Thr33Swords

Guess I'll find out today Hopefully my gourami don't scare her off too much, agressive little eaters that they are...

Haha, yeah She was a bit shy at first, but soon went for a wonder checking out all the nooks and crannies Yeah I have, I planted them around the rocks on the right hand side of the tank. Once they get big enough I'll get rid of the fake plants. I want to try get a nice and big amazon sword as well at some stage to fill that corner. I'll put up pics of them a little later once they've grown a bit. Thanks for the plants and the angel btw

New flatmate moved in yesterday:

Well that's a shame haha. Are there any alternatives for a low light tank?

Will this grow ok in a low light setup? I have a huge low tech tank, and I really want to cover some of the substrate up. Also, is there anywhere in/around Auckland I can get some from?

Me neither haha. I am considering getting some Excel and increasing my lighting until the plants have grown a bit more. I'll give it a month to see how they get on first though. If they grow as fast as they did last month, then the tank should start filling up in a few months time as I trim and replant.

Nope, none at all! Stupid things Yeah I left them in there to fill space until the amazon swords have grown some more. Once they're bigger I'll move one into the corner and plant some smaller ones again.

UPDATE: I did a complete rescape. Well, when I say complete I pulled all the plants, added new stuff, replanted everything, then did a 50% water change. I found this amazing driftwood at Lake Pupuke a while ago, so decided to put it in the tank today. Yes, that is one long piece, I have some of the rocks overhang it a little bit, I like the look. Here's some photos of what the tank looks like now:

I just dose Seachem Flourish Complete twice a week using their recommended dosage. Seems to be doing the trick. I am buying some dry ferts now, however. So will be changing how I dose in the future. I did consider using Excel, but to be honest I am getting more than satisfactory results from this alone, so maybe I'll leave it for now. I am going to be setting up another tank soon, so will try and go a little more high tech and see how that goes.

Since I haven't updated in a while, I figured I'll do so now Ended up getting rid of the oxygen weed because my fish seemed to hate it. They would rip the plants out of the substrate, no matter how many times I replant it haha. At least my other plants are growing nice and tall, so I will soon do a re-scape to trim and replant some of the taller plants. I also added 3 Amazon swords to the back of the tank, so hopefully they'll grow nicely and fill the background up. Fish wise, I added 3 baby bristlenose pleco's. Not only are they adorable, they're also proving to be the most amazing little vacuum cleaners I have ever seen. I didn't have what I'd call an algea problem, but I would end up with a little bit of brown algae on plants, rocks, driftwood and the glass. Less than a week in the tank and the 3 have cleaned every single surface in the tank! I now add courgette to supplement their diet, and will buy some algae wafers as well. Recent photos: And here's one of the pleco's sitting on my driftwood:

Thank you for the replies guys Since this is a low tech tank, the lighting is definitely much less than what a high tech tank would have, so the explanation that they will grow tall to reach the light sounds very plausible. Trimming and replanting the plants to form bushes as suggested seems like the best course of action, so I will definitely do that. I actually just found a really awesome piece of driftwood I want to add to the tank, so maybe a slight rescape might be in order as I do it, then I can more easily bunch plants together.

Hey guys, I have about 60 plants in my tank at the moment, for the most part I have no idea what they are haha. I bought most of them off trademe from a gentleman in Christchurch who sent me 63 stems. I am very happy with the plants, and after just a month they have grown almost as tall as my tank, which is incredible as I didn't expect such fast growth without CO2 injection. The only problem is that they all grow up, and not really outward, so I now have a lot of tall plants with nothing that really fills the gaps between them, and the other thing is my substrate is for the most part completely visible as well. I'd like to make my tank look heavily planted, so I want to add plants to the tank that will fill the open spaces. Can anyone recommend some plants that will grow outward instead of straight up? Also, what is a good carpeting plant for low tech tanks? My tank is 181cm x 52cm x 52cm, so I'd like some carpeting plants that would ideally be able to cover 80% of the substrate eventually. I have some grassy looking plants, but they are also just growing up and doesn't seem to be spreading at all. Thanks everyone

Oh sweet, i'll definitelty give him a try. Does he have contact details outside of TradeMe? my account is in debt and I can't bid on anything haha.

where do you get your plants from? Tank looks amazing!

Nope, in the back of a rental van

Wow, that's a beautiful tank! Those plants look amazing. What kind of plants are those really big ones?

Yeah I just want to keep the oxygen weed in there until the other plants have grown enough to take over the empty space, then I will get rid of it.

When I moved house recently, I moved all the water in my 140 litre tank using buckets and various other containers in the back of a van and just drove REALLY carefully. Actually went pretty well, think I lost about 20 litres at the most

Thank you Here's a small update on my plants: Only lost two plants so far, but I chalk that up to the fact that they spent nearly a week and a half in transit due to the bad weather and flooding that kicked up a stink in the South Island. The rest of the plants are doing extremely well, some have doubled in size since I planted them two weeks ago, which is amazing to me since I expected very slow growth in a very low tech/low light set up. Just to add some more bigger plants apart from my silk ones (which I'll take out when the real plants are big enough) I have added some oxygen weed from Animates yesterday. I'd like to add even more plants, especially ones that are already a bit larger Here's some photos I took yesterday:

So my plants seem to be doing really well, lots of new growth, and I have to say I am surprised at how quickly they're growing considering I am doing a low tech low light set up. Here's some photos of the tank showing how it looks in the living room... I think I need a bigger TV now, it looks so small in comparison

Greg (Tanks2U) built it for $400 which included super clear glass for the front pane (he had a piece lying around). If you don't have it, here's his details: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Tanks2u Greg Kingston Auckland Quality custom built aquariums and sumps, trickle filters Can be shipped from Manukau Auckland to anywhere in the country Phone: 09 273 4121 Mobile: 021 900 727 email: [email protected]

I have seen those, and the only reason I am trying to make my own is because I am on a budget and have most of the materials I need already.

Thanks I got them from a gentleman on trademe, username is Waterplantz. I got 69 stems of various plants for $24 including shipping to Auckland.

Interesting, I guess some more googling is in order. However, from all the other threads and articles I have read on a constant automatic water change system, I feel confident that the carbon should be able to make the water safe for the fish. Yeah unfortunately that is not possible with the location of the tank, and the landlord is extremely anal (counted all the pin holes in the walls, one by one) so drilling holes in things is not something I am likely to try

Thanks Henward, and great idea with putting the air stone first! yeah I can imagine how amazing it will be not having to do manual water changes haha... especially a big tank