KevinVA's 75gal Journey in Planted Tanks

[steeler58]

I looked up the site. I like the fact that most of there fish (if not all) are bred in Florida. None of my search's ever came up with them.

The first time I ordered fish was from a dealer in Florida but they are no longer in buisness.

[KevinVA]

Another update! I just received the plants that I ordered today. The temps dropped to the high 20s again (surprise, surprise) so I had to acclimate the plants to room temperature and then add them to the tank to avoid shock. I left them out in the plastic bag they came in for about 3hrs, while I was at work, came home, unwrapped and then planted them. They actually sent me an extra two plants, so I'm pleased to see that. I received an extra bunch of Water Sprite and an extra bunch of Alternanthera reineckii roseafolia. I was able to place them according to my plan, by making a little room here and there. I think it looks great so far, but I wasn't able to take a pic. It definitely filled out the tank pretty nicely. I'll get some pics tomorrow and post them. I also added new ferts that I received the other day from aquariumplants.com - Total and Trace. I've been needing some trace ferts for a while, so I finally bit the bullet and got some. These are supposed to be some of the best ferts available, so we'll see. I still used the Flourish tabs that I have, as well. They last 3 months, while the Total/Trace last 1 month.

Hopefully this will keep my plants growing, looking lush and keep them competitive with the algae.

I was also looking around the tank when I got home - all SAEs are alive and well, and schooling together. They look fantastic.

[~firefly~]

I'm looking forward to seeing this Alternanthera! I thought you'd given up on stem plants?

[KevinVA]

I did too, but the more you look at different plants, the more you realize how beautiful stem plants are and how limited you'd be if you relied on roots/bulbs. Plus, now I know how to trim them. lol

[~firefly~]

I'm delighted with this news There are some lovely hygrophila species you could consider (dead easy to care for).

[Gogi]

SAEs are great, but since you love stem plants just be prepare for replanting. Hopefully your SAE are not like mine who love up rooting my cabomba. Use to have a forest but now I only have the few that somehow managed to anchor themselves. Sorry I never mention this before but I consider it a small price to pay for having SAE. I always forgave them lol

[KevinVA]

Thanks for the warning. =] I'm not worried about any uprooting. I figure if I have to worry about anything it's the Striped Raphael Cat, who loves to pile drive through anything that seems to be a tight enclosure. He does this with the Pygmy Sword Chains all the time. haha If it happens, it happens. I love a beautiful looking tank, but I got into this hobby for the fish, right? The plants definitely come second.

Day 3 with having SAEs... they're awesome! I love the way they hover around, floating from one spot to the next (in a school no less). I'm glad I got 4, because they truly do school together - more so than my Serpaes. Very cool fish to have fore behavior, look and algae-eating abilities. Today is the first day I actually witnessed some algae eating and wow... the spots where they work are ridiculously clean! They've started on both pieces of driftwood and I can already tell that they'll be clear of algae in no time. Amazing little workers. =]

Oh, and unfortunately I didn't have any time to take pictures today - had a PVAS meeting during the day and had company over tonight. I'll be able to get some tomorrow, though. I'll make sure to show you a pic of the algae eaten' bits/pieces, as well, because it's amazing. =X

[talldutchie]

I'm delighted with this news There are some lovely hygrophila species you could consider (dead easy to care for).

I got rid of mine. Weekly pruning really got on my nerves.

Kevin, I'm really looking forward to those pictures

[~firefly~]

You don't know what you're missing. Some of the red hygrophila sp. are wonderful!

[KevinVA]

Sorry guys, no pictures again... I'm slacking. I actually had a slip-up with my canister filter today. The part of the intake tube connection, which connects to the hose actually cracked (not sure when). I noticed it leak at the connection of the tube/hose when I was getting ready to add some new filter floss media to the canister (just bought new floss today - haven't had it for about a month, when I took out the original which had degraded considerably). Anyway, as I was disconnecting the hose, the crack actually turned into a clean break. When the hose was removed, it took a piece of the intake tube with it.

My mind started to panic, because it's Sunday... nothing's open and I was in my pajama pants. lol Anyway, logic won me over and I decided that since the smaller part of the tube broke off, I'd just have to settle for getting the hose over the wider part where the threads are for the nut. So, I heat up some water in the microwave and softened up the tube, stretched it over the wider part of the tube and wa-la! Fixed. Now I need to stop by the hardware store and pick up some hose clamps, as I don't trust the hose just sitting there by itself (the plastic nut won't screw over top of the tube - too tight).

Anyway, something easy turned into something not so, but I think this new "setup" will end up being more reliable. And I'm hoping the filter floss cleans up all the minute particles floating around in the tank. I've been noticing it getting worse over the last couple of weeks. I just put two and two together this morning, when I realized that this started happening as soon as I got rid of the nasty floss media I had before. The minute particles would just go right through my sponges and right back into the tank. I expect the next few days things will start clearing up again. =]

As for my Betta with the fin rot? Well, he's completely healed now. Fungus Guard worked like a charm... and if you weren't sure before, you can rest assured now, that it doesn't kill your beneficial bacteria. I was stunned, because it's an antibiotic, but the bio filter was still kicking. I had swapped my snail tank filter with the 10gal filter, just for the medication process, because I'd rather not have to build up my AC20 bio bacteria again, especially since I don't have snails yet. Turns out I never needed to do that. Now I'm running the AC20 w/ carbon to extract all of the medication that may have been missed from the water change I did today. I'll take that out after 24/48hrs.

So, today was a good news/bad news kinda' day, but it ended well. ;P