At a month out from planting, I am happy with how things are going so far. Some minor startup issues, but overall the tank is settling down well. A lot of the buces melted back, although some of the Kedagang and Dark Venus still look ok. The dark start didn't seem to mitigate the buce melt much at all, and my diddling around with the CO2 and lighting at the start probably didn't help either, but the rhizomes seem solid, so it will be time and patience to see how they bounce back.
The tank did go through a short GDA and minor diatom phase across the sand, rocks, and glass, but considering the size of the tank, and the general lack of stem plants, controlling the lights, and dialing back the ferts a bit seems to have addressed the majority of that. It is highly unlikely these lights will ever run at 100% in this setup. Currently running at about 30%, and doing well.
I did add some Amanos last week, but they are small juveniles, and still in hiding. Their whereabouts at the moment is mostly determined by where they are rolling aquasoil out from behind the Hakkai stones, across the sand, in one corner of the tank at night. As much as I love the white clouds, they are a bit energetic, and overly curious, without much sense of a 'zone of personal space'. I totally understand why the Amanos aren't out and about a whole lot yet. The White Clouds are much larger than they are, and bit up in the Amanos business when they venture out. The Amanos are also why you see plastic wrap on the ends of the tank. That was just insurance to be sure no Amanos ended up crispy on the floor in their attempt to avoid the boisterous white clouds. The plastic wrap will probably come off with this Sunday's water change. It's not really the 'nature aquarium' aesthetic I am going for
In addition to the Amanos, I have added 12 Otocinclus 'Rio Tapiche' from Dan's Fish. I wanted a large enough group for them to feel comfortable, and with all the Cyperus and Eleocharis in the back, it will take a moderate crew to help keep all those grassy plants clean. They are settling in well, and constantly cruising and grazing around the tank.
When I initially planted the Cyperus helferi in the back, I ended up with a combination of some Tropica potted, and some
ADA TC plants. It is what I could get at the time, and I only planted the healthiest plants I received. Two of the TC's promptly melted, and were replaced with some rather oversized potted Cyperus instead, the two tall clumps in the back, which is why the background is completely off balance at the moment. I expected to be frantically trimming the outer leaves on the Cyperus, so I didn't thin them out much at planting, but so far they seem super happy, and pretty much algae free. We'll see if that holds! The Montevidensis tends to be a slow starter, and hasn't grown much yet (also TC) that is mixed in with the Cyperus. The Crypt spiralis red on the far left is just starting to get a little bigger, but is also pretty slow, but they will get there, and the background should balance out over the next couple of months. The Eriocaulon 'feather duster', Eleocharis acicularis, and pusilla are all filling in well, though.
The Nymphaea zenkeri behind the driftwood is finally racing to the top of the tank, with substantial noticable growth every day now. As I am lean dosing with APT 1 at the moment, the leaves are also coloring up well. My intention is to let the Nymphaea in the back left behind the driftwood grow to the surface, for some cover, but the two in front I will keep trimmed to keep them lower down in the midground. We'll see how that goes.
Surprisingly, I have an Anubias gracilis that is doing just fine, despite some claims that it does better emersed, and I do like the more unique leaf shape. I am also really liking how the Persicaria Fasset Green I ordered from
@Burr740 is growing in. I love the plant, but a purple persicaria didn't seem right for this tank, so I really appreciate that this variety will stay green, and just add a little different leaf texture. Had a little green algae on the bottom leaves for a couple of weeks, which has now resolved (or the otos ate it), and the new growth is looking really good.
My one headache has been the weeping moss on the driftwood. I am surprised at the amount of fuzz and film that this Manzanita has produced, and is still producing. It has been scrubbed several times, but where the film pushes through the moss, that area of moss seems to die off. I am going to let the wood settle down a bit more, and maybe the Amanos and Otos will clean things up a bit. Once the fuzz stops, I will just tie some fresh weeping moss to the driftwood in the bare patches. Some of it is looking better, especially on the lower right arch. The taller arch toward the left, the moss is still struggling in areas. Really fun when the moss cotton dissolves, and chunks drift into the skimmer!
Now that plants are pushing past the early transition phase I need to consider if/when to move back to APT 3. Although there are fish, they are nano fish in a very large tank, so their contribution to nitrates and phosphates I expect will be low.
I just picked up a polarizing filter for my DSLR, so I am hoping to get some better photos with a real camera after the next water change
More soon...
My schedule isn't quite so ridiculous today, so I will check it again tonight before the CO2 switches off. Brighter light does make it easier, but I am probably still reading it a little high.70 seemed crazy high though, for not even a full pH drop, which is why I didn't believe that value.
I've had the kit for 20 years, but I got refill reagents for Christmas. My base reagent expired Feb 2026 and at this point, it's a bit too late to complain. However, its sodium hydroxide. I think it will be OK. I recently had to re-set my CO2 and my Erio quinguangulare has started back growing again, so my CO2 must be OK. Its notoriously picky. Yeah, if I had just bought it, I'd be contacting customer support, but as it is, I'll make do. Glad you posted your reply to Jackson.
. It frequently resets permissions, and then can't find the Bluetooth controller. Also, I have burned out two of the 12V AC/DC power supplies in the last week! (This is my second screen, because the first one arrived damaged. Kudos to ARC, though, for replacing it as it is quite pricey and expensive to ship for a tank this size). The power supply for the replacement screen started to fail on Wednesday, and caused the entire screen to start flickering. Rather than place a 'seizure warning' label on the tank I swapped it out for the power supply from the original screen. I had sent the screen to the dump, but kept the power supply 'just in case'.
this morning, too! I have a new 12V/5A power supply arriving from Amazon today. If I burn through that one as well I will just break out the multimeter and see if I can figure out what's going on. Not that LEDs draw a ton of power, but I am wondering if the screen is too much for the supplied cheap power supply. Who knows?
