As of October 25th
























As of November 18th

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Background plants added

Vallisneria americana (gigantea)

and some Rotala Magenta (Rotala macrandra v. 'narrow leaf')

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Middle ground plants added

Ludwigia repens 'Rubin’ (broad and narrow varieties)

I'm really digging the narrow leaf variety.

Rotala rotundifolia

Bacopa caroliniana 

I've also added, but assume I'll remove soon:

Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica'
Nymphaea lotus (zenkeri)
Hygrophila corymbosa 'Siamensis'
Cryptocoryne x willisii
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Hydrocotyle ? (Pennywort)
Echinodorus x barthii (red melon)
Echinodorus 'Ozelot Green'
Hygrophila difformis (Wisteria)

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Foreground plants added

Status of surviving plants
Amazon Swords- no algae
Anubias Barteri-central, green spot algae
Anubias Frazeri- right, green spot algae
Anubias Nana- left, green spot algae
Some moss on driftwood- mixed health
Cabomba- temporary, almost red
Anacharis- removed
Fauna:
3 Rummy Nose Tetras- healthy
3 Otos- healthy
2 Corydoras- healthy and large
5 galaxy rasbora- healthy

New plants:
I've added a number of plants.

Eleocharis parvula (Dwarf Hairgrass)

Echinodorus tenellus (Dwarf Sword)

Lilaeopsis mauritiana (Micro Narrow Leaf Sword)

 Pogostemon helferi (Little Star

I'll stick with whichever seems to thrive with the conditions I can provide.

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Restart and recovery.

I suppose it happens to the best of us. I've been trying to remember exactly what happened. Almost two years ago it seems I became demoralized. Well, I'm back!

Flora:
Amazon Swords- survived
Anubias Barteri-central
Anubias Frazeri- right
Anubias Nana- left
Some moss on driftwood.
Outdoors:
Cabomba- good
Anacharis- good
Fauna:
3 Rummy Nose Tetras- healthy
1 Otos- healthy, I think I need another
2 Corydoras- healthy and large
3 new galaxy rasbora- healthy


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This was day 78. Working on dosing with Pfertz, eying my dry ferts. Reading more: Thank you for contacting us! Judging by the picture you've included, your tank would definitely fall into the "heavily planted" criteria. Since you are experiencing signs of potassium deficiency, I would recommend that you increase your n, k, and m dosing to 3 pumps daily. I would leave your p dosing the same, since you have measured consistent residual levels with your current schedule. Also, I wouldn't recommend an increased water-change schedule, since you already have an intensive schedule. Regarding water changes, what is your post-change dosing regimen? Increasing this slightly may also help with your deficiency issues. Read more!

The Planted Aquarium Podcast

Here's something new for you!
Introducing The Planted Aquarium Podcast
http://www.theplantedaquariumpodcast.com/
You can provide feedback via this thread or private message and also via
ThePlantedAquariumPodcast@gmail.com
The web page and podcast are absolutely in their infancy. The first podcast is available at the web page listed above to stream or download. The podcast should also be available for subscription via iTunes in the next day or so.
Please understand our only motivation is to serve the broad planted aquaria hobby community. Orlando from Green Leaf Aquariums (http://www.greenleafaquariums.com/) was kind enough to be our first guest and we are quite grateful. If you have suggestions or comments please let us know. You can suggest who we should interview next. Maybe we could interview you! It'd be great to have a wide range of folks on the show, from typical hobbyist to seasoned expert.
Cheers! David and Jennifer Reading More: 5 star reviews on iTunes will be noted by name on the pod cast. Read more!

Aquarium Blog: Day 59 Planted, Flow improvement!

I added a Hydor Koralia Nano 240 GPH 4.5 flow device today. I'm sure glad I did not get a larger version. Reading more: It's about the size of an egg. Read more!

Aquarium Blog: Day 54 Planted (Pfertz!)

I performed my first significant trim yesterday. I cut back the Rotala Indica in the front about halfway down. I also removed a couple of Wisteria stems. It's so tough to trim. Silly I know. I'll learn. I've been using Pfertz fertilizers lately. For now the convenience is just really hard to beat. I'm still running a UV sterilizer. You can see the cable on the front right. I removed the hang on tank micron tank for the pictures. Both are in response to a couple of Ich nodules I spotted. I added a Rotala wallichii yesterday. What else? Dealing with some unwanted snails. Spot treating algae with hydrogen peroxide. Add some more root tabs. Reading more: Both German Blue Rams died. One of unknown causes and the second after relocation. I believe both deaths were stress related. They fought constantly with each other and the two Electric Blue Rams. I would have thought a heavily planted 55 gallon tank would have been large enough for the four of them. Read more!

Day 46 Planted

Noticed two ich spots today after being clean for a bunch of days. Sorta stumped by that, but in any case that's why you see the micron filter hanging on the front and UV in tank on the right. Most of my plants are doing great. I'm spot treating some algae on my driftwood. The above pic is interesting to compare to day 2 planted at the top.

