Sk3lly's Tank Progression

[Sk3lly]

Mine still looks rough, the tops are looking pretty good though, think I should snip and replant? How do you maintain yours?

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Heres what i do, it may be wrong though. I just learn as i go along

When mine had lots of poor looking leaves at the bottom, i cut the new growth off. Ripped up the old rooted bits. Replanted the tops.

I also try to cut off any odd leaves that show signs of nutrient deficiency. I dont like my plants wasting energy trying to repair when its more beneficial for them to use it for new growth. Obviously dont cut large amounts of the leaves off otherwise the plant takes ages to recover.

I did an experiment with my ludwigia a while back.

One stem i cut all of the leaves off - didnt recover

Another stem i left it just with its oldest pair of leaves and cut the rest of the stem out. It did branch into two as it should, but it took months to really get going

 

[Brookster123]

Cool, I was thinking the same kind of thing... I'm going to give it a week to settle than trim it up a bit.m

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[Sk3lly]

Cool, I was thinking the same kind of thing... I'm going to give it a week to settle than trim it up a bit.m

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You'll get it growing great soon.

Anyone that puts in the effort you do will get results

 

[Brookster123]

I think my biggest issue will be dialing in the ferts with the shorter tank and higher light

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[Sk3lly]

I think my biggest issue will be dialing in the ferts with the shorter tank and higher light

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I used the guidelines for EI dosing on my first mix of ferts. Ive now altered that mix to better suit my tank. Ive cut the phosphates and increased the potassium. Not too much to limit or overpower but hopefully enough to dial in on more specific needs.

Equally i may find this new mix to be totally disastrous. We'll wait and see lol

 

[Sk3lly]

Bought myself a little cheap 5 gallon and sponge filter today. Got a spare heater at home too. Going to set up a quarantine/hospital/GBR egg hatching box.

I want to get a few otos for my main tank and want to get into the habit of quarantining

 

[Brookster123]

Nice, I just use a 5.5 g for q and grow out.. otos are really the only fish that should bypass qt.. they're 50:50 at best anyways... unless you turn your qt into an algae farm..

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[Sk3lly]

Nice, I just use a 5.5 g for q and grow out.. otos are really the only fish that should bypass qt.. they're 50:50 at best anyways... unless you turn your qt into an algae farm..

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I was thinking that actually seeing as there will not be any algae or biofilm for them to graze on. Good call mate

 

[Brookster123]

I got 3 zebra otos a few months ago, skipped qt and threw into my 20, plenty of food for them in there.. you've seen the pics haha.. they may starve in your tank anyways. They're still looking pretty good!

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[Sk3lly]

I got 3 zebra otos a few months ago, skipped qt and threw into my 20, plenty of food for them in there.. you've seen the pics haha.. they may starve in your tank anyways. They're still looking pretty good!

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oh they wouldnt go hungry! They can take over the glass cleaning on my back wall. Its such a PITA!!

 

[Brookster123]

I don't even bother.. it's filled in evenly with green algae, i consider it a live wall at this point.. besides the otos and shrimp are always grazing away on it so it's working out..

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[Sk3lly]

My rcs have taken to hiding in the grass during lights on. Mr GBR (he has no name) has taken a liking to live shrimp. I caught him the other day with a half decent sized rcs hanging out his mouth

 

[Brookster123]

My rcs have taken to hiding in the grass during lights on. Mr GBR (he has no name) has taken a liking to live shrimp. I caught him the other day with a half decent sized rcs hanging out his mouth

My rcs hide 90% of the time too, i have a massive java moss ball they take refuge in.. every now and then I'll see one of my rams pull a b - line right into the moss full speed and cone out with a baby rcs in its mouth. It's rather entertaining.. oh sure pal, help yourself to a $1 meal.. it on me hahah.. love my mini ecosystem.. your amanos must be out even with the ram on the prowl??

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[Sk3lly]

My rcs hide 90% of the time too, i have a massive java moss ball they take refuge in.. every now and then I'll see one of my rams pull a b - line right into the moss full speed and cone out with a baby rcs in its mouth. It's rather entertaining.. oh sure pal, help yourself to a $1 meal.. it on me hahah.. love my mini ecosystem.. your amanos must be out even with the ram on the prowl??

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Yea my amanos are out all the time. They are a good size though so that helps.

$1 dollar meal!!! Not over here my friend! They are £1.50 here which is almost $2.50

 

[Sk3lly]

Tank is just going up now Brookster. I think im going to rig up my spare low level lighting and do a little scape with no substrate. Some small stones with anubias nana, driftwood with java moss and java fern. That way its easily altered in emergencies.

Looks like this will be up just in time. Rams look almost ready to lay a fresh batch

 

[Brookster123]

Sounds good, I used substrate in my grow out setup, I also added a bunch of mts and 4 Amano shrimp to clean up scrap food, java moss and anarchis too.. bare bottom would be better for a heavily stocked fry tank I think .

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[Sk3lly]

Sounds good, I used substrate in my grow out setup, I also added a bunch of mts and 4 Amano shrimp to clean up scrap food, java moss and anarchis too.. bare bottom would be better for a heavily stocked fry tank I think .

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Tank is in my fish cupboard so i dont want anything too technical as it wont be visible unless i open cupboard.

If i still cant get the gbr eggs to fry then i will give up trying. This tank will then get transformed into a low light dwarf puffer tank.

This is clearly mts setting in lol

 

[Brookster123]

I just wrote a nice long post but it got dumped.. basically it said if you end up having fry you'll be in for a few daily feedings and daily to every other day small wc's. It will be easier on you and your back having the tank located in an easily accessible location..

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[Brookster123]

As far as mts goes.. I've found out the hard way that it is nice , when maintaining multiple tanks, to have a variety.. i set 3 tanks up pretty close to the same way and ended up tearing them down and rescaping more than I would have liked to...

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[fishenthusiast]

Awesome tank! Very cool DHG carpet, and it contrasts the Ludwigia repens really well. Nice work; I can't wait to see the progress photos.