beeky
Member
As you may have picked up in past posts I recently changed jobs, moved house and had a new baby in the space of a month. In fact, my wife went into labour the evening after moving in to our new place!
What's this got to do with anything you might be thinking? Well, as you can well imagine my fish tank has seen better days. Sometime ago (about a year probably) I had a nasty attachk of BGA and it took quite a while to get it sorted, but sorted it was and this was how the tank looked once it settled down:
A bit of growth:
I can't find anymore pictures of it since then (although I'm sure I've taken some), but just imagine it with the back right Hygro at the water surface, Vallis trailing over the water surface and considerable thickening of the Crypt at the front left. Also imagine a little bit of hair algae and a bit (read: quite a lot) of BBA on the Anubias.
This all had to come out in the house move and due to being a bit disorganised and having higher priority things to do at the time, the plants were left outside overnight (actually a few nights) in a bin bag and they didn't like the frost....
The tank has now been sitting half full of water with a few bits of wood and the Anubias since the end of January and being lit by one T8 tube.
Time now for a rebuild.
A few weeks ago I got some Cryptocoryne Affinis from Thailand and some Hygro. siamensis and dwarf Sag from Sam (cheers again Sam). I also got some Tropica substrate and Hagen black river gravel (Extra Fine). Incidentally, previous posts referred to this as river sand, extra fine. Not sure if I have the same stuff but looks OK anyway. I've only ever had standard gravel or silver sand (in another tank) before so going dark is going to be a new experience for me. Thanks go to Nry for the inspiration for that one.
Here are some stats:
Tank (Clearseal I think)
Age approx 9 years old
36"L x 18"H x 15"W (approx. 90cm x 46cm x 38cm)
Volume 159L or 35 UK gallons
Decor
3 Pieces of bogwood, one quite large. I don't have any spindly bits, just lumps!
Current Planting
Anubias with healthy growth of BBA (considered ditching this, but it has sentimental value now - the Anubias, not the BBA)
C. Affinis from Thailand (remains to be seen whether this is the proper stuff)
Hygrophila siamensis
Sagittaria subulata? Dwarf sag anyway.
Additional Planting (coming tomorrow (Friday))
Ludwigia palustris
Ludwigia ovalis
Ludwigia mullertii
Ludwigia arcuata
Limnophila sessiflora
CO2
DIY, currently one bottle but "upgrading" to two!
Lighting
2 x 39w T5
1 x ?w T8 (for an hour morning and evening only)
As the tank is quite old now the general trim bits round the side are a bit grubby with some areas impossible to clean due to being sandwiched between two bits of glass, so I'm hoping this will work in my favour and reduce/diffuse the light a little bit which will allow me to use the DIY CO2.
My scape plans are to have the L. palustris in a curtain around the left hand side starting at the front, the ovalis in front of that but towards the back, the arcuata in the middle, the H. siamensis on the right at the back and the C. affinis popping up around the wood in the midground. The sag will be my foreground, although I want to keep the right hand side foreground fairly clear. Carpets are overrated IMO! I'm not too sure what to do with the L. sessiflora, but everything could (and probably will) change anyway, so we'll see.
I have tomorrow off and my wife is taking the kids out all day! Woohoo!
What's this got to do with anything you might be thinking? Well, as you can well imagine my fish tank has seen better days. Sometime ago (about a year probably) I had a nasty attachk of BGA and it took quite a while to get it sorted, but sorted it was and this was how the tank looked once it settled down:
A bit of growth:
I can't find anymore pictures of it since then (although I'm sure I've taken some), but just imagine it with the back right Hygro at the water surface, Vallis trailing over the water surface and considerable thickening of the Crypt at the front left. Also imagine a little bit of hair algae and a bit (read: quite a lot) of BBA on the Anubias.
This all had to come out in the house move and due to being a bit disorganised and having higher priority things to do at the time, the plants were left outside overnight (actually a few nights) in a bin bag and they didn't like the frost....
The tank has now been sitting half full of water with a few bits of wood and the Anubias since the end of January and being lit by one T8 tube.
Time now for a rebuild.
A few weeks ago I got some Cryptocoryne Affinis from Thailand and some Hygro. siamensis and dwarf Sag from Sam (cheers again Sam). I also got some Tropica substrate and Hagen black river gravel (Extra Fine). Incidentally, previous posts referred to this as river sand, extra fine. Not sure if I have the same stuff but looks OK anyway. I've only ever had standard gravel or silver sand (in another tank) before so going dark is going to be a new experience for me. Thanks go to Nry for the inspiration for that one.
Here are some stats:
Tank (Clearseal I think)
Age approx 9 years old
36"L x 18"H x 15"W (approx. 90cm x 46cm x 38cm)
Volume 159L or 35 UK gallons
Decor
3 Pieces of bogwood, one quite large. I don't have any spindly bits, just lumps!
Current Planting
Anubias with healthy growth of BBA (considered ditching this, but it has sentimental value now - the Anubias, not the BBA)
C. Affinis from Thailand (remains to be seen whether this is the proper stuff)
Hygrophila siamensis
Sagittaria subulata? Dwarf sag anyway.
Additional Planting (coming tomorrow (Friday))
Ludwigia palustris
Ludwigia ovalis
Ludwigia mullertii
Ludwigia arcuata
Limnophila sessiflora
CO2
DIY, currently one bottle but "upgrading" to two!
Lighting
2 x 39w T5
1 x ?w T8 (for an hour morning and evening only)
As the tank is quite old now the general trim bits round the side are a bit grubby with some areas impossible to clean due to being sandwiched between two bits of glass, so I'm hoping this will work in my favour and reduce/diffuse the light a little bit which will allow me to use the DIY CO2.
My scape plans are to have the L. palustris in a curtain around the left hand side starting at the front, the ovalis in front of that but towards the back, the arcuata in the middle, the H. siamensis on the right at the back and the C. affinis popping up around the wood in the midground. The sag will be my foreground, although I want to keep the right hand side foreground fairly clear. Carpets are overrated IMO! I'm not too sure what to do with the L. sessiflora, but everything could (and probably will) change anyway, so we'll see.
I have tomorrow off and my wife is taking the kids out all day! Woohoo!