45 Gallon Asian biotope aquarium
Here are two pictures of the 45 Gal tank (Before and after).
I bought some Crypt. Balansae and Crypt. Parva at Aquascapes in Charlottsville. In addition I bought some Crypt. ??? (in the center middle of the tank. tall stems, similar leaves to Balansae) at the JRAS meeting as well as some Limnophila Species (as my best guess). Last addition was from Azeleas, I added one large giant Val - hope to see runners soon.
This is a cube tank 24x18x25 low tech -- no CO2. Since adding the new substrate in Feb, I have also been fertilizing with flourish and Excel more regularly. The tank is still on the cools side of the temp scale at 72-74.
The bottom photo shows the development that has taken place. I have unplugged the heater and only have sub tropical species (Danios, Weather loaches, and a pleco somewhere in there) The plants have developed well and I have a lot of floating plants that I am always clearing out. I change the water about once a month and have a Fluval canister filter on it (203 model I think). I have gone to mixing dry fertilizers from http://aquariumfertilizer.com/ and that seems to work great. I dose about once a week. I think they recommend the Tom Barr method. In any case it seems to have worked. I do use substrate fertilizers also. This tank sits next to my work desk and I really enjoy it daily.
