Consigliere

I've been getting ready for the arrival of a 250G tall tank which I'm planning to use for some discus, schooling fish, and plants.

In the meantime I have a 70G tank that I am using to test all the different systems I am going to put into the tank - UV sterilizer, CO2 diffuser, drip system etc. To get the plants going well, and decide on some species with first hand experience, I got a whole wack of plants from the forums and planted the tank. Added a cleaner crew and a school of raspboras to go with some rosy barbs I had been keeping for the last 2 years from the remnants of a once mighty low light low tech tank with bronze crypts and java fern.

Fish list as far as I can remember is:

4 peppered cories
2 panda cories
2 bronze cories
5 ottos
3 siamese algae eaters
3 flying fox
1 BN pleco
1 golden pleco
8 harlequin rasboras
4 rosy barbs
3 american flag fish
3 currently unknown hitch-hiker fry

Some specs and what not:

Volume: 70G

2 HOB filters, UV powerhead w/ DIY spraybar

5x DIY CO2 diffused through powerheads or filters 24hr + 1/2 BPS pressurized CO2 on for 10hr

160W T5HO with split Giesmann midday/aquaflora + Tek reflectors on for 10hr

Zebra rock + driftwood hardscape

Two layer substrate with PFS on top with root tabs seperated from bottom layer of mulm+gravel+sand + root tab by window screen.

Plant Gro NPK, Plant Gro Iron, Flourish and Flourish Tabs for ferts

Here's the tank 9 days into first big planting:



and after first trim:



Got a bit of green algae spots on the front glass and had a decent size Anubias Nana rhizome melt away for unknown reasons but the stems are growing well, and the rest of the crypts, swords, foreground and mosses are pearling after 3-4hrs of lights on so things seem to be growing well. Hopefully stays this way...

Critique and comments welcome.

Veloth

Plants look healthy but that's a lot of different plants in that tank. Is this a grow out tank for the 250g?

Wire Fox Terror

Every plant really appears to be flourishing here, nice job! How do you like the combination of the Aquaflora/Midday bulbs? I'm considering switching out my Midday/10K combo because I feel like everything looks really washed out.

davemonkey

Beautiful plants and scape! I can't wait to see this 250 you are getting, it sounds like it will be a wonderful challenge.

-Dave

apm

looking good bud... cant wait to see the 250... is this post on gta as well? are u gonna put it up?

Consigliere

Yes the combo looks great IMO. Haven't 2 midday bulbs together yet though. In the 250 my combo will be 4 midday 2 aqua flora.

Yes this is the grow out for the 250. Already decided a few of the species that will go in the 250 display. Still looking for some downoi and giant hairgrass to see how those work out.

Got a few more raspboras and 3 more panda cories yesterday to add to the schools. Really like those panda cories.

The plant on the front right, believe it is ludwigia incinata var verticallata 'cuba', is just about ready for a trim. Might post that for shipping only for any Canucks, but more than likely it will end up in my 10G shrimp tank.

Consigliere

Been a bit over a week and the tank has had a bit of a downturn. A bit of BBA managed to root itself onto the slow growers when I was transitioning from DIY to pressurized CO2. I have the CO2 situation sorted out now. Also, had a bid of hair algae and GDA break out due to some nutrient deficiencies with the higher CO2. Still working on fine tuning the fert cycle but I think I have it down now. Spot dosed about 70-80mL of peroxide to some the algae as well with the filters off. Started the powerhead after an hour or 2 and then the filters 12 hrs later. Made figure 50-75% water change between the time the powerhead turned on and the pumps turned on. Definitely did a job on some of the algae, but now the plants aren't pearling nearly as much. Repeated this for 2 days and shortened photo period from 10 hrs to 7hrs. Added 12 ghost shrimp and 3 yamato shrimp also as the war waged against algae is being stepped up.

Did some trimming of algaed up leaves. Moved a few things around. Swapped out the small zebra rock on the right for a bit bigger one as the stems were just about making the old one invisible. Will be doing a trim Monday night. Cuttings will be available to Canadians...send PM.



Also, looked up the barbs, they are actually goldens.

Tex Gal

Great lush growth. Sounds like you know what you're doing and have a good handle on everything. You're gonna have great plants for you big tank!

Consigliere

Thanks. Stems have been doing well but haven't made out too well with my HC. Was hoping to use this for a big, big carpet but am thinking of other options now. Was planning on dry starting the new tank so that might change things again. We will see. Apparently new tank is shipping a week from Monday.

Consigliere

It seems that the peroxide spot treatment and upping the fert dosing has been the key to the algae issues. BBA is essentially gone, the GDA is retreating quickly and the thread algae has been eaten by the wildlife. Life is good in the tank again. I have re-upped the photoperiod to 7.5hrs so we will see how that works out. Will post another updated pic soon.