# New Dutch-esque



## Minsc (May 7, 2006)

Thanks to the rain, I had the day off from work today, and as it goes got to thinking about changing my tank...

I have been having stunting issues for a while now with my rotalas, and I'm convinced it is because of circulation/CO2 issues. The idea for this 'scape is to try to place all the plants in spots where they will be happy, satisfy my collectoritis urges, and hopefully try to have a nice looking tank for once.

The tank this morning:









The tank now:


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

That's funny I was just talking about circulation issues on another thread and how they relate to Co2 levels. How big is your tank and what kind of filter and distribution system do you have for co2. Just so you know, I don't believe that circulation is a big issue in most tanks. I can't understand how gas wouldn't move around 3 or 4 feet of water in most situations.


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## Minsc (May 7, 2006)

I don't post very much, but I have been reading all the circulation threads. It certainly is an interesting subject... I'll give you my experience, and maybe you will have a different insight for me.

The tank is a 40 breeder, 3 foot tank. It has been running since march, 2x55 watt AH supply, XP3 filter at full blast, pressurized CO2. CO2 has been run at 2-4 bps, the lower range initially, then raised as time went on as problems developed... originally through a less than perfect rhinox, switched recently to a external reactor from Rex Grigg. Water changes are 50% weekly, dosing as per EI.

When the tank was young, I had both R. wallichii and macrandra in there. The macrandra looked good, the wallichii looked great. Here is a picture, as you can see, the plant mass is much less dense.









As the tank grew in, problems developed in both rotalas, as well as the najenshan added later.
Prior to raising the bps up above 2, I had some leaf curling in my L. palustris and some stunted stems of HM which have since dissapeared.

So, this has been going on for quite a while now. So I'm trying to put the affected plants in higher flow areas. If you have any other ideas, I would love to hear them, but I plan on keeping the current course for a few weeks to see what happens.


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## Minsc (May 7, 2006)

One week update:
My fish seem to really like the new 'scape. The harlequins like the expanded swimming area, the SAEs have claimed the newly cleared wood as their throne, and the otos seem to be very fond of the placement of the reineckii. As for plant health, the crypt melt was minimal, the macrandra looks better than it has in a really long time, and it seems that the najenshan and wallichii are stunting much less. There was a bit of a bump in the road where the CO2 was turned down to low for a day, and the plants responded negatively...
I do think I'm on the right track, but it is still too early to declare victory. I have also raised the lights a bit to further help the plants recovery.

Unfortunately, I still have a horrible oil slick on the surface, and I am seeing where some mid ground plants are going to come into conflict as they grow in. Over all, I'm still pretty happy with the set up, I can just see some tweaking is in store.


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## Minsc (May 7, 2006)

Week 3 update:
I am nearly stunted plant free! I ended up buying a fabco needle valve to replace my clippard, and the difference is night and day. I took me only a few seconds to adjust my bubble count to exactly where I wanted (2.5 bps), and it has been rock steady ever since. My plants have all been very happy with the increased and steady CO2 rate. I still haven't quite dealt with the oil slick on the water, and I still have a bit of various algaes, but I will beat them

Week 2:









Week 3:


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## Minsc (May 7, 2006)

2 months later:


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## gotcheaprice (Sep 4, 2007)

Wow, it filled in really nicely! Hopefully my tank fills in nicely too  NEED CO2!


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## hideki (May 11, 2006)

good looking tank 

really nice evolution !!


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## Gilles (Oct 12, 2007)

The plant in the middle of the tank, in front of the alternanthera, is that the tonina belem?


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## Minsc (May 7, 2006)

Thanks for the kind words!
Yeah, the plant in front of the alternanthera is Tonina "belem". Great plant, I find it to be very hardy unless you plant it too densely I guess it won't grow in KH4+ though.


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## Minsc (May 7, 2006)

*Final update*

One final update before the tear down. I had my father-in-law swing by with all his fancy equipment...








That is him, not me We ended up taking off the light fixture, adding diffusers to the flashes, and draping black fabric over nearly everything to minimize reflections. Eventually we even ended up with some nice shots.

I'm keeping the equipment-less shots for this years ADA and AGA contests, but I can show some of the others.


























Thanks for looking 
This tank would not have been possible without APC, TPT and the Barr report.
I had a blast with it, and hope to have something better to show off in a few months!


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## Sweetfish (Jan 5, 2008)

Amazing! Looks very nice, Lots of great color.


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## Jeff.:P:. (Nov 20, 2007)

Nice Job, I really like the 2 month pic. 
You must shop at Tropic isle. :mrgreen:


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## zQ. (Dec 15, 2006)

IMO the flash light give those pics some yellowish color,if it is taken in raw file,then try use PS to change the Color temp.
It will be much better.


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## rich311k (Jun 24, 2006)

Very nice tank!


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## Jeff.:P:. (Nov 20, 2007)

Are you starting over?


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## