Not all heroes dare scapes

[ScaperJoe]

UPDATE

Tank #1 (Day 70)

I fitted an inline CO2 diffuser this weekend and was therefore able to remove a piece of equipment from the tank which is always a good thing. I really didn't like the look of the Blau diffuser and liked it even less after it turned green. I've now tried 3 diffusers in 2 months

The bazzoka was great at its job, but looked horrible. The Blau quickly degraded within a week (and made a strange noise). I'm very impressed with the inline - I think I'm getting near 100% dissolution, but I read the ceramic needs regular cleaning? Anyone else have one and can confirm?

I had a mishap while doing my weekly trim too - I completely dislodged one of the moss clumps and decided to remove it (so it was more of a moss-hap... hahaha hahaHAHA HAHAHA HA!). Its one less trim job and I don't think it ruins the aesthetic (low tree on the right):

The Alternanthera continues to be torn to shreds by the Amanos. I tell myself it gives it a 'lived in' kind of look. The plants don't seem to mind too much for the time being and send out nice new leaves for the shrimp to maim regularly.

I observed the Rasbora up to some cool behaviour this week. They all got real low in the tank and started hunting in a pack amongst leaves and trees, occasionally scaring the excrement out of an Amano! Good fun to watch.

The water has been super clear lately and I'm starting to feel like I have to do less poking and prodding on #1

(update on Tank #2 to follow)

 

[erwin123]

I have 6 Amano shrimp and they don't attack my AR Minis... if you don't have enough 'food' for the Amanos you could consider wafers? My Amanos like to steal the wafers I feed my fish with, but the fish don't take such daylight robbery lying down and sometimes chase the Amanos for the wafer

I seem to have same filter (edit, mine is 307, think yours is a 207), same diffuser and check valve as you..... I've used my diffuser for 3 months already still producing fine mist, haven't cleaned it.

 

[ScaperJoe]

I have 6 Amano shrimp and they don't attack my AR Minis... if you don't have enough 'food' for the Amanos you could consider wafers?

Thanks @erwin123 - perhaps I am being stingy with their food. I feed them this

but only once or twice a week - Green Aqua advised that frequency in one of their videos to get the maximum out of their algae eating ability, but maybe my algae has dropped so much that they need to eat the Alternanthera. I'll try feeding them more often and see if the AR Mini recovers a bit. My Amanos are getting quite big now and there are 13!

I seem to have same filter (edit, mine is 307, think yours is a 207), same diffuser and check valve as you..... I've used my diffuser for 3 months already still producing fine mist, haven't cleaned it.

Good combo! And thanks for the diffuser advise - that gives me hope that I won't be doing it every 2-3 weeks. Mine is the 107 by the way - I've been thinking about an upgrade but its still fairly new and seems to do fine with my 60 litres

 

[Monkfish]

I love both scapes. I too was a victim of Chilli Rasbora and a surface skimmer. I couldn't work out where they had gone until I did a filter change and found them in there, one was still alive!

 

[ScaperJoe]

I love both scapes. I too was a victim of Chilli Rasbora and a surface skimmer. I couldn't work out where they had gone until I did a filter change and found them in there, one was still alive!

Thank you @Monkfish - We probably won't be the last to suffer those kinds of losses.

Its frustrating because the skimmer is amazing at its job, but any modifications you make to it seem to hamper it. I put a fine metal mesh inside that gunked up halfway through the first day and completely stopped its skimming ability. I had it on a timer to come on every 2 or 3 hours for 2 minutes only and it still caught fish. Now I have a remote control plug socket and I can turn it on from my desk and supervise its deadly skimming

 

[Monkfish]

I really loved them when I had them, I'm planning a nano scape just to put some in as I want them again.

 

[Hufsa]

I would gradually increase feeding of the amanos until you have a sufficient decrease in alternanthera munching or start seeing more algae.
Unless you have very hard algae wafers, its possible to break them up to feed smaller amounts more regularly.
Perhaps they are getting hungry on the days between feeds and thats when they do the most "gardening"?
I like splitting up foods anyway as it prevents one greedy fish (or shrimp in this case) to hog all the food

 

[ScaperJoe]

I would gradually increase feeding of the amanos until you have a sufficient decrease in alternanthera munching or start seeing more algae.
Unless you have very hard algae wafers, its possible to break them up to feed smaller amounts more regularly.
Perhaps they are getting hungry on the days between feeds and thats when they do the most "gardening"?
I like splitting up foods anyway as it prevents one greedy fish (or shrimp in this case) to hog all the food

Good advice @Hufsa - I've just about recovered from the trauma of my first algae bloom, so I'm ready to try this out - doubly so because its in the interests of both the shrimp and the plants Cheers!

I'll feed them every other day to see how things go

 

[ScaperJoe]

UPDATE

Tank #2 (Day 16)

Not a lot to report on #2 really. Low-tech is soooo slow! The lack of CO2 means that the plants just trundle on at a glacier's pace. The floating plants have doubled in number and I think they are doing a lot of the legwork for the tank, but then they have access to more CO2.

The melting seems to have mostly subsided, but the best news is this:

Remember Melty McMelterson?

It's gone full Lazarus and become Melty Mc-hanging-on-by-the-skin-of-his-teeth-erson:

 

[Karmicnull]

Cheers @Karmicnull - you must be relishing the thought of getting glued up and quaffing pints over on The new ice age - or is planting day a long way off?

Bit of a late reply but yes indeed - took me three days over the bank holiday weekend and was very good down time from work. Much inspirational beer quaffed!