John's 75 planted new plant photo 4-20-13

Very nice tank. Its good to see some other planted tank aquarists on here. I love excel. Almost as much as my 55 gallon planted tank does. Haha. Ive also noticed nitrogen makes a huge difference. Dr. Foster and Smith had a big sale a while ago so I picked up a decent amount of supplements and my tank is really blowing up now. If you havent looked into their clearance prices give it a shot. Some things were only a few bucks.

 

Thanks, yeah they have good sales at times.

 

7-17-11 pics









Changing to RODI water from tap water seems to be a good move. The algae is less colorful and dense. Need to get that pressurized CO2 unit now.

 

With the tank looking the way it does, I'd be willing to wager that you'd do just fine without the CO2.

 

Thanks, I know you are right. But it is something I would like to try also. Then I will know where I want to go with a planted tank after trying various methods. There are some more difficult plants I would like to keep and am hoping the CO2 is the final puzzle piece.

 

beautiful tank!

 

Thank you

 

New pic 8-13

Here is a new pic of the tank. It has been a couple of weeks since I posted one.



Lots of changes with the tank and more are in store.

I removed all of the Hygrophila on the right side of the tank except for the H difformis in front. Multiple species of Lugwigia have replaced them. The species are L. peruensis, L. repens, L. palustris, L. arcuata, L. inclinata and L. inclinata 'Cuba'. The l. inclinata plants are behind the log and hopefully will show up shortly. I moved the Aponogeton crispus from behind the log to front right. I added Rotala nanjenshen to right of the R. rotundiflora. I also added more R. macranda. The new plant next to the Madagascar Lace, that has grown like crazy, is Pogostemon helferi. Once the P. helferi is stable I will trim and replant so that is will grow along the substrate instead of vertical.

I have also added several fish. I added 1 Pitbull pleco, Parotocinclus jumbo, and 3 Corydoras catfish last week. I unfortunately lost one of the corys when it got snagged in a web of hair algae in my Ambulia. Today I added 6 Otocinclus catfish, a gold Bushynose pleco, Ancistrus sp., 8 Rasbora heteromorpha and 1 R. espei.

Future changes will revolve around adding a pressurized CO2 system to the tank. I have already purchased the regulator and a drop checker which is used to check the CO2 concentration in the water. I have purchased the supplies for a DIY reactor for the CO2. Just need to build this. I still need to purchase a CO2 tank and figure out the best method to connect my canister filter to the CO2 reactor.

 

That's gorgeous. It looks so crisp and clean, very outstanding. Congrats on the new adds.

 

Wow it looks awesome John. I love the Rasboras!!!