I got really lazy after the last tank update and started to neglect plant trimming, which resulted in the fast growing background stem plants constantly looking wild and unruly. It became a real chore to keep up with pruning and maintenance every week... so 2 months ago, i pulled out all the stem plants and replace them with a few bunches of Cyperus Helferi.
So far so good, this background plant's growth rate is slower and much easier to maintain. The original few bunches have since grown into a nice thicket of tall leaf blades that are starting to curve at the water surface... the tank has officially become a "grass" scape. :)
Yeah, the whole tank looks very green now... luckily there is still a resident colony of cherry shrimps to help add a little bit of red accent to the tank. :)
I'm curious if you have taken PAR measurement at substrate level for this tank - can you share any information?
ReplyDeleteI don't have a PAR meter so haven't been able to do any measurements... though i've used the same lights to successfully grow various types of carpet plants (ie. HC, glosso, hairgrass etc), so i guess it works well for my particular tank setups.
DeleteHave you added fertilizers to your tank it seems healthy without algae. Im amaze on how you maintain your tank.
ReplyDeleteYes, i do dose fertilizers on a daily basis right from the start.
DeleteI dose Tropical Premium fertilizer daily (contains potassium and trace/micro nutrients, but no nitrogen or phosphate) for the first few months after startup... then as the plant density increase and the aquasoil nutrients get depleted, i switch over to dosing Tropica Specialized fertilizer daily (contains all nutrients including nitrogen and phosphate).
I guess the main reasons why my tank encounters very little algae is because i maintain a minimal bio-load, i don't use excessive light, and my Co2 injection and fertilizer dosing is balanced according to the plant growth and density, hence algae doesn't get a chance to gain any foothold.
The majority of my tank's bio-load comprise of hardworking algae eaters like cherry shrimps and otocinclus, so they do help alot in eating up any residual algae that pop up too. :)
Nice tank! If i dont use CO2, can i get results like this too??? :P
ReplyDeleteIts possible... just that it'll take a much longer time for the plants to grow out without Co2 injection. :)
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