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it. Read more!

Day 33 Planted!

I'm embarrassed to see it's day 33 since I planted this tank. I've been a bit demoraalized and haven't wanted to post! But, I think I've finally beaten back an infection of Ich and I'm finally feeling a bit better about the tank. I need to write a piece about defeating Ich, assuming all goes well in the next few days. Also, I'll report on the new Catalina Aquariums light fixture you see here. Also, Vic from Aquariumgarden.com came through with lots of dwarf hairgrass. Woo hoo!
Reading more: Give Catalina Aquariums a call before you order. I'll give a full review quite soon.
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Aquarium Blog: Green Leaf Aquariums Review

Green Leaf Aquariums Review
A+ to Green Leaf Aquariums!

Orlando from Green Leaf Aquariums just called. I must say I'm very impressed with the APC (http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/) community and Green Leaf Aquariums (http://www.greenleafaquariums.com/index.html). Orlando communicated to me that they'd been moving from one facility to another and had been less responsive to emails than ideal in the last few days. He also said he work with me on a reduced shipping charge to compensate. I'd have no reservations about ordering from Green Leaf Aquariums in the future and found Orlando to be a great/friendly guy / businessman!

Prompt shipping. Great products. Helpful customer support.

Kudos to Green Leaf!

Here was my post to http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/
Hi Folks,
I wonder if others have noticed that Green Leaf (Orlando) has not been responding to emails? I sent this a week ago and a followup with no response. Not a big deal. One of those instances where you realize you want to order one more thing. Called them first thing business hours twice (left message) and could not get anyone on the phone. They did ship the stuff I ordered in one box, but went ahead and charged me shipping for two orders. I'll still order from them and they ship promptly and I appreciate the product quality. Any thoughts? I will update here promptly if/when I hear from them.

"Hi Orlando,
I'm wondering if you'd be willing to grant me some shipping credit on my next order?
You were able to consolidate orders # and # and ship for $11.80 yet my total shipping charge was $23.80. The dry fertilizers look great. I've been very happy with Green Leaf Aquariums and look forward to my next order. Thanks for considering this!"
t.
Reading more: the logo is posted as an avatar on a local forum, so I don't think it can be considered copyrighted. I hope to hear from them soon and make this a very favorable post. Yup, I heard from them and am able to give Green Leaf a thumbs up. See the top of the post.
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Hydor CO2 Review

Part design and quality A+ (the parts seem to be made to exacting standards and made to last)
Customer support A+ (these folks were responsive and very helpful, I felt like I was working with an individual interested in helping me as an individual)

Update: my Hydor CO2 Green NRG Exclusive system continues to function well. The second canister installation was without incident. I am on day ten of bubbling at a rate of over 1 per second. I do hope to upgrade to a Hydor Advanced system with a larger tank soon!

If you are interested in my troubleshooting experiences see the links to the right.

My Hydor CO2 Green NRG Exclusive disposable canister depleted this morning after eight days. This system is for a nano to very small aquarium for sure. It could be that I lost some CO2 on setup, so I'll report how many days I get with each successive disposable canister. Oh, my bubble rate is about one per second for a 50 gallon tank. I suppose it's time to start looking for an upgrade. I'll be happy to transfer this system to a smaller tank however! In summary, Hydor customer support has been very responsive. They replaced my valve and two expended CO2 cartridges promptly.

With an update to the English translation of the instructions (see seventh Hydor troubleshooting blog entry), the Exclusive CO2 system is an elegant and user friendly solution to providing pressurized CO2 to the smaller/nano tank. I am considering the Advanced system for my upgrade. Reading more: The Hydor CO2 troubleshooting will continue as I'm not absolutely sure everything went well with this disposable cannister's installation. I did have some CO2 eject out the first safety hole before I could get the valve secured (twisted down sufficiently). I hope the silicone gasket did not tear! I'll keep you updated (all is well, see update above).
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Aquarium Blog: Day 15 planted- Cabomba!

Here's an interesting pic of the Cabomba (Cabomba caroliniana var. caroliniana,) I added five days ago. From what I read here: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/pl...wing-stem.html it must happen when the plant is tall/floating. Ah well, not the mystery I thought it was. Interesting pic nevertheless. I guess I could ask y'all this: If I buried this stem would I get a lot of vertical stems, or would the plant continue to grow one stem, or rot? Oh, the female rams (Freon and Krypton) seem devoid of eggs today. At least Krypton does. She had been looking bigger day after day and exhibiting some interest in creating a spawning spot. The males (Boron and Xenon) seem much more interested in tank hierarchy issues. Reading more: I may have to setup another tank if I ever want to spawn the Rams. There may be too many fish or it could just be water conditions. We'll see.
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