What a joke :-()

I had two weeks holidays, and I asked my working colleagues to look after my Hi-tech aquarium while I'm gone. I asked them not to change anything (no extra planting, moving stones around, simply "do not change anything !!!)

Today, back from holidays, the first thing I did, I went to check on my Hi-tech, expecting to see algae blooms, but instead I screamed through the shop "What the heck are these doing in my tank!!!!!".

Of course I am going to remove those cows ;-)

Balance is the key

This scape is running smoothly. No algae issues. Fish/inverts thrive and plants are growing without deficiencies. I am dosing NPK+ traces 3x a week. GH-booster once a week. Every week 50-60% water change. The HC is growing tick, so soon should be mowed.
SAEs, Otos and Amano shrimps are doing great job in cleaning this system.

Video update :-)

The Dynamic Eco-system

I am very happy with this scape so far. HC is growing way too fast, and I trim the Hygro 3 times a week. A few weeks ago I started dosing KNO3, KH2PO4, traces (TMG) and GH-Booster 3 x a week, followed by a weekly 50-60& water change.
CO2 levels are stable. No algae problems.
I did have problems with green water for a while. I did lots of wc, and changed some of my light tubes that had lots of BLUE spectrum (could cause algae probs), with tubes that have no blue.
Actually 2 x T-8's have no blue at all, but 2x T-5's have a bit.
Still, this did help a lot and water seem to be looking much better now.

Maturing Hi-light scape

The HC is spreading very well. I am maintaining steady CO2 levels. CO2 starts 1 hour before light switch on, and goes off half an hour before they switch off. Using drop checker for CO2 levels (from Aquatic Nature).
I did notice some Fuzz algae on leaves and glass, so I added 4 Siamese Algae Eaters, and already after a day, algae seems to disappear ;-)
I started dosing Tropica liquid fertiliser with N&P 5ml today, and will dose it 2-3 times a week, followed by a weekly 50% water change.
After each water change I dose half a tea spoon of GH-Booster for extra Mg and Ca.
Note; I noticed Hemianthus calitrichoides getting yellowish leaves and after dosing GH-Booster they seem to be doing great again.
Tap water here in Lomma Sweden is very soft, with GH of 3.3 dGH, so dosing extra Mg and Ca is necessary IMO.

Late update, sorry

This tank is maturing nicely. The HC is spreading without any dificulties. CO2 is maintained via Drop Checker (4-5 bps).
TetraTec EX700 external filter and Koralia Nano 900 l/h for surface agitation.
Water change 50% every week. Re-dosing KNO3, KH2PO4 and GH-Booster once a week (at the moment).
I am not adding any traces yet since I saturated the substrate when emerged with lost of liquid Tropica Plant Nutrition.
I actually ran into a Hair Algae problem after I started the submersed set-up. All the added fertiliser probably entered the water column and I also dosed 15ml of Tropica fert extra on day one. I only had very low plants like HC, Hair Grass and Pogostemon helferi so no way they could outcompete the algae with fert over dose and hi lights.
I did huge wc every day (80%) for about 10 days, to re-set the system. I also planted tall plants to help with nutrient uptake. Everything seems to be in order now.
Plants; Hemianthus calitrichoides Cuba, Hair Grass, Pogostemon helferi, Bluxa japonica, Cryptocoryne balansae, Hygrophyla Rosanervig.
Fauna; Rasbora hengeli, Amano shrimps, Otocinclus.

And thats how it started...

Photos taken on day 1
I decided to use Hemianthus callitrichoides "Cuba"(HC) as the foreground plant, and I used Tom Barr's HC emerged planting method.
For detailed description CLICK HERE, please.
I will wait 3-4 weeks before adding water and some more background plants. So far everything looks good.
This aquarium came with 2x30 watts T-8 tubes. I added 2 more, 2x39 watt T-5s (Glomat 2)
I will have a bout 0.86 watt per liter = Hi light (9 hours per day).