new pics

[happygirl65]

Well, after a few more weeks of growth and some pruning I am prety happy with my tank. Here is a pic.
The only thing is I have noticed the green spot algae growing more lately. It looks like my 3 BN Plecos are eating it all of the time but they barely make a dent. There are also plenty of snails (pond snails and ramshorns) that are also cruisin around eating algae as well as ghost shrimp but there just seems to be too much for them to handle.

I can scrub it off with a fair amount of effort from the rocks....should I just give it a good scrub and then do a pwc? And perhaps now that I have more plants I should increase the fert dosing? I am currently dosing 1-2 times per week. Basically every 3 days alternating mico or macro ferts.

The algae really doesnt look too bad and it is mainly on the rocks so it looks pretty natural for now. I do think I need to reduce my photo period
since I have been reading that most use an average of 10 hrs and I have th lights on for about 12.
Any thouhts?

 

[rich311k]

Green spot usually indicates a lack of phosphates, so you may want to bump it up a little. Reducing the photo period also sounds like a good idea.

Your tank is quite lovely. I really like your arrangement and your rock work.

 

[dapellegrini]

I think it looks really good. You have a natural river look going there, with the varied sizes in rocks and gravel, etc. And the plant placement and growth fits very well.

I also seem to have bouts with green spot algae. From what I have been told it is either your PO4 bottoming out (which did happen to me when I got it bad) or just too much light for too long. The later is my current problem. I most likely should adjust my lighting cycle, but have been lazy to get to it. Once I got my PO4 back up I only really see it on the glass, which is easy to clean.

HTH

 

[happygirl65]

Your advice confirms what I have read today. So I will increase the phosphate AND reduce the light period....hopefully that will have it back in check.

Thanks for the compliments too, I am finally getting to be pretty happy with it. It finally doesnt feel like it's missing something. I had a birthday party at my house last night for my mother in law and everyone gathered around the tank for a good hour just watching the fish and telling me how wonderful it was. My father in law even said i made him want to be a fish! lol I thought that was sweet.

 

[dapellegrini]

A word of warning with the PO4... I didn't dose prior since my tank always seemed to maintain a good ambient level (probably from feeding) and then one day it was all gone. Dosing the tiniest amounts of it mixed with feeding resulted in a spike over 5ppm (as high as my test kit goes) and fish swimming funny... 2 PWCs later, it stabilized at 1-2ppm, but I find it hard to keep that level where it should be.

Just a word of caution, pay close attention to things as you dose that PO4.

FWIW

 

[fishygurl]

I love your tank! How did you get the rocks to look like that, did you buy that arrangement of rocks in the back or did you make it with thin rocks? One thing though, you need a background, being able to see through the tank takes away from its beauty....

 

[happygirl65]

I love your tank! How did you get the rocks to look like that, did you buy that arrangement of rocks in the back or did you make it with thin rocks? One thing though, you need a background, being able to see through the tank takes away from its beauty....

Thanks! I actually made it myself by glueing lots of flat rocks together of varying sizes. Silicon Glue that is aquarium safe of course. It took a while to get them to fit just right and it was a pain to plant behind them but I do love the outcome. Next time I will plant before I place my rocks....lol. I actually have a completely black back on the tank. What you see is the reflection from windows across the room...poor photography I'm afraid. I really need to take those pics at night!

Just a word of caution, pay close attention to things as you dose that PO4.

FWIW

Thanks for the caution...I will make sure to watch carefully. A PO4 test kit is in order for sure and I will make sure to pay attention to those readings before increasing my dosing.

 

[Peyton]

That tank looks fantastic!

 

[fishygurl]

What size tank is that?

 

[happygirl65]

This is a 55 gallon tank.

 

[SparKy697]

Beautiful tank!

Photo saved in the reference file

 

[newfound77951]

I agree...beautiful tank, nice and natural looking. The rockwork is great and I like the plant selection, a nice balance between bigger clumps of a few plants and then lots of smaller groups.

 

[WaterPond]

i love it, very nice progress, i saw what it looked like starting out, and i must say, you have done a fantastic job.

Dont you just love asian ambulia?

 

[happygirl65]

Thanks so much! I DO LOVE the asian ambulia....it is so beautiful and intersting in the way the new growth closes at night and then blooms again in the day time. I will probably still do some more rearranging but I am really glad I found this board and went planted....I will never go back