My planted tank evolution

[Crush]

Thought I would share my journey but I also want to kinda keep a log of how things change in the tank. I started my 60g with plants I transferred from my 10g. I cant lie I don't know what all I had exactly except for the anubias barteri. They didn't grow very well but they didn't die either in the 10 gallon, cant blame them though, all I had in the 10 was some cheesy leds that came with the tank and no fert (well I tried api root tabs at first but they clouded the water up and I never did it again) or any form of co2. Well I did a little research and got a little braver with planting my 60g. I still didn't go all out with proper substrate or co2 injection but I did upgrade the lighting to t5ho, using flourish root tabs, and getting on a regular schedule of api leaf zone (weekly) with daily doses of api co2 booster. Went to fish gallery one day with my daughter and picked up 3 small pots and one large pot of dwarf hair grass along with 4 bunches of anacharis. I got to work as soon as I could.....


This was the result (sometime around july)




after upgrading from two t8 lamps to six t5ho


now (8/7/2015) after swapping lamps to 6500k




As of 8/26/15

Update 9/30/15 anacharis is taking over...lol




as of 11/20/15

[Crush]

im still a newb but I like my tank more than ever.

[ptran]

Nice tank man. The anacharis is doing really well!

[morpheus]

nice! i agree that anacharis has really started to take off. Will look great as a background essentially

[Crush]

Thanks yall. Yeah that anacharis is really freaking quick. I trimmed some of it last night and put the trimmings in my daughters tank, the red and blue lobsters had a field day cutting it up. I woke up this morning and all the anacharis I put in had been massacred. There's bits and pieces everywhere...lmao

[Beth777]

My first try with anacharis has failed. It melted and I have one little stem left. There just no hope for me and plants.

[ptran]

Thanks yall. Yeah that anacharis is really freaking quick. I trimmed some of it last night and put the trimmings in my daughters tank, the red and blue lobsters had a field day cutting it up. I woke up this morning and all the anacharis I put in had been massacred. There's bits and pieces everywhere...lmao

LMAO... They are eating the anacharis.

[Crush]

Don't give up just yet. Hows your lighting, I mean what are you using. I'm essentially using 2.4 watts of t5ho per gallon, that's not a rule it's only for comparison sake if you were running t5ho's.

[Crush]

Iv got runners going on the dhg and a few new leaves on the anubias. Got one new leaf on what I think is an Amazon sword

[Crush]

Ok so I go on a three day vacation to San Antonio, had a great time there with my daughter, anyways I get home to a green tank. I mean green like Iv never seen (I really didn't mean to rhyme). Never had any tank Iv owned get like this, I tend to be more of a neat freak at times. Well I had my mother take care of my tank while I was gone and forgot to mention to her to turn the hood lights off. I spent what little I had left of my vacation cleaning the 60g. Green water is close to being gone, still hazy though. Thinking of adding a uv filter in, something like the green machine in-tank unit. Any suggestions on uv sterilizers?

[Crush]

On top of green water one of my mollies had babies again but I separated the male from the tank atleast a month ago. I knew those females looked suspiciously large...lol

[morpheus]

all livebearers do graze on algae, s i am sure they help keepy our plants clean a little. i dont use a UV sterilizer, but it sounds like this was just more so an oops than a issue you need to sink money in to solve. if you hook up your light to a timer that has always worked for me. just a cheap on from target or walmart does the trick

you could put a group of nerites in there. they are fantastic cleaner snails. i have 3 in a 10 gal and the glass is spotless.

[Crush]

Iv got a dozen Nerites already and they are cleaning up like champs. Also got 20 amano shrimp.
I know it was just an accident but it would make life a little easier with a sterilizer. Iv gotten by for a long time without one so I don't need one, I want one...lol

[Crush]

Well Iv lost several amano shrimp and a couple of rcs. Also one endler was flushed to the great sea fighting this green water. Had an eheim pro 2 filled to the brim with filter floss and reduced lights to 2 hours a day. No dice. Tried low doses of algaecide but that still stressed my fish and shrimp. Did a 75% water change and light reduction and still a no go. Went out and got the 24watt green machine. It was either that or cut lighting all togather for a few days and risk harming my plants.

[Crush]

Next thing on the list is a digital timer like Morpheus suggested for my lights.