Newbie Aquascaping

Tank #1
Using commercial substrate for planted aquarium. Just enough to make 1 inch deep substrate in 2 x 1 x 1 ft tank. Gravel as shown in the photo below also just enough to make 1 inch deep cap on top of the substrate.


1st day
Only Rotala Indica


17 days
Re-planted Rotala Indica (+ add more), Water lettuce (Pistia Stratiotes) & two unknown plants
Added Albino Bristlenose Pleco & Apple Snail for green algae problem


30 days
Re-planted Rotala Indica, Water lettuce (Pistia Stratiotes), two unknown plants & Anacharis
Removed Apple Snail + added 2 x Albino Corydoras
Albino Bristlenose Pleco increased to 6
Added driftwood & rocks


38 days
Removed some Rotala Indica because lot of it melting at the base
Anacharis growing well, Water lettuce (Pistia Stratiotes) also seems well
Planted a couple of Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange' & Bacopa caroliniana at the back which you can barely see them in the photo, located on the right & left respectively of the lonely off center Rotala Indica.


43 days
Added black gravel on the left-rear side to make that part higher little bit
Added two more Albino Corydoras
Anacharis grow longer
Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange' & Bacopa caroliniana grow taller


47 days
Rotala Indica almost non-existent
Anacharis grow longer
Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange' & Bacopa caroliniana grow taller


66 days
Anacharis now overgrown
The unknown plant, the taller one at the left-rear, is dying
Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange' & Bacopa caroliniana grow taller


89 days
Added Java Fern on the rear-left.











Tank #2
Using regular garden soil & black gravel. This one I make ticker substrate, ~1.5 inch for substrate & cap.

1st day
Two groups of Rotala Indica back-center & left-front because I want to see how they fare with regular garden soil.
Java Moss patches on the driftwood
Cryptocoryne Wendtii "Red" at the center, near the driftwood
Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange' & Bacopa caroliniana on the back-right near the Anacharis
Anacharis on the back-right
Eleocharis Acicularis Carpet Plant - Hair Grass on the front (I'm having trouble separating them but managed to do it later)



Cryptocoryne Wendtii "Red"



Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange' & Bacopa caroliniana respectively



5 days
Added Water lettuce (Pistia Stratiotes)
Separated the Eleocharis Acicularis Carpet Plant - Hair Grass to small groups/patches
There are two plants on the right, in front of Anacharis. The bigger leaves is unknown plant but it doesn't survived anyway but hidden behind it is Ipomoea aquatica which actually semi-aquatic plant.
Experimenting regular grass but this ones are grow on wet soil. The taller hair grass in front of the driftwood.







9 days
Added more Water lettuce (Pistia Stratiotes)


Cryptocoryne Wendtii "Red" doing well


28 days
All doing well except Rotala Indica still having problem melting at the base stem.




51 days
Added Java Fern 'Windeløv' on the front-right.

 

Recently I add wild guppies, ghost shrimps & few riceland prawn in both tanks.

 

Not much but I improved the lighting. Can't really compare with previous pictures because previously I underexpose them when taking the pictures but both tanks are much brighter now.

Tank #1
105 days



Tank #2
67 days

 

I'm thinking putting a small pump at the back, lower near the substrate, to create flow or circulation. I have Dophin PA500 that I can use for this. If doing this doesn't give any benefits to the aquatic life, so I would refrain from doing it. What do you guys think?

 

Tank #1
125 days



In Tank #2, I'm dealing with BBA algae on the Java Moss. Total blackout for a week. Java Moss looks a lot better but not great either. Anacharis & Ipomoea aquatica died in the process but I see new growth from both. I have installed small pump to create water flow. My hair grass look pathetic too but hopefully it will recover. I have small patch of Java Moss in a terrarium which I hopefully it'll grow in case the ones in the tank doesn't survived. The white stones that I use to anchor the driftwood also gone since the driftwood doesn't float anymore.

 

Pearling. So satisfying to watch.

 

I have a bunch of Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange' & Bacopa caroliniana after trimming. How can I store them if I don't have extra tank? I hate throwing them away.

Bacopa caroliniana & Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange'

 

My albino BN plecos doing good very good job in keeping my driftwood clean. Also them together with ghost shrimps (mine riceland prawn) helps eats leftover food at the bottom.
Regarding riceland prawns, becareful with the adults because they are vicious, kill & eat small fish like guppies , even young plecos not safe. I feed the adults to my big fish.

 

Tank #1
153 days


Tank #2
115 days
Java Moss & hairy grass are in poor condition. Trimmed & re-planted steam plants. Dealing with diatoms & hairy green algae.

 

No I did not add any ferts. The moss was fine until I get BBA algae. I treated it a bit late I think & it's dying. Some portion of the moss I think is recovering. BBA gone but now I get diatoms & hairy green algae.

The error on my part is that I didn't use filter from the beginning. Mainly for water circulation. The tank at some point established but not anymore now. Did I changed water parameters somehow by installing filter & cleaning the driftwood outside of the tank? These what I have done before getting diatoms & hairy green algae. The filter did kick off organic matter which make water cloudy. I did big water change several times since last two weeks. As the driftwood, I didn't use treated tap water but use filtered water to wash it. It is just simple filtering system that removed dirt & chlorine.

