My tank through the years (warning lots of pics)

[Starry]

Hello everyone, and welcome to my humble 10-gal tank, in pictures over the years. This will come in several parts, so I ask that you please don't post any replies until I'm done the 2008's.

I learned almost everything I know on this forum, so to begin I'd like to thank everyone who has helped over the years. Although I haven't been active throughout the entire time, I return occasionally, and this is one such period, as I recently embarked on revitalizing my tank from a low point. I love looking at people's tanks, but I'm overly critical of my own so I rarely post pics. I will make up for that now Enjoy!

I will begin with the oldest photo I could find, and unfortunately it's not a good one. This is shortly after I set up my tank in 2002, and I was battling green water. I can't remember how it resolved itself. I know this pic is really really old because I still had the Sag in the foreground. I loved that plant, it filled in so well, but for some reason it died back, and I've never been successful at creating a great foreground.

 

[Starry]

2004

Now let's fast forward to better times in 2004. Here you can really see how much my tank (and I guess most tanks) change over just a few months.

By this time I had discovered my love of Limnophila and red plants. The Barclaya I especially loved. It looked to nice in front of light green plants, the photos don't always do it justice. I also dabbled with H. callitrichoides for the foreground, but it didn't do well. I also had some H. micranthemoides and Lysimachia nummularia, I really liked both of those and they grew like weeds, but somehow ended up dying out eventually. Note also the wood piece - I ended up removing it later on because it was growing algae and took up too much precious plant space.

 

[Starry]

2005

Here's 2005, starting off on a high note. The H. micranthemoides was growing like a weed, I clearly remember. By the end of the year, you can see the brown crypt taking over. I bought this crypt on the very first day of planting my tank, and I still have it to this day (hidden at the back today), along with a C. balansae and an Aponogeton ulvaceus (see today's pics for that one, happens to be flowering now). I also scored some Anubias nana petit, but you can see it never really does well. I think I still have a few bits in my tank today, but it's disappearing because I keep cutting off the BBA-infested leaves at a faster rate than it can put out new ones.

 

[Starry]

2006

Not much to say about 2006, I can't find too many pics. Both of these are from the beginning of the year. It looks like the tank was going downhill, so that's probably why I didn't take many pics that year. See how the crypt has completely taken over. One day I pulled them ALL out and I had two plastic bags full. I got rid of about half then.

 

[Starry]

2006 cont'd

Forgot some of the 2006 pics. These ones are from Sept, when I got an online order in. I was so excited for the glosso, but it just disappeared. I think the platies were eating it, I don't know what else could've happened. It wasn't falling apart or anything. Weird. I will have to get some more now that I have lots of light. Unfortunately, most of the plants from this large order died. I just wasn't taking proper care of the tank, my fault.

 

[The Zigman]

opcorn:

 

[Starry]

2008

What happened to 2007? I don't know, I guess I didn't document that year. It wasn't pretty. You can see 2008 is not starting off on a good note. I took this pic because the ulvaceus was looking pretty and happened to be flowering. Otherwise, the tank was a mess full of algae. This was February, and an absolute low point. Look at my beloved Limnophila. I actually killed it all eventually! (The brown crypt is super happy though.) Making matter worse was the I just couldn't set up a CO2 bottle anymore. I made like 4 batches, no bubbles. It also didn't help that every time I hooked up a bottle, I expected it to produce (yes, I was troubleshooting and trying things), so I would add ferts, but then get no CO. Baaaad combo.

Fast forward to July. I replanted the whole tank (second pic) and got the CO2 working again. Things were looking good, until my light fixture kicked the bucket. So now I had CO2 and ferts, but onnly 13W light. Again, baaad combo.

Now, for the 3rd pic and on: This is August. I got a 40W Current USA strip and I was elated. The tank is also open top now, wooohoo! However, check out the algae along the bottom! To clarify, this algae is from the period when my lights weren't working. And this is after I pulled out as much as I could. See that puny little stem in the middle (second last pic)? Didn't think so. Now check out the last pic - see it now, all spidery? That grew from a single 3" stem that hitchhiked in with some of my fresh Limnophila and Ludwigia glandulosa, and it now covers half the tank within a week if I let it. I'm keeping it, it's a great nutrient sponge for now, and will look pretty trimmed nicely.

One more set to go, from this month.

 

[Bk718]

nice transitions.
Was it really 10+ platies in there??

 

[Starry]

2008 Sept

To conclude, here's the current situation. That first pic is just cute, with the little fry and bushy plants. The second pic is a week after the previous trim, and I was away for a long weekend, so no maintenance or ferts. Algae galore. But, every since I cleaned that up, the algae hasn't been coming back.

The last 3 pics are from today. I did a lazy trim yesterday (cut off tops, which I never do, I prefer to pull up and trim from the bottom), and you can see there's still algae left over, but no more growing, tankfully. I have to apologize for the aquascaping, or lack thereof. I've been concentrating on getting everything healthy, which it is now, and within the next few weeks will do some work on the layout. I now have some cute crypts in the foreground, hopefully they will fill in. Otherwise, I will have to look for some more glosso or H callitrichoides. The second last pic is of an Anubias nana and some C. balansae that I got on ebay in august (lots of discussion on that lately). The algae on the Anubias is all my doing, it came to me in great condition.

There you have it, a tank in pictures over the years. As you can tell, my aquascaping skills leave a lot to be desired, but plants make me happy either way Thanks for reading.

____

Tank specs:
10 gal.
AC mini filter (used to have a sponge filter long long ago)
40W CF (used to have 2 x 13W until Aug 2008)
Flourite substrate
DIY CO2, with Hagen ladder diffuser (used to use an airstone back in the day)
Fish: Platies, and more platies, and little platies, and fry platies.
Ferts: Flourish N, Flourish P, KCl, Tropica Master Grow, Flourish, Flourish iron, Excel (sometimes).

 

[Starry]

nice transitions.
Was it really 10+ platies in there??

You didn't wait for me to finish :headshake2:
10 platies? Try 18. That was my max. All the happy bushy plants aren't helping now, I have about 6 fry growing up. Just when I was looking forward to their numbers going down enough so I can get some otos.