Waiting For Christmas - Fixing Laziness

[cbaum86]

My first foray in to the journal world...

So, my plan is to treat myself to something a little nicer around Christmas/new year but in the meantime I was sick of looking at my overgrown and admittedly slightly neglected tank. I decided to completely (almost) strip it down, clean it up and reuse what was left over and with that I'd try this as a practice run journal before the new setup. Also it might help me get to that 25 post count instead of just reading everyone else's posts .

I've had the tank nearly 6 years, it just some crappy 30" x 12" x 15" and it was originally a fish tank but over the past 2 years it became a planted tank with added fish.

The current hardware setup is:
Filter: APS 1400 EF2
Heater: Hydor 300W inline
CO2: Co2 Art reg, inline diffuser, FE
Lighting: Chihiros Vivid @ 50% RGB for 5 hours with 1 hour ramp each side
Substrate: A lovely soup of Caribsea eco-complete and Tropica soil
Ferts: 5ml Aquascaper Complete every other day

Flora (or what I can remember):
Monte Carlo
S Repens
Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini'
Microsorum Pteropus Mini 'Petit' Java Fern
Bucephalandra Red
Bucephalandra 'Wavy Green'
Bolbitis heudelotii
Cryptocoryne Lutea 'hobbit'
Cryptocoryne beckettii 'Petchii'
Cryptocoryne x willisii
Anubias Nana
Anubias Nana 'Mini'

Fauna:
10x Ember Tetra
3x Otocinclus
14x Amano Shrimp
1x Nerite Snail

So here it was before I tore it down:

As mentioned, I had pretty much neglected doing any major maintenance on the tank. It had a DIY LED I'd been playing with for 18 months or so but it gave up the ghost and I let the tank sit under some half arsed light for about 3 months before deciding to just do it properly and purchase the Chihiros. As soon as I put that on I couldn't ignore the plant soup I'd created. I needed to do something about it. I thought I should treat myself to a new tank but at the moment finance don't allow so I'll treat myself at Christmas, because money spent at Christmas doesn't count right?

I did originally plan on just thinning it out, taking out all the plants that were covered in a mix of green spot and BBA but with the amount of Java Fern, Anubias, Bolbitis and Buce, everytime I pulled a bit it dislodged a bit of hardscape. Plus, the positioning of some plants, the large crypts at the front was, well just unacceptable. So, full blown everything out (minus the substrate and monte carlo - I couldn't face trying to get it back into the Caribsea) and the living room looked like a bomb site with plastic storage boxes, buckets, towels covering every surface and 3 sinks in the house rendered out of action unless it served my purpose. I managed to get it done over a couple of days, along with all the other errands I'd set myself up with over the 2 days off work.

Just after the rescape:

I'm not completely happy with the layout, but with timescales in place it is what it is. Plus I'm going to use it as a test to see how the plants grow under the Chihiros for the next 3/4 months whilst I decide what Santa will bring me.

I need to remove that rock, weighing down the smaller branches which for some reason I decided to not keep in water whilst I rescaped. I'm also tempted to get rid of that branch stretching the middle creating more of a V. I also have a pot of marsilea crenata from a week ago that I might use to fill out those gaps in the foreground.

 

[Jayefc1]

Looks really nice mate should be happy with what you have achived so what are your Christmas options from what i can see you dont seem to need much il be watching your journal
Cheers
Jay

 

[Deano3]

Tank looks great i really like it, growth in last tank was amazing.i will also be watching so keep us updated.

Thanks dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

 

[cbaum86]

Cheers Jay.

I'd like a new tank with a deeper footprint (there isn't much space behind the hardscape in the current setup) and definitely cleaner silicone work. Plus I scratched up the glass quite badly on this one over the years, can't really see it in photos but more noticeable in person.

I'm still trying to decide what length to go for. The dream was something in the 120p size category but that comes not only with the cost of the tank but probably another filter and definitely another light, plus more hardscape and plants and a rearrange of the living room. Originally I was going to go for something like the Aquascaper 600 but I'm thinking of stretching myself a little and going for something 90cm in length - just give myself a few more options. My only concern is how the Chihiros will perform at the corners over the longer 90cm - probably worrying over nothing when looking at the specs.

 

[Jayefc1]

I have a twinstar 600 over a 800 tank with no issues at all in corners buy i have put easier lowet light requiring plants there just to be sure 120p would be amazing but like you say defo need another filter and light then the cost can spiral quickly there is a nice set up in the for sale section but you jeed your 25 posts to get there
Cheers
Jay

 

[cbaum86]

Quick update.

I've removed the stone weighing down the small central branch. I'm still not sure if it would be better without it and either more fern or bolbitis growing from the centre but as it's a 3-4 month adventure I won't worry too much.
The curled up crypts are now more upright after finding the light. Not sure how long it will be before I see some new shoots after severely stripping back any that were infested with algae.
I've planted some marsilea crenata at the front in the corners, mainly because I had an extra pot from an order I placed to add to my wabis.
I've noticed a few leaves on the some of the buce which still have BBA and I missed trimming off when rescaping so they're coming out too.
Added 4 more Embers, they were the only ones left in the shop and just looked so lonely. You can really see how dull they are compared to my existing year old stock, hoping they colour up over the next few weeks.
Also picked up a couple of Golden Honey Gourami to add some extra interest amongst the Embers. They're a little timid at the moment when I approach but viewing from a far they add a real pop of colour.
It looks like the Amanos have a real taste for the reineckii which makes the look a little raggedy, not sure what I can do about it. I don't know if adding extra food will deter them or not.
The Nerite is already peppering every surface with lovely eggs, maybe some moss to cover that up, we'll see.

Spam of photos, probably should have waited till the co2 was off and it didn't look like a snow globe but, well I didn't so must remember for next time.

 

[Jayefc1]

Looks really nice love ember tetras one of my fav lil fish the amonos will devour the reckiti apparently they love it so i wpuld hold out much hope with it
Cheers
Jay

 

[chefski]

Looking good, i did like the look of the overgrown tank also

 

[cbaum86]

Not much is happening at the moment growth wise but a little update video.



I've ended up removing the majority of the Alternanthera Reineckii 'Mini' on the left side. The amanos really are munching on it quite badly and I'm getting leaves breaking off and seeing them float around almost daily - I think they're even having a go at the S. Repens. The right hand side isn't as bad but maybe now half of the left is gone they'll migrate over to that. I'm hesitant to replace it as this was only a short project but I may have no choice so suggestions welcome.

I also had a little problem with algae. The CO2 was out of whack and after messing about with the BPS for a few days I realised the timer was an hour and half out so it was coming on late into the light period and taking a while to build up. Now that's sorted I guess it's just a case of a bit of extra maintenance to get rid of the algae that's built up.

I also think I need to trim the Buce down. I think it's gotten very tall from the previous setup which has much lower light. Can I just cut and reattach it similarly to like I would Anubias?