hey all and thanks for kind replies, the hobby suddenly got even more exciting
the tanks was set up in august and the rocks are japanese dragon rocks.
it was supposed to look like a miniature mountain, but it basically looks like rocks with plants around them, so not too happy with that, albeit it looks nice now that is stable.
i had problems with the cuba the first weeks, but they started to thrive once i lowered the temp from 26c to 24c.
therse plenty of substrate under it, from jbl and aquatic nature, guess that helps.
also had problems with the co2 (it leeked) and once i overdosed and killed a coupple of fish in the process, but a rapid water change saved the rest. my advise, stay home and survail while installing co2 the first time(s). now i have 2kg pressurised tank that works very well. but only a few times hav i seen oxygen bubbles on the leafs.
another thing i failed on was the sand i used in the front, which is too fine, so the cuba wont grow propperly there. i took out lots of it last night and replaced with more substrate, so i will see how that works out. the rest of the plants also thrive, except from the marsiela, its seems like the stems are rotting, but now new ones are coming up and they look really healthy.
3 weeks after set up diatoms started so show up, but they soon dissapered. and after about 2 months i started to get quite a bit of these dark hairy algaes (that was the time i had lots of hassle with the co2), but they too disapeard after lowering the lighting circles from 10 to 8 houres, fixing a steady co2 supply and rapid water changes.
the scape looked great in mid october, alages gone, fish and plants got colours etc. since that i havent done much, excpet from trimming the plants twice and changin 1/3 of the water once a week and cleaning the glass every second day. first big change was yesterday, and today it looks pretty ok with clear water and all.
so basically imo the key to success i lots of research (in sites like this) good lights and love and care for the hobby.
i have a quite stressfull job, so classical music and one 30min with care, then one houre witch just gazing at it really makes a difference for the state of mind. its a living biotope where one pllays the role of god (kind of) and it really is zen for the soul 8)
ps that little fish chatting with the snail is sleeping goby Tateurndina ocellicauda, got three of them and they are joyfull little creatures.
specs,
woha aquarium 59x40x40cm - 93l
doubble tmc growbeam leds with dimmer
tetratec ex700 filter
pressurised co2 with atomizer
lots of substrate
flora:
weeping moss
java moss
cuba
marsiela,
brasilliensis
micranthemoides
hygrophila
and one other type of grass-like plant.
fauna:
20 moskito rasboras
3 sleeping gobys
4 ottos
2 botias
14 amanos
8 crystal red
5-10 pinochio shrimps (?)
2 zebra snails and
bunch of sandsnails
hers my favourite, these guys truly have a lot of presonality, and they keep the unwanted snails at bay
By
romvaesn at 2011-12-13
