First crack at a proper planted tank

[Dan]

Hi guys
So i went ahead and switched my large Malawi tank to a more "community" orientated planted tank for my discus pair. Its only been set up just over a week and i'm pretty happy with how its going so far, although a little advice is needed.

So set up consists of:
4x2x2 105g Tank
2 large canister filters (1400 and 2000 lph)
2 Fluval e series Heaters
2 x Philips 865 39w T5HO
2 X Osram 840 24w T5HO both 10 hour photo period
HMA filtered tank sitting at 82 degrees, Ph of 7.
Dose EI starter kit from Aquarium Plant foods uk, and excel or Neuro as carbon source.

Plants & Fish
Glosso
Rotala rotundifolia
blyxa japonica

Large Discus Pair
5 Bosemani Rainbow's (soon to be 8)
17 Lemon tetra (soon to be 20+)
1 BN
1 Amano shrimp (soon to be 6) was a trial with the discus haha.

Pics

Excuse the Discus currently laying! They wouldn't wait for me to take a few pics haha
Also apologies for the photography, its pretty shocking at best.
As i say i'm pretty happy overall, the glosso is sending off shoots although i made a pretty messy job of planting it lol, the japonica is rooting well, and the rotala is going pretty crazy growing double its size in a week.
I do have a question about the Rotala, i want it eventually to be like a large bush, should i just let it do its thing? or should i be topping and replanting? If so should i do that now or wait till its a little bigger and how much should i top?
I was also thinking about adding some nice Anubias around the rockwork/Sumatra, think it would work ?
Many thanks and great forum, a lot of useful info!
Comments very much appreciated
Dan

 

[Steve Smith]

Hi Dan. Welcome to UKAPS! I've moved this to the journals area.

This has great potential. When the rotala fills in it should look even better!

 

[Dan]

Thanks for the kind words Steve, any opinion on the rotala topping and anubias would be much appreciated
Really enjoying seeing the tank change on almost a daily basis.

 

[Steve Smith]

Have a read about pruning techniques. The Rotala could be made to bush out nicely, and of course you get to re-plant the trimmings - Pruning - A general guide to plant maintenance | UK Aquatic Plant Society

Anubias would look nice attached to some of the sumatra I think. Perhaps closer to the rock. You could consider some mosses for other parts of the sumatra too

 

[Steve Smith]

Actually, as it's a nice large tank, you could look at some of the larger leaved anubias to give you some different leaf shapes.

 

[Dan]

Thanks Steve had a read through that guide, Think i'll give the rotala a trim in the next few days then! My target is to get it as a large bush type. I'm pleased that the glosso is sending shoots, it was a bit of a gamble as i wasn't sure if i'd be able to grow it without co2 and high light. Hopefully it will come off as its my favourite plant.
The moss is another great idea, i hadn't thought of that. I have tried Java before but it didn't do well at 27-28 degrees, guess i'll have to search for something else!

 

[fish fodder]

A lovely big echinodorus would look great too.....or two

 

[Dan]

A little update, i went ahead and gave the rotala a trim and replanted the tops. Hopefully it should make it a lot more bush like, or maybe i will have to repeat the process a few times yet.
Managed to pick up some lovely Anubias at the local Dobbies, there super expensive for most things but are actually really good priced for the tropica plants they sell.
I'm still deciding on attaching some moss to the wood, any suggestions what would work best considering the temp and also that i dose liquid co2 (i read a few places that most moss's don't really like it)?
Pics:





I'm really pleased to see all the clumps of Glosso seem to have come through my shocking planting and fish pecking at them and are now sending lovely runners.
I also added another 14 Lemon tetra to take the shoal to 31 strong, and got myself a few small unusual species of BN plecs.
Oh and ignore the random strand of Hornwort, seems to have snook in there when i released the fish haha.

Any comments/suggestions appreciated!
Cheers
Dan

 

[Dan]

Hey guys, Thinking of planting the other side of the tank now, Was wanting some opinions on what might look nice over there

I was thinking going for few a Echinodorus in area one, i'm not sure which would suit/fit my tank best. I do like the look of Echinodorus rubra osris.
For area 2 i was thinking either Lobelia cardinalis dwarf or Micromanthemum umbrosum and area three Staurogyne repens.

As i say i'm open to some suggestions, thanks a lot.

 

[Dan]

So its been a little while and I thought I'd update with how the tank is progressing.
So shortly after my last post I went ahead and added a load of new plants.
My plant list looks something like this now:
Limnophila Sessiliflora
Eleocharis Parvula
Echinodorus Rose
Hydrocotyle Tripartita
Lobelia Cardinalis
Ludwigia Glandulosa
Cryptocorne Wentii
blyxa japonica
Anubias Nana
Rotala Rotundefolia
Staurogyne repens

Now for the pics.
Initially after planting some of the new ones: Around the beginning of May.


And how it looks as of last week. (after a few little re-shuffles)





Next target is to get some nice height off those Echinoduros, not sure how to achieve that. And also hopefully the hairgrass will cover a little better.
I'm having a slight issue with green water at the moment. Is it a case of cutting back on the dosing and lighting for a little while? I can't say I've ever had issue with green water in a more established tank.

 

[Deano3]

growing in very nicely there hair grass is very slow grower in my case aswel seems to take forever to spread
looking good anyway mate

Dean

 

[LondonDragon]

Digging up old journals! Hows this one going Dan??