Painful re - scaping of my planted aquarium

>> Sunday, September 13, 2009





Today I removed all the vals. Reasons being they were spreading at odd places. Old leaves were looking ugly and they were floating on the surface. Planted more Bacopas in the back ground. Changed the place of Hygrophilla deformis. Changed 80% of water.

But I was shocked to see my HCs and HMs. They were looking so ugly! All kind of dust and white webs entangled in them in a bad way. The only option was to remove them.

At last I took the decision of removing them. I removed them and kept separately in two containers. Then suddenly thought of giving a try again. I kept them for 5 minutes in ice cool diluted bleaching powder solution.


Then taken a portion of HC and planted at one corner. To my surprise, they were bright and full of roots! Then I took each of them and started planting. Another surprise! 90% of my fore ground is covered by HC!



HMs are also brighter. All the leaves looking healthy. No sign of blemishes in either of them. after a long time I saw pearling in HCs! Hope they will stay.

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Video clip of my 8 week old planted TANK

>> Wednesday, September 9, 2009

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Questions asked by the beginners for setting up planted tanks in Kolkata

>> Monday, September 7, 2009

1. Which material is preferable? Glass or Plastic? Please provide the pros and cons of both.

Glass will be cheaper and easily available. If you want to spend more can go for moulded one ..aesthetically better

2. If I want to have a tank of say 2.5 ft length 1.5 breadth and 2 ft of height, will it be good enough to grow plants?

Length and breadth is ok but height better keep @18" or below, otherwise you have to spend much on lighting and electricity bills.

3. Is direct sunlight advisable or artificial light will do good?

No direct sunlight. The total environment will be created by you and will be controlled by you.

4. Will it require lot of time to maintain? ACtually me and my husband belong to IT field and everyday we don't have much time to spend. But yes in occassion basis we can spend an entire day during weekend twice a month. My question is will it demands lots of care/time everyday?

Initially it need 1 hour alternate day for water changing etc... after 2 - 3 months it will take 2 hours per week. If you have passion you can make it easily.

5. Sometimes we are out of home for 2 days.may be 1.5 days. How to cope with that without affecting aqua lives in my tank.

Not much problem. Timer for light is available not very costly too.


6. In Kolkata, where should I get the base substrate?

Collect laterite, which is at present available on the service road Lake town on VIP road. You will need about 2 - 3 kg for your set up. Collect coarse sand gravel. KA members will help you for that

10.At last, to get ready for all these, how much will it cost me. Obviously its difficult to provide exact amount but an approximation will also do.

It depends on what do you want! For low tech tank, where growth will be slower and you cannot expect to see the magic every now and then can be started @ 2.5 K for your tank size. For high tech tank sky is the limit :) But a moderate high-tech tank you should keep your budget about 5 - 6 k.

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My new plants are getting hold

>> Saturday, September 5, 2009


Oh! It is nice to see the new leaves are coming out from Ludwigia inclinata! The original stems are still bent! but many new leaves are coming out. I have no idea what color and form they are going to take finally. Let hope for the best.


One of the finest looking plant with exotic color is Ludwigia glandulasa. This is a top view of the plant. They look much better that you can see in this photo. Just look at the next photo ...what dimension they have given to my tank!

The latest photo of my planted jungle

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