[monkE]

Hey all, i'm new to this forum.
I've had tanks for years but have been pretty ignorant about keeping plants. I honestly didn't even know that you had to feed them. I've educated myself and with the help of some friends and the guys at Island Pets i've begun to start adding some green to my tank. Mostly Cryptocorynes because they are aparently the easiest to maintain, but i'm going to work on getting more variety and density in the tank.

Currently populated with
1 Bala Shark
1 Rainbow Shark
4 Zebra Danios (2 long and 2 short fin)
4 Gold Barbs
2 German Rams
2 Giant Khuli Loaches
2 Flying foxes
1 Gold Gourami
1 Catfish (unindentifed)

I'm using Flourish and Excel as well as root tabs to help the plants and i've recently purchased a Hagen GLO light.

What do you guys think?

Any suggestions for more plant life?

 

[eternity302]

Nice job!
I can tell who's the king of the tank =) THE BALA!

 

[monkE]

Thanks!

Actually, the Gourami is a bit of a prick and seems to be dominating the rest of the tank. The bala is pretty docile

 

[eternity302]

=) Ahhh... gourami gets a little bit...#$^#%# as age grows! =) I'd drop that gourami and get a few more bala!
Btw.. nice skull! =)

 

[jobber]

love the t-rex skull. your plants are doing quite well. i see you have plantlets!

 

[jamez&becca]

just be aware with a aqua clear filter the flow breaks the water surface so any co2 that gets made by fish will be released by the waterflow best to do a small canister filter with plants

 

[2wheelsx2]

just be aware with a aqua clear filter the flow breaks the water surface so any co2 that gets made by fish will be released by the waterflow best to do a small canister filter with plants

He's dosing Excel as his carbon source, so that doesn't matter.

 

[discuspaul]

MonkE:
I'm from Vancouver too (Surrey).
Have been fish-keeping for over 40 years, since in my early teens.
Am now growing out Discus in a similar-sized planted tank.
Your tank looks pretty good, & I think you could do a lot with it.
Just a suggestion : IMHO, get rid of the dinosaur skull - give yourself more space & make the tank look much more natural.
You could successfully grow hygros, ludwigias, sword plants, java fern, c/s vals, to name a few.
Also, if you're interested, I may have some tips for you on really clarifying that water column - make it pure & sparkling clear !
Paul

 

[monkE]

Paul, thanks for looking. I gotta say, i love that skull in there, i'm not a big fan of those cheesy ornaments, but i've had this skull since i was a little kid and i just like it.

Thanks for the advice for the plants, I've gotten some trimmings from my buddy and since i have switched to EI dosing the plants have just taken off. If you have any advice about clearing up the water column i'm all ears!!

Thanks for all the looks guys!!

 

[monkE]

Since I got my new tank, I have completely forgotten about this thread. Well after looking at those pictures i uploaded before it's amazing to see where the tank is at now.

First off, I'm still using excel and have not gone up to CO2 systems yet.
Secondly i started out using the Seachem additives: Flourish Comprehensive and Iron. On the advice from a buddy of mine I've switched to EI dosing. AND WOW the plants are doing fantastic. I'm still fighting algae and don't know the solution for that but the tank overall is doing great.

This thread began at the start of August, so it's been about 6 weeks. I've added a few plants since the original photos were taken.

After a trip to IPU in Richmond:

After a couple weeks, I moved the one big plant in the middle over to the left side of the tank to try and hide the heater... I've also been trimming this one a lot and planting it throughout the tank.

So here is how it looks today

Not bad for 6 weeks! What do you guys think??

 

[2wheelsx2]

Look pretty good. You're not going to want to hear the solution to your algae problem...it's CO2. It looks like your have green spot algae too, which usually mean too low phosphates.

 

[discuspaul]

Water clarity

monkE:
Since you asked, here's my .02 cents on maintaining crystal clear water.
You may know this already, but here's what works for me:
I use 2 HOB filters, so some of this may not work for you in a canister, i.e. the polyester batting.
You can buy polyester batting at any discount fabric store, e.g. Fabricland - about 5 bucks for a full yard X about 18" - 20" or so - fairly thick & can easily be doubled up & cut to fit any size filter - lasts me several months @ 1/4 of the price you pay for filter floss at an LFS. I change it often, every week or 2 - it really picks up significant detritus matter.
A second suggestion is to get pads of thick green fibre - it's the same material as the scrub pad on the top of kitchen sponges - @ a Dollar store - 10 pads for a buck - cut them to size for your filter & double or triple them up. You can use them for weeks to really assist in clarifying your water.
Both these items are chemical-free & safe to use in your tank.
Last but not least - use Purigen - the re-chargeable adsorbent filtration product - it's the ultimate, imo - works like magic ! I swear by it.
Hope this is a little help.
Paul

 

[monkE]

Look pretty good. You're not going to want to hear the solution to your algae problem...it's CO2. It looks like your have green spot algae too, which usually mean too low phosphates.

ya that's what i was afraid of! lol

 

[monkE]

monkE:
Since you asked, here's my .02 cents on maintaining crystal clear water.
You may know this already, but here's what works for me:
I use 2 HOB filters, so some of this may not work for you in a canister, i.e. the polyester batting.
You can buy polyester batting at any discount fabric store, e.g. Fabricland - about 5 bucks for a full yard X about 18" - 20" or so - fairly thick & can easily be doubled up & cut to fit any size filter - lasts me several months @ 1/4 of the price you pay for filter floss at an LFS. I change it often, every week or 2 - it really picks up significant detritus matter.
A second suggestion is to get pads of thick green fibre - it's the same material as the scrub pad on the top of kitchen sponges - @ a Dollar store - 10 pads for a buck - cut them to size for your filter & double or triple them up. You can use them for weeks to really assist in clarifying your water.
Both these items are chemical-free & safe to use in your tank.
Last but not least - use Purigen - the re-chargeable adsorbent filtration product - it's the ultimate, imo - works like magic ! I swear by it.
Hope this is a little help.
Paul

Paul
thanks for the advice. i am using a canister filter on this tank but i'm sure i can get a couple sheets of that polyester batting in there.. i'll have to look into that Purigen too.. never heard of it before

-Mike

 

[2wheelsx2]

i'll have to look into that Purigen too.. never heard of it before

http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/equipment-talk-section-14/purigen-5447/

 

[monkE]

awesome wheels! thanks for that link

i'll definitely be picking up some of that

 

[discuspaul]

Purigen

Mike,
One small note of caution re: Purigen -
If you find this product packaged in it's own holding bag, great.
However, if you buy the loose particles in a plastic jar, be SURE you get a VERY FINE mesh bag to put the particles in, for use in your filter. The Purigen particles are extremely tiny, and even if you use a so-called fine mesh bag, you will lose them and they'll be all over your tank. I buy my bags @ PetSmart for $1.19 & double them up (fold one layer over itself & knot both ends) so as to make sure I don't have particles everywhere. It happened to me originally & was quite a mess.
Paul

 

[2wheelsx2]

SeaChem "The Bag" Filter Media Bag

Or get the bag and Purigen for almost the same price:

SeaChem Purigen Filter Media - 100 mL

 

[monkE]

damn i was there today and i didn't see that anywhere! who else sells it?

 

[2wheelsx2]

I believe King Ed's does.