3 tank

Thanks! I'm hoping that they return to their previous size and colouration, as they were really stunning. Being split up as they are now, rather than being in clumps, should make it look a bit more wild too

 

Very nice!

 

Tank is now 2 days short of a full month set up and running. I had an issue with what i think was green hair algae that then died, and became brown clumps of algae. As there is no livestock, there was nothing around to get rid of it. 10 minutes with a toothbrush and tweezers fixed that. It had taken over the anubias, AR mini and Crypt undulatus red, which all got trimmed/scrubbed clean followed by a big water change.

Rotala rotundifolia has been trimmed and replanted, edging further to the right. I'm slowly building up the density here, so that's good news.
Limnophila aromatica has also been trimmed and replanted. There is definite new growth where each stem was cut, as new growth is almost luminescent green.
Crypt undulatus red has been moved, once more, to the back left corner to nestle amongst its cousins and the limnophila. Some of the older leaves, probably previously emersed ones, were starting to melt so i lopped those off.
Crypt wendtii and crypt axelrodi look to be doing fine. Growth is slowly picking up, i think as the roots get established again.
AR Mini has been trimmed and replanted. Undersides of leaves and new growth have a pretty vibrant red colour, so we might have some long-term success with my initial idea.
Hemianthus micranthemoides has been a bit odd. It seems to stop growing after a water change, and then picks up 3 or 4 days later. The leaves look almost identical to the Rotala rotundifolia, just shrunk 50%. As such it's blending a bit with the Rotala, so i'm wondering about pulling it and finding something else to plug the gaps between the rocks and keep the soil off the sand. I'm thinking Micranthemum Monte Carlo, possibly some bucephalandra if i'm feeling brave, or maybe crypt parva. More research and thought needed here.
Anubias are doing surprisingly well. I think they like the more frequent water changes as it keeps the hardness of the water up. A few small pieces of the brown algae remain, but not enough to make an effort and clean them.
Hygrophila pinnatifida is slowly settling in. It too has a light dusting of the dead algae, but i'm sure some livestock will sort that out.

In the betta tank, the java fern and bolbitis are doing surprisingly well. Some of the pieces are attached to pebbles with cable ties, so i'm contemplating yanking those out and chucking them in the main tank. There are some areas of open substrate that i can't really plant anything in as the substrate is a thin layer over the rocks, and i also need to hide some of the ugly superglue mistakes i've made when joining the spiderwood.

It's been a busy first month, but i'm really pleased that i've kept all the plants alive (at least) and not had clouds of algae taking over everything. Hopefully i can source some cherry or crystal shrimp for this tank in the next couple of weeks, as i think we are stable enough to add those. I'm now dropping down to the once a week 50% change, so i'll test the water before the next one.

Some photos:

Anubias


Mixed crypts


AR Mini


Limnophila and hygrophila


Rotala and Hemianthus

 

Wow... @fux940510 ... lots of hard work has gone into this but its paying off and looking good

Well done!!

 

Thanks @A new day and @MariaS

 

Been almost 2 months since the last update - So a total of 4 months up and running. I had a bit of a loss of interest last week - bit of an algae mess, bored with the scape, still no livestock etc. Even considered selling off everything and moving on. Thankfully, my interest has returned after some much needed maintenance and re-reading through this thread.

Crypts are growing astonishingly well, except the undulatus "Red". That seems to gain and lose leaves at a similar rate, so no real progress. Good colour on the new leaves though.
Limnophila seems to be picking up speed after a slow start
Rotala isn't doing too badly, but i lapsed a bit with replanting the trimmings so density isn't quite there yet
Anubias is happy and relatively algae free, a first for me
HM growing like a bomb. No surprise
AR Mini is doing basically nothing. It is getting shadowed by the crypts though, which probably doesn't help
Hygro pinnatifida is also doing basically nothing. The 1 stem that survived is starting to get a bit shadowed by limnophila.

Pond snails are getting pretty large now, but no damage to plants yet. I seem to have detritus worms crawling around the place too.

The manten stone seems to develop a thick black algae, but not like BBA. It might be due to the calcium content.

A photo from this evening. Crypts getting blown around a bit: