My Tank Cycled Through

[MarkPulawski]

So I set my tank up in April of '09, siliconed some cypress knees to the bottom and added lots of plants to combat the massive phosphate load Florida water has, 4 - 6 weeks after set up...
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp133/markpulawski/Picture649.jpg
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp133/markpulawski/Picture664.jpg
then at about the 10 -12 week mark my tank became pea soup, so much for the daily Florida conditioned tap water water changes. This picture is after a bunch of clean up and after putting the UV sterilizer on to kill the free floating algae...I was sick, my relaxing hobby felt like an overdue bill..
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp133/markpulawski/Picture821.jpg
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp133/markpulawski/Picture820.jpg
Now 17 months after set up almost all the algae is gone and the large Amazon Sword i bought with about 12 pups has matured into 13 nice size Amazon swords, along with a few other plants, I am taking a few shots tonight when the ambient light mellows a bit

[Eddie]

Nice group of fish! They look to be doing extremely well.

Eddie

[MarkPulawski]

Fish are from John (snookin21) and have been like piranha ever since I had them, feeding aggressively even when my busy travel schedule ends up giving me a 13 -14 day water change interval. I tried to get pics but the ambient light creates too much glare (given the big slders next to the tank). I will get some pics tonight, hopefully my camera skills will do the tank justice as it looks really good now.

[MarkPulawski]

I got a few pics when clouds darkened the sky here, nothing like what i see..
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp133/markpulawski/Picture1153.jpg
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp133/markpulawski/Picture1151.jpg
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp133/markpulawski/Picture1150.jpg
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp133/markpulawski/Picture1149.jpg

[Eddie]

Yup, I'd take all of them. ;)

[Skip]

nice fish!! what are they?

[vera]

Looks good !!, the Green(?) in the last pict is so beautiful!

[MarkPulawski]

4 are Royal green and 1 is a RSG. The 2 oldest and biggest are truely Royal Green as they are fully colored the other 2 I bought as younger fish and never developed the full body striations but continue to color up over a year later. I will agree with those i have seen write that WC fish grow slower than domestics.
The bottom fish in the last pic is my favorite and i hope it eventually fully colors but the metalic green and red is far more more intense than the other fish. If it were to become fully striated it will be the nicest fish I have ever seen, domestic or wild.

[pcsb23]

Hi Mark,

Nice fish!

Looking at the pics, it looks like the tank will get a lot of light from the windows, maybe moving the tank or putting a background on it may reduce the light levels some, this should reduce the levels of algae too.

[Ed13]

http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp133/markpulawski/Picture1149.jpg

Very nice fish you got there!!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Tank should be fine when the plants are larger.

[MarkPulawski]

Thanks Paul and Ed, actually the algae levels are minimal with what you see on the glass is almost all that remains. I do not clean it off because i have a few snails in the tank, the cypress knees also have a little of the blacker filamentous left but overall the tank is very stable and most important a joy to look at rather than a source on consternation. I just wish I could get a decent pic of what it looks like in person, the curved glass of it being a corner tank does not help.

[MarkPulawski]

Someone told me this little plant would grow large with water lily like leaves and man did it ever.
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp133/markpulawski/Picture963.jpg
I have since trimmed a crop of leaves off of the top of the water about 4 or 5 times now, and 1 plant has turned into 3. The last cropping I found 1 of my Cardinal Tetras that somehow got on top of one the leaves and parrished. You can see in this pic 2 plants, the 1 behind the remaining stems from where I cut about 10 leaves that went to and covered the top of the tank. They also produce a very pretty blue flower, too bad it is wasted on top where no one can see it.
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp133/markpulawski/Picture1154.jpg

[Disgirl]

That's a beautiful tank and fish Mark! I may have to try one of those lotus plants from the bulb, have seen them but never had one. Do you know if they will grow in a pot or dish inside the tank? Thanks for posting the pics!
Barb:)

[MarkPulawski]

Mine was given to me as a bulb, after it rooted the bulb came off and did not produce another plant. It did however produce some leaves that roots grew off, I cut those off and planted them and they turned into new plants which have grown several leaves but not taken off like the original plant which continually shoots multiple leaves to the surface.