Bacopa caroliniana, Ludwigia sp. Dark orange, cryptocoryne Wendtii red & java fern windelov are doing fine. Well the java fern windelov wasn't healthy when I got it. Black tips on the leaves. It still is. It still alive anyway. The bacopa, Ludwigia & crypto are thriving.

I think I do need to get ferts for the moss & the hair grass.

BTW, I have java fern in tank #1. That doesn't look healthy when I got it but now I get multiple tiny fern grow on the original leaves.

 

I did not know that. I only know that is how they propogate. I don't remember if this was mentioned in the articles I read. There also new leaves growing.

I tried my best to capture the new fern growth & plantlets.













This is picture of java fern, first day in my tank.

 

I have problem with Tank #2. Green hair algae keep coming back. And water lettuce are dying. Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange', Bacopa caroliniana, Cryptocoryne Wendtii "Red" & Anacharis are growing well, basically doesn't show any indication of deficiency. Eleocharis Acicularis Carpet Plant consumed by GHA, I don't know if any survived. Java moss pretty much dead but this is due to BBA that I have previously. I think I want get rid Anacharis to decrease the demand of CO2.

Can EasyCarbo or Seacham Flourish Excel help in my situation?

 

Tank #1
220 days

Freshly trimmed.
All aquatic life are healthy & thriving.
3 Albino Plecos, 3 ghost shrimps (Riceland Prawn) & 10+ mosquito fish.
Little bit of green algae on the driftwood & green spot algae on the glass which indicate phosphorus deficiency if I'm not mistaken.

Tank #2
182 days

Driftwood position changed during yesterday cleaning & water change.
Around a week ago one & only one Albino Pleco went missing. Nothing left from it to indicate it died. Maybe my cat ate it, I don't know.
There's a lot of organic materials on the gravel that I have tried to remove many times.
Have BBA problem in the past. GHA recently until I trimmed all Bacopa & Ludwigia plants & then did water change. There is still green algae on the glass & on the gravel.
Unfortunately, during big water change yesterday, when I syphon 90% of the water & also removing a lot of organic mater, I think there's ammonia spike because the guppies & ghost shrimp looks agitated. I thought when I refilled with dechlorinated water, all will be well but no. All 4 guppies are dead in the morning & the ghost shrimp is dead this morning. As of now, it doesn't have any aquatic life in it.
I used to have a small filter in this tank with activated charcoal but it is old activated charcoal. I removed it a week ago. Maybe when I removed the filter, it change the balance in this tank. Should I put the filter back & with new activated charcoal?
Anacharis frequently in & out in this tank because of the GHA. Now I put them back in to help filtering the water.
I also have problem with water lettuce keep dying. They used to be OK before but not anymore since a couple of months. I keep taking several from Tank #1 & put it in this tank.
Bacopa caroliniana, Ludwigia sp dark orange & Cryptocoryne Wendtii are growing well but looks dirty. Java fern windelov looks OK but dirty as well. For eleocharis grass, I can see few strands survive.

The dechlorinated water that I use for both tanks is filtered water - mechanical filter & carbon block (around almost 2 years old I think).

 

I bought 5 Tiger nerite snails because it is the only ones they have left. Zebra out of stock. However they doesn't look like tiger snails. Can anyone confirm? One doesn't move since I put them in my tank; 3 in Tank #1 & 2 in Tank #2. Originally 3 in Tank #2 but one doesn't moving, so I tranfered it to my stable tank (Tank #1) for now. The trap door did open & close, so it is alive. They did live 4 days inside sealed packaging before I received them. I bought them online.

 

Update on the nerite snails. 2 still alive & well, moving around when lights off. The other 3 died not long after I posted previous post. Basically one died in stable tank (Tank #1) while the other two died in problematic tank (Tank #2). With so many death & missing-in-action (suspect my cat) in Tank #2, it become fishless tank which is not good because I can only remove so much organic matter & algae by myself.

I suspected the problem is in the soil (garden soil with compost). I have been doing frequent water change. Yesterday I bought very cheap ghost shrimp, specifically riceland prawn to take care organic matter. Before that I checked ammonia level using Api test kit. I was expecting it read some ammonia level because it doesn't differentiate between ammonia & ammonium. However to my surprise, I got 0 ppm reading. Please see attached photo below. I added the shrimps after I tested the water. There's so many ghost shrimp, like 20 of them & only 2 to 3 died. They already cleaned some of the organic matter. I can see more of my beautiful black gravel now.

Just an update. My Java fern recently disintegrated by itself. I don't know why. I managed to save one or two healthy plantlets which I attached to driftwood. I just wish articles mentioned more on this plantlets-distressed thingy & why it happened.

 

Tank #2
262 days
The water have been clear for a couple of days. No more mulm/detritus buildup. There are few dead patches of green algae on the substrate.

 

Re-posting with better picture quality

Tank #1
301 days








Tank #2
263 days

 

This damn thing keep coming back. Look at the gravel in second pic (problematic) vs first pic (clean).