I normally prune out plants every month or so, about a 5 gal bucket full. Haven't had time lately, have pruned but the tank is a bit overgrown
So here's the advantage.....baby fish everywhere! Both tanks have 'em now. Baby Emperor Tetras in the 37 and tiny Killifish (Fundulopanchax) and Pigmy catfish in the 90. Couldn't get any decent pics of the little one's....but I'm excited. Actually we're getting too many for the 37, the little ones are growing and they keep making more. So if anyone knows anyone who might like a few Emperors, let me know. They're really cute, maybe I can talk Karen into taking some pics.....
These pics are a bit dark, only had one set of lights on.
It goes both ways, in a reef tank you will have a huge diversity for creatures with large amounts of macro algea.
"When they was no meat we ate fowl, when there was no fowl we ate crawdad. And when there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate what?"--H.I.
"We ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate sand?"--H.I.
"That's right."--Cellmate
Looks great. what are the specs on the tank? CO2, lighting, chemistry, etc? BTW, the Heteranthera in the foreground is genius, especially against that Sword (Rubin?). Also, where did you get your plants, as I have a hard time finding some of the rarer species.
Well, let's see...90 gal tank, 2- Eheim 2217 canister filters, 260W. PC lighting, If I remember correctly the bulbs are 6700K. I used to mix in a couple of 5000K bulbs but haven't lately. I have been thinking about adding a couple of T-5 bulbs. The substrate is Eco-Complete.
The CO2 is generally around 11ppm, I need to get it up a bit but haven't had time to fool with it lately. The CO2 is on a controller set to 7.2PH, although I'd like the ph to be a bit lower. The fish seem ok with it there.
KH is 107ppm and gh is 179ppm. Nitrates almost always read zero, I overfeed this tank most of the time and add nitrogen and Potassium every other day, Iron is another thing I can't seem to add enough of.
Have you tried Aquarium Landscapes? I've gotten some plants from them, and from AquariumPlant.com but have had just as much luck from some of the people who list on Aquabid, and the plants seem to do better. What kind of plants are you looking for?
"When they was no meat we ate fowl, when there was no fowl we ate crawdad. And when there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate what?"--H.I.
"We ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate sand?"--H.I.
"That's right."--Cellmate
Primarily looking for stuff like your Heteranthera, maybe some Glossostigma, rarer variants of Java Fern (i.e. Windelov). Also the 'red' varieties of Alternanthera, Rotala macrandra, different Crypts, and other oddball stuff. Just got my tank back on track after an algae problem. had to really clear the tank out. Makes me wish that I would have started out with lower light-5 wpg and I have to add nitrate, phosphate, potassium, and micros well above recommended dosing just to keep algae at bay.
I had a mix of Rotala Macranda and Indica, I think it's mainly Indica now. They're much harder to get the bright red coloration, I used to have a bush of red on the left side of the tank. That stuff sucks up iron like it's going out of style. I'd be happy to save some of the Heterantha and/or rotala if I can find some of the Macranda if you want it, I really hate to throw it away. I just pulled a ton of it out a few weeks ago. The one I've tried but don't seem to be able to keep is Rotala Wallachii, it's one of the most beautiful plants I've seen. Occasionally Water World in Pensacola gets it in. I think Aquarium Plants has some of the ones you are trying to find. I had glosso, but at the time also had a little algae issue on the substrate and it was ridiculous to try to keep up with.
I'll admit I've been lax in my dosing of nutrients, I add Potassium with the nitrogen every other day, and Iron every other day. Micros about twice a week but seem to have more algae issues when I add them much more than that. I also add Flourish every few days and with water change.
I had a serious problem with blue-green cyano after Ivan, it just about killed my whole tank and most of the fish. I guess that's why I'm so excited about the Pygmy's breeding, all the one's I lost then were bred in my 20 gal. Ended up clearing the tank and doing a treatment with Eurythromyacin which knocked it out. The only algae I deal with occasionally now is some of the green thread algae, which is fortunately easy to remove.
That planted tank looks awesome! here's my 20 and 29 that I ran a few years ago... the 20G died after my damn cat knocked over the CO2 system's 2L bottle and nuked the tank with sugar/yeast
Sweet! I like that 20 . I never can seem to have a nice, neat planted tank. I start out with a good plan, and after a few months I lose the pruning battle.
But the fish seem happy.....and fruitful.
nice tanks!!
I need to take my planted tank and clean it up some. Looks like a bomb went off. Water is all nasty green andwater is low. I think I'm moving my planted inside this sunday so it wont get as much natural sunlight from the florida room.
Here was the FW setup I had before I got into SW. I had that tank for like 6 months and lost all interest when I started SW. It was only a 10g and I think if it were a bigger tank...I would have staying into it for a while longer..or maybe i would have broken it down and turned it to a SW tank.. Who knows...anyways...here is a pic of my old FW setup
I start out with a good plan, and after a few months I lose the pruning battle. 
