Well I decided I wasnt at all happy with my current look in the tank and infact, it was a bit of a mess so I decided that I'd start to try a new approach and decided i'd chop my redmore wood into a way I can create an Island look. I am recycling all my old plants and thinning them out a lot but I'm going to attempt to carpet using something like HC and I'm working on a way to prevent my angel fish uprooting the new plants.
I'm running 4 x T8 (30w each), Substrate of Tropica base substrate with Seachem Onyx sand on top. I'm going to be dosing a PPMD style fert schedule running JBL pressureised CO2.
Now on with the pics!
First, heres how the tank looked:
I then uprooted all the plants and almost instantly regretted it! The tropica substrate made a right old mess. If i had the cash i would have gone from scratch with Eco Complete but unfortunatly, the missus wont allow.
After doing no less than 6 water changes throughout the day, I decided to play around outside the tank with the hardscape. I decided to keep the Anubias that were already tied to the wood.
I had 3 bits of dragon rock in the tank as well which I bought a while back to see how nice it was. I'm really impressed with it but cant get permission to buy a 10-20kg order of the stuff. I think it would make the scape look a lot better with more in there and it woudl help me to build a multi level scape.
After 3 water changes the water is starting to get clearer!
Some of my crypts were enormous and needing thinning badly. As i tried splitting the roots a lot of them got damaged but i was really surprised at how many new plants had been born from what was once a single Tropica pot.
3 hours later..... another water change. I really could have done with some Seachem Clarity to help clear up this mess as it was a real problem for the filter to grab the bits. This shot is after doing a gravel vac to clear up all the sediment that settled.
I decided to put the wood in the sink to keep it wet and so I didnt have to take the Anubias off it as well. I ran out of water dechlorinator so poped to Ocean Commotion and got some more and picked up some more Anubias as well. they are small but when grown in will hopefully give a great effect.
You can also see my water change device. A 10 metre hose that runs from the tap to the tank in the living room. I just syphon out water into the drain then attach to the tap to refill!
While I was at it i took a quick photo of the coldwater tank:
Finally, I have the wood in and had to float the plants because I had to go away for the weekend.
When the camera is charged I'll get a better shot of how it looks now. Plants are still floating but I intent to get cracking as soon as I can.
I'll keep you updated.
I'm running 4 x T8 (30w each), Substrate of Tropica base substrate with Seachem Onyx sand on top. I'm going to be dosing a PPMD style fert schedule running JBL pressureised CO2.
Now on with the pics!
First, heres how the tank looked:
I then uprooted all the plants and almost instantly regretted it! The tropica substrate made a right old mess. If i had the cash i would have gone from scratch with Eco Complete but unfortunatly, the missus wont allow.
After doing no less than 6 water changes throughout the day, I decided to play around outside the tank with the hardscape. I decided to keep the Anubias that were already tied to the wood.
I had 3 bits of dragon rock in the tank as well which I bought a while back to see how nice it was. I'm really impressed with it but cant get permission to buy a 10-20kg order of the stuff. I think it would make the scape look a lot better with more in there and it woudl help me to build a multi level scape.
After 3 water changes the water is starting to get clearer!
Some of my crypts were enormous and needing thinning badly. As i tried splitting the roots a lot of them got damaged but i was really surprised at how many new plants had been born from what was once a single Tropica pot.
3 hours later..... another water change. I really could have done with some Seachem Clarity to help clear up this mess as it was a real problem for the filter to grab the bits. This shot is after doing a gravel vac to clear up all the sediment that settled.
I decided to put the wood in the sink to keep it wet and so I didnt have to take the Anubias off it as well. I ran out of water dechlorinator so poped to Ocean Commotion and got some more and picked up some more Anubias as well. they are small but when grown in will hopefully give a great effect.
You can also see my water change device. A 10 metre hose that runs from the tap to the tank in the living room. I just syphon out water into the drain then attach to the tap to refill!
While I was at it i took a quick photo of the coldwater tank:
Finally, I have the wood in and had to float the plants because I had to go away for the weekend.
When the camera is charged I'll get a better shot of how it looks now. Plants are still floating but I intent to get cracking as soon as I can.
I'll keep you updated.