?

Hi, if you use that wood expect the bark to rot and cause you water quality issues. Try and remove the bark as much as you possibly can. K

Hi it's heteranthera zosterefolia. There were scraps in amongst the tripartita I planted which have created a happy accident. It is very vigorous though and needs trimmed regularly to keep it low. That's me, sexy AF. 🤪

The tank is progressing well. Really pleased with it. For some reason made me think of my first planted tank and how things have come on. 2015 2022

😁 This reminded me of a post I wrote 6 years ago!! https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/things-i%E2%80%99ve-learnt%E2%80%A6.39738/

Very vigorous plants trying to over run your tank is just part of the hobby! Keep on top of your trimming, trim through the roots and runners and remove if it is spreading to areas you don't want. I think a lot of the time tanks get rescaped because the plants have grown to such an extent that...

I've used various. The only thing I'd be looking for now is grain size, too big grains make it harder for plants to "stick" when you are first planting the tank. Otherwise they are all just expensive wee balls of clay.

I like what you've done with it. Bit of a departure from your normal style.

Hi, I've done 4 scapes in this tank using lots of wood. In the first I used willow, and because I didn't know better, left the bark on. That rotted and I'm fairly certain was a contributory factor to poor plant health and algae, including BBA. In subsequent scapes I used solid hard wood. I did...

Some new years eve BBA pruning for me. Generally doing ok though.

I think if you are on a 700l system you are way past counting bubbles. Get a PH probe, they are quite cheap, and do a PH profile to.help you get the co2 level nailed on. Made a big difference for me. Initially it seemed alarming how much i was injecting, but it's fine. If you were injecting at...

Looks great! Couple of thoughts... Depending on your planting plans, the rocks in the background will likely be invisible very quickly and leave annoying gaps you can't plant into. I also run a sump and I wouldnt do 24/7 co2. It all depends on your lighting intensity etc, but I think the fish...

One week in and, touch wood, all seems ok. Thinking about how I'll evolve this one over the months.

3 main pieces, and 2 additional sticks (the 2 pointy pieces furthest left). K

Everything has cleared now, so here's a "from this..." shot for posterity. Some of the wood is till a little floaty, so there will be some minor repositioning in a couple of weeks (and the rock holding it down will be removed!).

Monster sump peace Lilly.

After nearly 2 years with the Rhinocerous I bit the bullet and rescaped. The tank had an insane volume of plants (see For Sale) and I've reused may be half of what was in there. To try and avoid issues I left the substrate basically undisturbed. Wood is from a previous scape, been sat in a...

There's going to be a LOT of java fern in the for sale very soon.

There s lots of them. Just Google the model number on the back. Replacement was £15ish.

Hello all, About 6 weeks ago I took down my hill stream loach tank that had been neglected running in the garage and relocated the sole remaining inhabitant to a 60l tank in the house. In scaping the tank i just used some plants that had been part of the previous scape, mainly anubias, and added...

The thing I've learnt with this is sort of sequential planting. After I added moss to the wood and let it get well established, I could then use it as a substrate to tuck other stuff into. There's a wide variety growing in the big mass, hydrocotyle obvs, crypts, buce, pinnatafida, s. Repens...

Now it's the hydrocotyle tripartita thats out of control. Send help.

It's doable but not ideal. Work out how fast water evaporates from the tank, get an auto top up and water barrel, and an auto feeder. Practice with both long before you go. You can add ferts to your auto top up reservoir. But suggestion to lower light levels a bit makes sense. I'd try and...

Used my brain and searched for the model number... seem to be various available.

Just getting tank sorted for while I'm away for a week (leaving in 7 hours...), unplug the light without thinking, pffft, won't go back on. Try using power supply from the solenoid, which turns the light on but flashing. So I'm guessing light unit itself is ok? Which leaves the euro plug, 2...

I moved this out of the house and into the greenhouse, removing all the equipment. Been there about 2 months.

Seems to have taken on a life of its own now... needs a huge hack back or its going to be totally choked. But loving how it looks just now.

Bolbitis had gone mad, had to do a major hack.

Hi, it could be an issue with all sorts, but if you are fertilizing well and keeping the tank 'clean' then co2 is possibly the place to start. Certainly once I properly got co2 at the right level (repeated PH profiles and tweaks to injection rate) and improved flow plant health and growth...

Hi, looks like staghorn algae. It's a pest and sign something might be a bit off and that's affecting plant health. I'd trim off all the affected leaves, water change, filter clean, check co2 and ferts are all on point. It can be quite persistent in my experience, so give yourself a few weeks...

Pleased the pinnatafida has taken hold this year.

Errr, can it be recovered?

January 2020 July 2021

After months of this tank being a pea soup nightmare whatever I tried, I chucked in a tablespoon of Seachem Equilibrium. Boom, crystal clear water. Learnt something new.

Just noticed the rear view of this tank...

Getting to the point this will need some major surgery, running out of room!

Back in flower.

Thanks all. K

Seems impossible to get at the moment. Or whats a like for like replacement? Thanks!

Time for a trim?

The pond is only really just starting to come to life now because it's been so cold up here through May.

Pure skill on my part.

Finally a sunny day!

I am a grotbag There's usually some desicated trimmings sat on the light too awaiting a trip to the bin. And thanks for the comments and tips folks.

The tank has done that thing where you suddenly notice its all just working right, everything is growing rampantly and the algae has disappeared (nearly). This is the first time this tank has got to that 'Hi tech super lush' phase. I'm kind of losing the hardscape but I dont really care. The...