Latest effort - now watch it mature

fjf888

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Oct 29, 2007
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Almost any decent size tank with wood, I would always consider a bristlenose pleco. They will keep the wood spotless. Mine have been kind to my groundcover so far. Without a lot of fast growers, a little algae is bound to come around somewhere.

Also won't the algae be able to benefit first from the CO2 spike first rather than the plants. Could be just a matter of timing.
 

Ekrindul

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Jul 9, 2010
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Too bad on the c helferi. I finally took all mine into a club meeting and gave it away. It was a pain to trim the brown leaves all the time. I replaced it with stargrass. Different look, but I'm very happy with the change. Since I'm doing Excel only, it grows at a good pace, but not too fast. Grows very bushy and shows off taller driftwood well.

I love how kribs swim and their long dorsal fin wagging all the time. Really neat fish. They can be very mean, though. I had to give mine up when I got my pearl gourami. He was coming all the way to the surface to get at them. Looks like you are getting a nicely sized fish load.
 

Gerryd

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Fred,

Am currently on the lookout for a nice ancistrus or two.. Have not been available at the lfs....

Ekrindul,

Yes, that would be a much different look, helferi to stargrass :)

Looking at the helferi, I see that my NEW growth does not experience this YET.

I also see where these leaves also are transparent at the crown level....I will post pics later to demonstrate.. My new leaves are not yet as tall, but I do not see the same issue...

When I buy helferi, almost ALL of the leaves have a brown/transparent type look at the crown. I think this is an unhealthy leaf and am not surprised it fares poorly.

BTW, I am ordering 2 dozen more Alestes so will advise if I get them. Waiting to hear back now from the supplier Rehoboth Aquatics....

I have done business with them in the past....

Fishwise, I need to find a BN or two, another female krib (for the 2 males to fight over) and I should be good to go.
 

Gerryd

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Hi,

Maybe you should increase PAR to 40 or so....

Hi dutchy,

I just lowered my fixtures as low as they can go (how low can you go?)...

PAR prior over the stauro was avg 30-33 or so...

I lowered the lights about 2 inches (max) and avg PAR over the same area is 34-38 or so...

Not a huge increase but I think it will help a bit....

I have been thinking about replacing one of the T8 fixtures with a T5 with just one or two bulbs. I may have to raise higher but I can do so easily. This may be what I need to get close to 50 PAR at the substrate should I want/need it. Plus I know there is a wider array of T5 bulbs available....

Perhaps two 6' T5 HO bulbs about 12-15" above the surface???? It may do it... I will investigate some fixtures...

I will motor along with this increase for awhile and see how it goes. I think as said that it will help.

Is about a 7-8% increase in PAR.....
 
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Gerryd

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Kribensis - Fry!

I know this is not an uncommon occurance but these are the first cichlid fry I have had for awhile.....

I knew it was happening and now they parents are moving them around the tank.

Let me get some video before they are eaten...
 

dutchy

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Hi Gerry,

As youmaybe knowmy tank has a PAR of around 55, but I still have signs of not enough light, like:

- Several plants will get bare stems when growing taller, I can have Aromaticas with 10 inch of bare stem and 4 inch of leaves.
- The Stauro had a compact growth before and is now growing tall
- I can't grow specific plants like L. Peruensis.

Other plants do very well with low light, like Hygros, Rotalas, Blyxa.

So the amount of light is mainly dependant of the plants we're using. I'm going to slowly increase light and see what happens.

BTW...I'm changing the scape again...

regards,
dutchy
 
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Gerryd

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dutchy,

Good to hear you are changing again....I hate feeling like I am the only one that changes his scape....

What are you doing? A drastic change with only hardscape and a field of HC with some awesome manzy wood :)

Remember that it may not be too little light. Aromatica and even stauro get very thick ESP towards the bottoms. I can see where little light or flow gets to these areas. Periodically I had to thin the ranks of BOTH species to alleviate this at times.

I was using 100 PAR at the substrate at the time :)

I agree completely that plants choice is more important when using low light.
 

Gerryd

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Hey all,

I have been recovering from a recent outbreak of poor growth and brown diatoms. I think due to some ambient light, insufficient PAR reaching the plants, and a bit of neglect to be honest...

So, over the last several weeks I have been using various tools in my toolkit and have done the following:

1). 50-75% water changes every 2-3 days over the last 10 days so far.

2). Double my normal EI dose right after water change. Traces 4-6 hours later.

3). Cut down on ambient light.

4). Increased PAR to plants showing poor growth. Increased from low-mid 30s to low-mid 50s...this was more for the stauro 49 than any java which was happy at 30 and less :)

5). Trimmed, trimmed, trimmed, and trimmed again to remove as much damaged or algae covered leaves as possible.

6). Gave the anubias and cyperus helferi excel baths to help remove the brown diatoms. this worked rather well.

The last week has shown a vast improvement in growth rate, size, health, etc and no new algae. The wendti appears to be changing to a submersed leaf form that is very much darker and narrower/more ruffled than before. I like it though. This is almost complete just need it to fill out again.

While trimming the wendti earlier I made the following changes...

1). Moved the cyperus helferi from the left side to the right behind the wood and among the rocks. I like it better here.

2). Moved a bit of trident and narrow java to the skull where the cyperus was.

3). Removed the bolbitus as it was not doing that well.

4). Covered the right locline with riccia and hydrocotyle like the other side. Added some trident as well to brighten it up.

5). Moved some of the trident from the right wood to #2 and 4..

This has opened up the scape a bit more and highlighted the wood more I think/hope...

The stauro and other plants are showing good signs of acceleration in terms of growth and I think they will really take off now.

I intend to continue this higher level of effort/maintenance/dosing for the next 2 weeks at least and then revert back to normal and adjust from there...

I have some video and a few pics coming but I still think it looks much better in person...

Later.

Vid 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uawq89NLBfA

Vid 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKBg1lp9d1I
 
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dutchy

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Hi Gerry,

Looks good. Maybe you should add a big fish to force the other to more schooling behaviour. This will also create a focal point.

I'm not ready to reveal my new scape yet, maybe in some weeks.
 

Gerryd

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Hi dutchy,

Thanks...I am liking it more and more as I make these small adjustments...Plus the health/growth of the plants makes a HUGE difference lol

Maybe you should add a big fish to force the other to more schooling behaviour

I have thought of this but the tigers are fat and the alestes are also larger than many tetras...so a decent sized fish would be required to put enough 'fear' into them....Not really sure I want fish that large in there lol

I keep thinking 3-5 firemouth cichlids may do well here. Not sure how they would treat my plants and scape though...I would not want them rearranging to suit :)

Suggestions???????

I'm not ready to reveal my new scape yet, maybe in some weeks.

I understand that an artist works in their own way and buzz must be built..
 

dutchy

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A couple of arowanas? LOL :)

Well, I have 15 congo tetras and the school is tight like a ball. A discusfish is ten times bigger.
 

Gerryd

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Silver or black lol

I think those may be TOO large unless I swap to tinfoil barbs....

I finally found 3 nice Ancistrus species of bushy nose.... Nice specimens and should do well in the 180..lots of wood to gnaw and algae and other goodies to eat...

Algae wafers too!