UPDATE - 24th FEB
(2 weeks since rescape)
So, the good points:
- plants seems to be growing well;
- the Mattogrossense has really taken off!
- the Riccia too seems to be happy enough; had to trim it today for first time, so a good sign I guess.
- changed the position of my diffuser (thanks Ady!) so that it is now directly under the inlet of my filter. Much better flow Im hoping and no bubbles everywhere.
and the "warts-n-all" bad points:
- some brown (diatoms?) algae on most hard surfaces and some plant leaves.
- not happy with the layout and planting scheme
- the Riccia at bottom left of the picture I bought from someone on this forum and wasnt good
- by far the worst thing though, is that I totally underestimated the cycling effect of the new substrate.
If anyone else is planning this, please take heed.
I had assumed that because I was using ADA Africana and not Amazonia that the ammonia spike wouldnt be severe, and that my very mature filter would easily deal with it.
If you saw my "EMERGENCY! HELP!" thread, you will know that this assumption was wrong!
My livestock started showing some very early signs of Ammonia posioning.
Thankfully - because of the great help on here - I was able to save everything (so far!).
Since the date of this post (24th Feb), water changes every day of about 50%.
Livestock look much happier, and although Im not out of the woods yet, I think there is hope.
Picking up on a few of the other bad points mentioned above....
- the brown diatoms algae Im not worried about (should I be?)
I have read that this is completely normal in a new tank; due to the silicates in the substrate, and it should clear up on its own, given enough time.
- and the layout that Im not happy with.
Well (again, because of advice on here) Im not rushing to adjust or amend until the plants grow in more.
The keen eyed among you may have noticed that the large crypts and the Rotala have now switch places in the tank; but thats about it.
Im happy-ish so far. Gutted that I was stupid enough to make the Ammonia mistake, but learning is what we do I guess.
At present, I am in livestock protection mode and the plants are just left to look after themselves (Im still dosing Ei though)
I hope this focus on livestock doesnt come back to bite me later though.
Another update coming at the month mark.
Thanks for reading