My 10gal NPT... Round 2 ;D

[MonteCarlo]

After failing my first NPT for numerous reasons (main cause was wrong lighting), I picked up where I left off and tried very hard to make this one really well. Instead of playsand, I used petco sand, and it has worked 500 times better. I guess the Quikrete brand of play sand is just really dirty, because after a week and a half (3 water changes) it only got worse. This is day 1 of my new NPT, so there are still little bubbles on the wall that you can see, and i took this with a phone camera, so imagine it better in real life



Plant species: About 14 stems of Anacharis hiding in the back corners, and 4ish stems of narrow leaf Anacharis. 6 stems of Bacopa in front left. Java moss on the cave, 2 Java ferns behind it. 2 smaller Crypts in front right, and 4 stems of Cabomba behind them. Some duckweed on top (I added it after pic), and that moss ball in front :)

I hope some plants straighten out, such as the Cabomba, or else Ill probably replant them behind the Anacharis in the back right, since the Cabomba now are just leaning over them.

Also, the Bacopa are pretty tall already. I planted them as-is since there were roots on the bottom. I wonder if I should cut in half those tall stalks and replant them. That way itll give it more room to grow actual leaves before I have to trim, since I doubt those bare stalks on bottom will grow anything. Advise?

Comments/Rates appreciated :)

[jinxhex]

Wow! This looks awesome, I love the black sand especially.

[babystarz]

Nice cave, the moss on top is going to look great. Plants grow towards light so they will straighten themselves out naturally. I'd leave the backpack alone for now to let it settle in, maybe in a week or so you can go ahead and cut off the top of the stalks to plant more. You may also see the cryptic leaves melt, this is normal and nothing to worry about, they'll grow back.

[babystarz]

LOL @ auto correct, I meant bacopa not backpack.

[imsunflwr1]

That looks wonderful! You did a great job... and I appreciate you identifying the plants. Look forward to seeing more pics as it fills in.

[Firefly85]

looks really cute. I bet it will look amazing in a couple of weeks.

[MonteCarlo]

Heres an updated picture...I think its about day 9. It doesn't look that much fuller because I trimmed the two largest leafs of the Java fern, and also trimmed the stems/replanted the bacopa since they were above the water. Next time ill just trim from the top, but like I said earlier they had long bare stalks.

Ammonia is at 0ppm, and Ive only done one 20% water change. there are 5 white cloud mountain minnows in there along with a mystery snail.



There are lots of what look like to be roots hanging down from my Cabomba and Anacharis. Are these actually jus big roots, or are they like separate plants trying to form? As you can tell I don't really have experience, but Im glad to see all my plants doing well this time around.

[mattoboy]

It looks really well done! I wouldn't doubt that you will have WCMM fry pretty soon! What are you using for filtration?

[MonteCarlo]

No filtration, which is why I only got the minnows in there...gonna wait until tank matures before i put anything sensitive. For your assurance, my ammonia is at 0ppm. My plants are growing well, just trimmed my cabomba today.

As a beginner to this hobby, fry kind of scare me but intrigue me also. I only have this tank, and I know its not suitable for what could be 50+ more minnows haha. I guess I have to remove the eggs, or if possible, remove only most of them? My guess is that theyd lay them on my java moss in the middle.