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ADA 60-P planted tank 'Prairie' (month 5)

Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (new week 2 photos)

pariahrob said:
Hehe, I can believe that Mike. Luckily my mrs has already green lit a 120cm tank for later in the year, so a little shrimp tank should be ok.

Thanks Darrel, I'm going to read up now. Maybe I should stick to hardier breeds until I have a bit more experience under my belt.

Rob
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If you are getting a 120 you will need to find a new home for the 60P hehe ;)
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (new week 2 photos)

I think not. I think I might be able to get rid of an old church pew we have in that room instead. It was our garden bench for years. It can go back out!

The 60-P will stay. It will probably become something more experimental, or I'll use it for a specific purpose. Looking too far ahead though. This won't happen for a few months yet. For now I'm concentrating on learning and getting to grips with what I have.

My ammonia levels have dropped to almost nothing now. Nitrites are pretty high and nitrates are rising. Wont be long before some fish and shrimp go in.

Looking at the tank again this morning, I've decided the roseafolia is wrong. I like the colours and general placement but they are too tall and dominant. I'm going to do some pretty heavy pruning today when I do a water change and clean my filter.

Wondering if I should plant the cuttings and aim for bushiness instead of height.
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (new week 2 photos)

I dont think that the Rosaefolia is suited to being a bush in that size tank personally. The leaves just get too big and it would be unbelievably dominant :( My tank is 80x45x55 and I still thought it got too big. Although I did have about 20 stems. I guess 3 or 5 stems would have worked better but instead I ripped the whole lot out. After only a couple of weeks the roots were astonishing so pull yours out carefully if you do that.
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (new week 2 photos)

pariahrob said:
Yeah, the leaves are throwing the scale a bit. I may well just take the whole lot out. It's shame really. It's a very attractive plant.
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Well I quite like the one at the back. I don't think that is too much. Its not central so it does not overpower. Try just taking the left one out first and see what you think. How many stems do you have at the back ?
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (new week 2 photos)

FTS of my work earlier today. As you can see I've hacked the roseafolia right back. I moved a couple of stems over to the right for a hint of red. Just to balance very slightly. I really reduced the amount by the intake, as that was too dominant.
I also gave the glosso a slight trim to encourage spread rather than height. Looking really green now. Noticed the HC is pearling too, although that could be from me agitating things so much.

Tank is coming along now. Still only a tiny bit of algae, just below the diffuser (and another damn snail).

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I have quite a lot of amazonia and dragonstone left over and have been thinking of putting it to good use. I thought I'd try planting some cuttings and seeing if they will grow. Not much chance I'm sure but if I can get anything out of it I'll be well chuffed! Found some glosso floating on the tank so planted that too.

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Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (new week 2 photos)

BIG day for me today. I've had a few days with no ammonia and headed over to my lfs to talk about fauna. I took the mrs with me and she spent some time chatting to an axolotl she's fallen in love with. She only got a few funny looks.

Anyway, I spent a while discussing options. I kind of knew I wanted shrimp and to start with cherries will suit me just fine and Sam (the expert there) had these three really richly coloured examples. Photos only show two. One went straight off to munch something out of sight. All three waited patiently while I acclimated them then shot off and started working on gobbling away.

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Then I thought I'd talk about a plec or two. I decided on one but had no idea which type, as my knowledge of sizes and behaviours is limited to say the least. Sam knew of my interest in black and white theme, so suggested a few. Luckily the one my mrs liked (because of the polka dots) was in his list of suitable types. I can't remember the number or the second part of the name but it's a hypostomus something. £45 but worth keeping in mind for the future.

I really wanted to talk about shoaling fish and had been thinking of black neons or galaxies but Sam suggested something else. Borneo tiggers. I'd seen tigers but not tiggers and I'm rather taken with them. Still I do like black and white and the orange on the galaxies is also good (have a look at my site, you'll see what I mean - pariahstudios.co.uk).

So with some more info to think about and my choices narrowing nicely we headed off. Then she sprang it on me. SHe'd bought me a little algae sucking gift. Meet Marvin:

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He's a cool little dude. Will only grow to 6 or 7 cm and is quite the dandy. He should leave my plants well alone but will keep the tank clean.
He looked pretty in the store tanks but looks awesome in mine. The t5s really make him shine!

SO while he settles in for a week or two I'll be deciding on shoaling fish and I may well be picking up more shrimp soon. They are such fascinating creatures to watch. Who needs a TV?!

p.s I'll get some better pics of Marvin once he settles somewhere I can get a camera to.
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (new week 2 photos)

I WANT HIM !!! Rob he is stunning. So what is his latin name ?
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (new week 2 photos)

Thanks!

I can't remember the latin. I'll call tomorrow and ask. They had two more of these there as well.

He is a bit of a looker. Lights are out now or I'd be down taking more photos. I'll get some tomorrow. The cherries are proper posers! So red too. Look great. I need to hunt down some more, or some cardinals.
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (new week 2 photos)

If they are that red, does that make them Sakura ?
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (new week 2 photos)

Best present ever :D:D He's great looking!

Nice shrimp too, they must be fire red! :)
Tanks looking great :D
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (new week 2 photos)

Thanks guys. I really appreciate it. Specially as this is my first planted tank and first of any kind in a long long time.

Iain, I saw them today. They really cute little dudes but apparently they would uproot my HC, so a no no. Shame as they do look good. Nice and lively too.

Kris, thanks. I don't know much about the types of cherry but quite possibly.

Oh and I remembered the pleco is a Hypancistrus Inspector. OK, so I remembered the inspector part and google helped with the rest.

Thanks again guys. I think I may go with tiger barbs for my shoaling fish.
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (new week 2 photos)

Tiger barbs are little b4stards. Go for Pentazona barbs instead. Google them. MUCH nicer :)
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (new week 2 photos)

Hi. Cool, well I dont know who told you he would only grow to 6 or 7 cms cos according to Planet Catfish (see the link below) They can get to over 6". But for now, he's a cute little guy ;) And of course, these data sheets often state the biggest that they have been found in the wild.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=204
 
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