The Cookie Crew

Thanks folks...     It always gives me a great buzz when you guys say nice stuff, especially with me still being a newbie and you guys being properly experienced and knowledgeable etc... 

Like your planting. What are the clump of foreground plants behind the Marino moss ball ? I quite like the look of those.

Ah, funnily enough, that's one plant that has drawn compliments two or three times now...  It just went through a decidedly unhealthy looking phase due to malnutrition (which was my own fault) but is now on its way back to good health again after blitzing the tank with TNC Complete... 

The plant in question is:  http://tropica.com/en/plants/plantdetails/Ludwigiapalustris(035B)/4453

That looks fine to me so far as stocking goes. I'd probably say that puts you are far as I would ordinarily go.  I've had tanks higher but that is a comfortable level.

By the way your tank is stunning 

Remind me again... do you dose CO2?

On that whole (potentially) combined problem set, with the poorly plants, green algae and filamentous algae etc...  plus the zero nitrates but loadsa phosphates etc...  Here is the update, just in case anybody is bored enough to have followed this story, lol... 

Water parameters today:  Zero ammonia and nitrites, with the barest touch of nitrates - half way, roughly, between zero and 5ppm, which is definitely better than the zero ppm I was getting...!!!  Phosphates now around the 1ppm point, which I am delighted about when considering I get 2ppm from the tap and this would appear to indicate that the advice to overdose slightly with the nitrogen and phosphorus including TNC Complete appears to be working and kick started what may have been a stalled growth in many of the plants due to malnutrition...

No difference in algae on the front glass, beneath the substrate where it meets the sand, but I guess that will take time...  Also hard to be objective about the filamentous algae because I have trimmed the worst affected leaves off completely now, so I can't really comment on whether or not the theory that boosting plant growth will out-compete the hair algae for nutrients or not, but things are looking better - just hard to be sure why exactly...   Next Tuesday will be two weeks of overdosing with the TNC Complete, at which point I'll drop it from 3ml per day down to the correct dose of 2ml per day... 

Edit:  the only sad thing is that one of the two Ludwigia repens Rubin hasn't survived and has now been removed...  However, some of the taller stalks were cut off several days ago and just left floating, and one or two of these look to be colouring up nicely - so I may yet be able to salvage something from that plant...  Fingers crossed 

I am semi-confident that the cuttings just might be ok...  Another week or two under the new ferts regime and if they're looking ok, I'll plant them back in the spot from where they were taken again, try and get them growing nicely...  Love the colours when looking healthy... 

I really hope that I can pull the Ludwigia Rubin back...  it's such a beatiful plant and full of glorious red colouring, when healthy...  But, admittedly, a not-so-easy plant to grow at it's best... 

That's been mentioned before, I guess by you H...?  I did have a quick look but didn't fill details in...  Perhaps I should, eh...? 

Here is a quick "drive by" selection: 




My external filter is 850 l/h not the 750 l/h I chose as the nearest thing here... 

The lone Platy will go before I get the Espei, although both are included above... 

Pierre, what is the plant almost in the middle of the tank that looks a bit like miniature underwater rhubarb?


According to the CC my main tank is 92% stocked, though I've had to substitute a lot of my fish for species in the database.
What the CC doesn't take into account is that with small shoaling fish (neon tetra sized) adding more does not necessarily increase the bioload. Increasing a shoal from 6 to 12 will not double the bioload because a shoal of 12 will be less stressed than a shoal of 6 so the impact on the tank is less per fish. My 92% stocking includes 12 espe's rasboras and about 18 daisy's rice fish - they won't keep still to count them.

Platies do eat a lot of veg matter and unfortunately veg matter = lots of poo whether its fish or cows 

Thank you for the link, I shall investigate.

It is a good one, eh...  Grows fast enough to be helpful in terms of nutrient uptake but not so fast as to be invasive or some kinda nuisance...  and I definitely agree, they do look kinda funky, in a good way...