Hi, dropping in to read the Barr Report, realized I hadn't given my intro.
I do have a few vague questions that need better formulating.
I've had collections of smaller tanks, for many years I ran four 20 gallon longs with the conventional carbon HOB and undergravel filters. Occasionally I could grow great stuff under shoplights, such as huge stands of Vallisneria. When planted tanks started getting more publicity, I scrapped the undergravel filters and carbon in my HOB filters, replaced the gravel with Turface clay particles along with 1/3 commercial laterite, and started fiddling with DIY CO2 bottles, with some success with live plants such as Crypts and swords and Java fern.
About 3 years ago I decided to scrap those tanks for lack of space and got a single 90 gallon (nominal). It's a deep bent-corner tank (not a bow front, but similar outline). It's deep enough that it gave me unaccustomed light level problems that pushed me to try CF lights. I also switched to pressurized CO2. I started off with stem plants, and now have a red sword, lots of Java fern (3 varieties) aponogetans, and some great stands of red-leaf Crypt., probably C. wendtii. There's other odds and ends in there I've been trying. At one point I had a great stand of Crypt. balansae that I really liked.
On the bait content, I keep cardinal tetras, rasboras, Botia sidthemunki (terrific on nabbing snails!), bronze cories, a single clown pleco, and one remaining large old Siamese (true) algae eater. I had been debating about adding more Siamese algae eaters and a batch of otos. About 2 years ago I had major issues with odd lumpy TB-like disease killing indiscriminately both old and new fish after I added new blue flame gouramis, rasboras, and cardinals from decent local fish shops, after I gave them 6 weeks' quarantine in a small 7 gallon tank. Last summer I gave the big tank a long period of 80+ F temperatures, on the theory that if certain parasites had become endemic to the tank, that should kill it off in the gravel bed. No problems since, but I've been reluctant to test out if it was the fish shops' problem instead!
For maintenance, I've been alternating periods of maybe-benign neglect with experimental periods of lots of water changes while tinkering with lights and fert levels and adding more Turface/laterite/AGA soil and more powerheads (intakes covered with sponge filters) to shift the water around. Sometimes the neglect works much better--so long as I add enough dry ferts. I don't find I need much micros like iron (probably from the laterite I've added) or Nh4, but I do have to add a lot of monopotassium phosphate and potassium sulfate, and a fair amount of calcium.
I've got a serious lack of time to fuss with it, so I'm often frustrated with the shaggy ungroomed jungly look of it. It gets either green beard or BGA algae whenever I do something different. (The AGA soil addition really acted like a tank restart, but after it settled down, the plants loved it.)
I've done a few things right--I had a red lily to bloom last summer, and aponogetans from the last AGA convention have been in bloom since they settled in, the cory catfish have bred well enough to add surprising new members to the colony from somewhere among the thickets and sponge filters.
Using tank water from water changes to water my orchids, houseplants, and patio plants outside has amazing results on those plants, too, I highly recommend that!
I do have a few vague questions that need better formulating.
I've had collections of smaller tanks, for many years I ran four 20 gallon longs with the conventional carbon HOB and undergravel filters. Occasionally I could grow great stuff under shoplights, such as huge stands of Vallisneria. When planted tanks started getting more publicity, I scrapped the undergravel filters and carbon in my HOB filters, replaced the gravel with Turface clay particles along with 1/3 commercial laterite, and started fiddling with DIY CO2 bottles, with some success with live plants such as Crypts and swords and Java fern.
About 3 years ago I decided to scrap those tanks for lack of space and got a single 90 gallon (nominal). It's a deep bent-corner tank (not a bow front, but similar outline). It's deep enough that it gave me unaccustomed light level problems that pushed me to try CF lights. I also switched to pressurized CO2. I started off with stem plants, and now have a red sword, lots of Java fern (3 varieties) aponogetans, and some great stands of red-leaf Crypt., probably C. wendtii. There's other odds and ends in there I've been trying. At one point I had a great stand of Crypt. balansae that I really liked.
On the bait content, I keep cardinal tetras, rasboras, Botia sidthemunki (terrific on nabbing snails!), bronze cories, a single clown pleco, and one remaining large old Siamese (true) algae eater. I had been debating about adding more Siamese algae eaters and a batch of otos. About 2 years ago I had major issues with odd lumpy TB-like disease killing indiscriminately both old and new fish after I added new blue flame gouramis, rasboras, and cardinals from decent local fish shops, after I gave them 6 weeks' quarantine in a small 7 gallon tank. Last summer I gave the big tank a long period of 80+ F temperatures, on the theory that if certain parasites had become endemic to the tank, that should kill it off in the gravel bed. No problems since, but I've been reluctant to test out if it was the fish shops' problem instead!
For maintenance, I've been alternating periods of maybe-benign neglect with experimental periods of lots of water changes while tinkering with lights and fert levels and adding more Turface/laterite/AGA soil and more powerheads (intakes covered with sponge filters) to shift the water around. Sometimes the neglect works much better--so long as I add enough dry ferts. I don't find I need much micros like iron (probably from the laterite I've added) or Nh4, but I do have to add a lot of monopotassium phosphate and potassium sulfate, and a fair amount of calcium.
I've got a serious lack of time to fuss with it, so I'm often frustrated with the shaggy ungroomed jungly look of it. It gets either green beard or BGA algae whenever I do something different. (The AGA soil addition really acted like a tank restart, but after it settled down, the plants loved it.)
I've done a few things right--I had a red lily to bloom last summer, and aponogetans from the last AGA convention have been in bloom since they settled in, the cory catfish have bred well enough to add surprising new members to the colony from somewhere among the thickets and sponge filters.
Using tank water from water changes to water my orchids, houseplants, and patio plants outside has amazing results on those plants, too, I highly recommend that!