what a difference 6 months can make.

[Jadis]

look at my ugly little 10 gallon back in january!
its laughable now! there were 4 plant species and a lot of growing that needed to happen.

and now. there are about 8 speices and a ton of growing with CO2, flourish and finally just this past month fish!
i still want to get something big dark green and bushy for the big hole on the right side. but right now im a pretty happy girl.

let me know what you think!

 

[Akysten]

Lots of growth! Looks like they're outgrowing the tank!
Is that just gravel? Or are you using some sort of other substrate underneath.

 

[RockabillyChick]

those stem plants, rotala i believe, you can pinch off the tops and re-plant them to make them thicker. right now they look like they are choking out the light

 

[Ms.Bubbles]

I think even your "ugly" 10 gallon in the first pic looks pretty good!

Good advice from Rockabilly Chick. You could pinch off some of the rotala (?) and plant it behind the large-leaf plant and it would grow up to fill in the hole nicely.

 

[Quartermain]

Great job at algae control.. truly! Not one iota of algae that I can see in those picts. Starting out without fish really helps with controlling excess nutrients. My slow growing plants always have some spot and diatom algae on them except in my very oldest tank.

Did you manage to keep the hairgrass alive? I don't see it in the second pict.

Anyway good job! 10 gals can be touchy. :thm:

 

[Jadis]

the substrate is flourite.

ive already trimmed the rotalia twice in the last 2 months. i know its time again but i like the jungle look.


as for algae. i just finished battling brown algae last month (i know its common in new tanks) but dear god in a 10 gallon it looked like mud on everything. now there is no algae anywhere. (i hate those snails but i think they might be why)

as for the hairgrass. why yes, it is still alive. because its soo slow growing. the micro swords and (oh god i cant think of the name!) have grown over it quite a bit