Preparations For A Planted Tank

I don't know much about these UV kits.  Is it something that all tanks could benefit from?

Resa
 

Hi Sue,

Thanks for the info, I guess I don't really need one then.  Just thought I'd check in case I could do better by my fishies!

Another question for you in particular, what do you think is the best temperature to keep a bettas water at, please?  Also, I've probably asked this before, but are there any fish, maybe smallish ones that shoal that would pretty much be alright in with Rafe, (25L)?  Or maybe some others you could suggest, just to give his tank a bit more life.

Thanks Sue,

Resa
 

End Of Week #11

UV Kit

The UV was running for a full 28 hours (Sunday 28th through Monday 29th April) and as the water was nicely cleared, I added a segment timer and cut the regime down to 15 minutes per hour.  This to preserve the lifetime of the bulb as much as possible. Hopefully my 4,000 hours recommended will take me into March 2014 at the current regime.  The question remains as to whether switching the unit on and off on a regular basis has a detrimental effect on the bulb... jury is out on that.

Aquascaping (aka Fiddling with stuff)

This is a dangerously addictive thing to do, but I am going to be strong.

I have been looking more closely at other plant growth (now that I can actually see through the water properly makes a huge difference). So, I've decided to do a little bit of rearranging as some of the plants on the right are being swamped and are not growing too quickly at all. So, this evening I'm starting a bit of 'scaping. Now that growth patterns seem to be settled I can now see which plants will do better in front, middle or to the rear.

My end game (for want of a better description) is to remove the gravel completely in preference for just sand.  I was hoping that the gravel and sand borders would "blend", but to be honest it just looks scruffy.  Although it'll mean shifting stuff around, I'm hoping to be able to take cuttings of the smaller plants (Repens for example) to enable a larger physical area to be covered. I'll be starting on the left third because there's actually less in there to start with.  The fly-away Quadricostatus will be brought under control too.

Additions

I've managed to acquire two pots of Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig' (Rosae Australis) (link), which have been sitting in my isolation tank since last weekend. It is quite tall already, some 11 inches, so will make a great background.  Apparently very easy to propagate, which will help me build up a nice bush.

Another acquisition is a large 4.9Kg lump of Ocean Rock, and 6 palm sized rounded stones of a pale pink colour. The Ocean Rock has some interesting holes and cavities into which will be placed some sort of plant-life.

This weeks photo's attached.

Here's a taster of my re-scaping efforts so far.  I've dug out the gravel from the left third of the tank (pain in the rear that was), removed all the plants that were there and recreated from scratch with added decor.  I've added one pot of Polysperma and have been replanting bits across from the right side of the tank.  I have another pot of Polysperma to add into the back, and more Repens to carpet in the open area.  I'll be expanding this theme across the tank over the next couple of weeks.

Pics attached.

Apart from it being a large and heavy lump of rock, a piece from a much larger lump, the colour and shape attracted me right away.  I pulled this from a small collection of assorted rock, stones and pebbles in my local Maidenhead Aquatics @ £2.99 a Kg.  Despite the cost, I spent £20 on that and the 6 pale pink stones, I am over the moon with how it looks.  Sometimes I simply have to impulse buy, I am weak and feeble 

There is a nice formation at the base that the fish can swim through, a large crevice at the top where I have planted my Anubias barteri var. angustifolia and a little Eleocharis parvula.  There was a neat little hole on the left side, so I pushed in a stem of Staurogyne repens for good measure.

It's truly awesome what nature can do to rock over many centuries, the shapes can be really incredible.

As it's a calciferous rock, I was informed that it would affect pH, KH and GH slightly upwards, but I don't think that will cause me any problems.  My Cotswold rock I used to use in my small tank did that too, but I never used vast amounts of it to worry.

I really do like the contrast in colours between the green of the plants, white and pale pink.  With the Polysperma in the background also having some light pink leaves, it all looks rather sweet.

End of Week #12

Black Neon Tetras (x5) and the replacement Glowlight Tetra were transferred from 3 week isolation on Saturday and have settled in nicely.  I also added another 3 Assassin Snails to complement the work done so far by the first 3.  Pond snails are definitely on the decline.

Next new residents were added to isolation on Sunday, in the form of Golden Pencilfish (x5) and Penguin Tetra (x5)

I've got hold of some more stones and smaller and rougher piece of Ocean Rock for the next stage in reshaping the Roma tank during this week.

This weeks pics attached.

End of Week #14

I delayed the photos for a day as the water was a bit mucky after a couple of days digging out the rest of the tank.  I've now added back in the extra pieces of stone, large pebbles and the second bit of Ocean Rock.  For now I've not added back the wood as I think I'm going to use it all in my 64ltr instead.  There are still a small number of plants to put back in, which I'll be doing this evening and tomorrow (extra day off work).

I lost a Black Neon Tetra too, found it when the lights came on this afternoon, no apparent damage. 

Now that I have the rest of the tank dug out, and new decor in, I am definitely happier with the rocky look, it feels much more natural (even though it doesn't resemble a real habitat).  Removing the dark wood and the dark green mass of Java Moss has lifted the visual brightness of the tank a great deal.

Pics attached.  I'll followup with some more detailed images.

That certainly looks different.... and good. I like the rocks.

Have you thought about any floating plants to offer some shady spots?

Sorry about your Black Neon.