mudboots

Well, barely 2 days into an increased light schedule (and not by much) I already notice algae responding. So I'm knocking off 30 minutes on either end to return to a 4-2-4 (with the 30 minute offset). The plants have been slow, but probably just because the lights are low for this depth of a tank. Anyway, it was clean and healthy looking so I'm just going to stick with the 4-2-4. Melinda and the kids will be tank-sitting for me while I head out for a little trip and hopefully the new algae is gone when I return.

And then I'll be contacting Michael about a couple pleco...

davemonkey

Good to know you caught the algae response before it got out of hand. Maybe a gradual increase of 15 minute intervals, as plants grow.

Anyway, I’m excited for you about the bristle nose. Those are probably my favorite fish at the moment.

mudboots

Long story short, I have two smaller lights (a 20" and a 24") on the way to get some different looks and plant responses going. I'll have a really small dim area in the middle where there are no plants (pics will wait 'till they come in and I'm done messin' around in there).

Michael...will be in touch soon...

mudboots

I borrowed all of the Staurogyne for the 20 long paludarium, so there's some thin areas in the front-left. I've not decided if I'll leave it like this but so far things are going well, just slow. Time will tell if the added light will speed growth up a little bit. I have not settled on a schedule for how the lighting will work, but for now all are on the previously noted 4-2-4 with a little offset. If this proves too much, I'll have the "back" lights on that schedule and the "front" on a reduced period.

davemonkey

Very nice, and the scape still looks great. So, basically double the amount of light where the pants are, and a shadow area in the middle-ish where there are no plants.

davemonkey

By the way, what are your water parameters? (KH, GH, pH)? I am wondering if yours is significantly different from mine. The Lagenandra piece you gave me is not liking my tank at all so far. My tap water is around 150+ (GH), 220 (KH) and pushing 8.0 or higher out of tap.
Tank parameters are slightly better, but still 7.5 or higher on pH (the OilDriu substrate softens it a bit, but that's only temporary until the substrate has absorbed all it's going to absorb).

mudboots

On the lights, I am going to put the front units (a 20" on the left and a 36" on the right) on a single digital timer for a 4-2-4 that starts at 11:15 am and ends at 9:15 pm. The back units (a 24" on the left and a 36" on the right) will be on the older timers I have been using. These are not all that accurate and each click is 30 minutes, so I am "aiming" for a 30 minute later start, and a 30 minute earlier shut off...and it'll just be "close-enough" on the 2 hour rest period.

As far a water parameters, my test strips are dated 11/2019, so maybe they are getting inaccurate. They are not all that exact, but they are showing me a pH of between the 7.0 and 7.5 color chips, and both the KH and the GH are between the 120 and 180 color chips. The tap pH is the same, but a little less hardness (recall I accidentally bought the Cichild Eco-Complete that contains aragonite). So my substrate isn't really changing my pH much, but definitely adding to hardness (is that good, bad or indifferent?). Fish seem happy and plants have adapted well EXCEPT the Blyxa...it hasn't completely gone away, but definitely took a setback.

I've read that the Laganendra is pretty adaptable so maybe just give it a little time? Not real certain though, as this is my first experience with it.

mudboots

Thank you Michael!!! I am very much LOVING our newest additions to the 125...one of the females seems to like an ol' amber snuff jar I placed in there during the re-scape when I changed substrates.

Michael

You're welcome! Typically in this species the male selects a cave and defends it from other males. If a gravid female approves of the cave, they will spawn inside. The eggs are orange and rather large. The male fans them almost continuously, and defends them from any intruder until the fry are free swimming. The fry disperse, and the male is ready to breed again. . . and again and again.

mudboots

I'm not sure if this fella is just getting out of the light, or thinking that this is the place...he's been focused on this little tile-cave all day. It's buried into the substrate and is about 6 inches long and just wide enough for him to squeeze into.