pennyroyals
New member
Hi! New to the forums here, and to keeping amphibians. So after reading a lot of info here and elsewhere, we recently redid our 75 gallon (280 liters?) to be axie-friendly. We just finished planting it this weekend, heres a (kind of big) pic:
http://i.imgur.com/iDeBEPn.jpg
I swear the plants aren't that pathetic, my phone just takes potato pictures.
We're using micro swords as a carpet with lots of anubias nana in the back, some java ferns on the driftwood & java moss on the granite turtle shell. None of our LFS had any taller plants than the little squat anubias, I'm kind of disappointed.
I'm worried about a few things though:
- How long will it take the micro swords to get situated in the tank? I've read it can take anywhere from 1-2 months or more, that it's slow growing, fast growing... I'm honestly confused at this point, haha. This is our first planted tank.
- How much flow/current is too much? We put in a bubble bar in the corner opposite the filter & have an Aquaclear that's rated for 300 GPH. We also put a prefilter sponge on the intake and took the activated carbon out as I'd read it wasn't good for planted tanks. Should we remove the bubble bar before we look at adding axies later? I also read that some people hooked up filter sponges to the output to minimize surface agitation - is that necessary?
- And finally... How many should we think about acquiring? Do they like having tank buddies, or are they ok being alone? Would we need to keep them in something smaller and then 'graduate' them to the big tank?
We're planning on letting the tank sit awhile for now and basically watch the plants grow. We did use some water & the filter media it had in it previously. Oh, and I'm guessing the t5 we have for the plants is probably too bright, so we're also trying to cultivate some duckweed up top to dim it down a little. It maintains a temp of ~68 degrees.
Are we missing anything? Apologies for the rambling. I'm really tired and have been kind of excited about posting. >__>
http://i.imgur.com/iDeBEPn.jpg
I swear the plants aren't that pathetic, my phone just takes potato pictures.
We're using micro swords as a carpet with lots of anubias nana in the back, some java ferns on the driftwood & java moss on the granite turtle shell. None of our LFS had any taller plants than the little squat anubias, I'm kind of disappointed.
I'm worried about a few things though:
- How long will it take the micro swords to get situated in the tank? I've read it can take anywhere from 1-2 months or more, that it's slow growing, fast growing... I'm honestly confused at this point, haha. This is our first planted tank.
- How much flow/current is too much? We put in a bubble bar in the corner opposite the filter & have an Aquaclear that's rated for 300 GPH. We also put a prefilter sponge on the intake and took the activated carbon out as I'd read it wasn't good for planted tanks. Should we remove the bubble bar before we look at adding axies later? I also read that some people hooked up filter sponges to the output to minimize surface agitation - is that necessary?
- And finally... How many should we think about acquiring? Do they like having tank buddies, or are they ok being alone? Would we need to keep them in something smaller and then 'graduate' them to the big tank?
We're planning on letting the tank sit awhile for now and basically watch the plants grow. We did use some water & the filter media it had in it previously. Oh, and I'm guessing the t5 we have for the plants is probably too bright, so we're also trying to cultivate some duckweed up top to dim it down a little. It maintains a temp of ~68 degrees.
Are we missing anything? Apologies for the rambling. I'm really tired and have been kind of excited about posting. >__>