5 1/2 Gallon Log

[KillaGuppy]

Day 25: Added Anubias. No Fish.

Day 32: Added driftwood; 2 Harlequin Rasboras

Day 33: Added Sword Plants; Fancy Guppy; Dwarf Platy

Day 48: Added Java Fern; Ember Tetras

Day 50

Day 64: Removed Sword Plants

Day 66: More Java Fern; more driftwood

 

[lauraf]

Lovely final setup! Why did you decide to remove the swords?

 

[Newman]

my guess is that they might have started to yellow out ... but the tank is looking great !

 

[KillaGuppy]

Had to pull the Amazon Swords out because of their roots. Also, even though I was getting tons of new growth with the Swords, the leaves were the elongated kind, not the more oval types. Mostly I pulled out the Amazons because I was worried about the roots tangling up the undergravel filter plates.

When I last had a tank, years and years ago, the way to go was UGF. So when I set everything up late last year, I just did what I did in the past.

Now I want to try a setup with soil substrate and using a canister, but I don't want to disrupt the tank yet. I'm waiting for the plants and fish to get more established, and then I'll probably pull the plates. Not sure, if I'll be able to add soil substrate without doing an entire teardown.

Anyways, none of the other plants are in the soil. They're all attached to driftwood.

 

[OrangeCones]

You are going to try doing a soil based tank with this tank/fish/plants?

 

[Newman]

I don't think the UGF will be a good idea with soil..

 

[KillaGuppy]

Yeah, UGF doesn't go with soil. I'm going to pull the UGF plates.

Has anyone done this with the fish in the tank?

 

[OrangeCones]

Removed UGF from the tank with the fish in it? No. I haven't used UGF in 20 years! But when I did, I moved all fish to another tank or the water-change bucket until the water was clear again.

Any reason you want to convert to soil?

 

[waterguy1]

Very nice tank. I dont see why u think u need soil.

 

[depthC]

Ohh ugf, yeah ive taken one out of a 10g with fish in. Just be sure to do a major water change. If you havent had the tank running long then you probably wont have much debris to stir up but be careful all that extra matter could cause a spike.

 

[KillaGuppy]

St. Patrick's Day Update

Removed powerhead. Attached canister filter to UGL lift tube. Added ADA Poppy outflow pipe.

Added driftwood, Java Moss, Needle Java Fern and Petite Anubias

A lot of the Java Fern leaves are browning and deteriorating. Put light on a timer for 8 hours only.

 

[Newman]

looks like algae on the anubias too...might be cuz its in direct light. looks good though

 

[KillaGuppy]

Yeah, there was a lot of algae on the anubias. I dipped the leaves in a Flourish Excel mix a couple times last week–that and we got a couple Amano Shrimp. Oh and we also set everything on a timer to 8 hours. Not sure what it was, or the combo of all of it, but most of the algae is gone from the anubias, although there are green/dark green spots still on the leaves. But the spots also seem to be going away.

The issue with the java fern though is more concerning. Don't know what's up with the leaves turning brown and disintegrating.

 

[Newman]

thats normal, it look like a pretty old fern to me anyway. new plantlets should sprout from the dying leaves or new leaves should eventually grow from the main rhizome..

 

[hayer]

i LOVE your setup! it is gorgeous!