120 Litre Set-Up...from Lake Tanganyika to South America

[~firefly~]

Indoor gardening.

[~firefly~]

I imagine that this is normal for planted tank keepers, but I'd become more and more dissatisfied with the planting. They're all growing at different rates and some have outgrown their positions a bit.

So I set to work on it tonight and thought I'd be a bit more ruthless. Here's the before shot:



There were two main things I wanted to address. The long grass has grown ridiculously long and is hiding the wood more than I would like, and the back-left section of the tank was a bit empty and boring. I also didn't like how all the plant species had been planted in sections in that back part - needed mixing up.

Check out the roots on this hygrophila - monster stem plant that will take severe prunings and ALWAYS grows back from cuttings. Brilliant.



Ok, replanted, thinned somewhat at the back. First time I've had a cloudy tank! Eek. Stirred up the soil a bit.



And here's the full tank shot. The hygrophila that's been growing along the front of the wood will NOT be staying but I chose not to move it just yet. I'll be giving that away at some point as it'll take over again.

[talldutchie]

Make sure you don't keep too strict a front low high back division. Otherwise you'll lose the organised mess feeling that defines the tank.

And yes, with some planted tanks you have to be rigourous on occasion, I know I have to with mine.

[~firefly~]

Well, previously...there were no high plants at the back (apart from the overgrown hygrophila) so my attempt here is to mix the planting. I've put the hygophila along the back very densely as it spreads like a weed so will grow in and thin out as it comes forward (I think). The alternanthera I've tried to mix up/in with other planting as that was previously growing in a completely (boring) block.

Any suggestions for additional moves? Am very interested in critique if anyone can offer any. It's cleared today so will update the photo soon.

[~firefly~]

Well blimey...the new LED lights seem to have made a HUGE difference to the growth in this tank. Brilliant!

I've swapped the filter output back to a spraybar. It's a bit fierce for the plants so I've turned the filter down a little. That will have to do until I can drill the spraybar to keep the flow rate the same but reduce the intensity of output.

I've trimmed a few things again and taken some of the hygrophila out (given away). Here's a full tank shot.


Here's the left-hand side.


And the right-hand side. Check out my, previously struggling, Amazon Sword!

[~firefly~]

Here's a video (before feeding).

[~firefly~]

And here's one (during feeding).

[steeler58]

Nice vids. Your Cherry barbs don't seem to "rush" the top like my tetras.

[~firefly~]

Cheers. No, they're really, very shy (for barbs) and do like to spend a lot of time hiding in the undergrowth. They like shady vegetation. Half the time you wouldn't notice them in the tank as they're hiding at the back...and you certainly wouldn't think there were 50 fish in there.

I've found that doubling the number of females has calmed them down a lot - there was a lot of chasing when males outnumbered the females.

[KevinVA]

Beautiful as always, firefly. Great vids! My fish are all pretty aggressive eaters - even the cats at the bottom, and when the serpaes or gbrs get in the way, the cats just railroad right over them to get their pellets. It's a spectacle... or maybe it's a debacle. =X