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My planted tank journey


Chuckmeister

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Chuck the tank is starting to fill in beautifully. I am really impressed with the whole layout and the fish selection.

There is a shot in the video that you start to pan out at around the 2 minute mark and you can see the fish species distinctly schooling. Superb. :clap

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Had to edit out a couple of earlier links to some smaller twig like branches I got off ebay. Lost 6 out of 10 peppermints due to toxicity with whatever they put on/in the plastic.

My moliro luckily survived.

I've put in so many different plastic bits into various tanks over the years...its the first time I've had a toxic one. Was bound to happen at some stage I guess.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well had to bite the bullet today with my side drop and remove it. Was losing too many fish between the glass.

I got my new aqua one 2700 today so I popped that on my tropheus tank and now my planted tank has 2 x 2217's. Should be tons of filtration for it.

The back corner is bare as I need to get another bag of ADA and a few more plants...

planted%20tank%20with%20canister_zpsywp7

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Had a bit of a shuffle around today and put in a few new plants...

Dwarf vallis - which is the tall reedy plants in front of the rock on the left.

Cryptocoryne lucens - just in front/lrft of the wood on the right.

Anubius nana but you cant see it from the number of plants.

Bacopa mini Japan

Staurogyne reopens.

Java fern - I got that for the left corner where the filter used to be. Tied them onto fire iwagumi stone.

and a few other bits and bobs for the back.

planted%20tank_zpsy3uvbsna.jpg

planted2_zpsovn4y4yr.jpg

These planted tank guys like to name their current tanks on themes..

If I were ever going to name this tank (build) it would be KAOS......then the next build when I strip it down and rebuild I might call it Get Smart lol

Time to watch it grow for a little bit now. been through the nasty algae new tank syndrome, have all the plants in... just gotta see how each plant grows now.

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  • 5 weeks later...
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Chuck the plants have definitely thrived. The growth has been phenomenal when you compare it to last months photos.

I am interested to see the updated photo and how you have approached the prune.

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Chuck the plants have definitely thrived. The growth has been phenomenal when you compare it to last months photos.

I am interested to see the updated photo and how you have approached the prune.

Yeah I suspect its due to water temp. I tend to have lower water temps in my tanks than is probably recommended. With the warmer weather (and water temps) its gone crazy.

Yes amazing,,, the sweet spot has really been hit with those plants.

Such short amount of time, you've got your work cut out for maintenance. :)

Excellent work mate and very proffessional looking.

lol yeah tanki maintanence isn't as fun as I thought it was years back !!

poor fishy got no space to swim :p

lookng good Chuck

lol things were getting fairly tight in there. I pulled quite a few (taller plants) from the foreground opening up the front again and the rest of the tank got a haircut about 2/3's of the tank. I was losing sight into the caves and was bothering me I couldn't see what was happening. I have some L168 in there and they are hard enough to see at the best of times. Hopefully 2016 will bring some L046 if I can find some that are fairly priced. The longer term plan was to make a planted Zebra tank, hopefully I can stick with the plan.

first%20trim_zpsawu6wfdj.jpg

Not quite sure but I might pull this tank down later next year (2016) and try something a little more formalized instead of the chaotic jungle it is now though I gotta admit that I do like the jungle look...at this stage

edit - added in photo

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Fantastic technique Chuck. I love the fact that you have maintained different heights. Many a time I have seen the plants cut back to the same height across the whole tank which looks unnatural. What you have done has opened up the tank and not lost any aesthetic appeal.

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  • 1 month later...

Ged, I had to bite the bullet today and prune my tank level (and low)...growth is out of control and pruning plants to suit is not an option really unless I had 6 hours for a pruning session. I now understand why people just cut lol.

I've done 2/3's of the tank and I'll do the rest tomorrow and show you the carnage. Plants are seeing alot more light so should be happier and the fish are happy to see a bit more swimming space. The tank was getting really dark and thick, fish were getting hard to see etc..

Pics up in the next few days. I'll give these a month to pick up again then I'll pull a ton of plants and maybe try a bit more of an organised chaos. Now I'm getting an idea how these plants grow I'm sort of drifting away from stem plants to Java fern etc... slower growing plants..

I suppose an out of control healthy tank is better than an algae tank so I shouldn't complain lol

one side effect is my tropheus tank is seeing a few more pots of cuttings so I can move them      around etc 

 

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