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Planted Nano Photo Journal - updated 22nd Oct 2007


Malloy

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EDIT - I took out the Rost Barbs and threw them into an African Cichlid tank, there were already 3 in there and they are fine. I've put new fish etc in so the list below is updated.

I've set up an aquarium specifically for growing plants, I'll be taking regular photos over time. I've done a lot of reading about this but I'm still a novice so any comments are welcome. Also keep in mind I'm on a student budget. Big thanks to Aquariums@Asquith, the've been very helpful with this and my father's cichlid tank.

Setup is as follows:

Aqua One AR-380 34 litre

Built in filter media (carbon and noodles) replaced with Seachem Matrix and Purigen

25W heater

11W compact fluro tube

500 ml homemade CO2

Seachem Flourish excel organic carbon added to water and Dupla Root balls under 2-3 inches of about 3 ml substrate

Fish - Endlers (2m 4f), 1 Bristlenose Catfish, 2 Kooli Loaches (sp?) and 3 aglae eating fresh water shrimp.

Plants - Java Fern, Vallisnera (long at the back, corkscrew at the front), Anubias being grafted onto driftwood, about 5 Amazon Swords, some Hygrophillia at small amount of Java Moss.

I got the Amazon swords for next to nothing, they were all in pretty bad shape with latticed leaves (pic below). So I thought I'd just try 'em and see, no harm done. The damaged leaves have been cut back on some of them and the others I have just left to see what happens. I'll wait and see if they survive with the catfish in there (the terracotta pot isn't in there any more).

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This is the CO2 setup, just a 500 ml bottle with a sugar, yeast and bicarb soda mixture. Should last about a fortnight. The gas originally went to an airstone as shown in the first pic, it now goes to the venturi on a 150 lph powerhead to better diffuse the CO2, as in pic 2. No, the gas doesn't go straight up the flter inlet!

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Day 1 - 21 Aug 2007 - Water is still a little cloudy from disturbing the substrate

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1 week - 28 Aug 2007 - Swords are getting some new leaves and the Java Fern is thickening up nicley

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2 weeks - 4 Sept 2007 - Added Hygrophillia (sp?) and moved the Java Fern onto some driftwood

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3 weeks - 11 Sept 2007 - Did some heavy pruning on the old latticed Amazon Sword Leaves, the Hygrophillia is going very well

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2 months - 22 Oct 2007 - Everything has obviously grown a lot since the last update. Some of the plants are not in great condition, I've started adding more iron to the water.

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So now I guess I should look into the ancient art of pruning? Also, looking at the pics I think I prefered the color of the Rosy Barbs...oh well. I'm now considering my next project, a 2-3 footer so any suggestions would be welcome. The main thing so far is that I like the look of the carpet plants I've seen pics of, I'll have to find out what they are called.

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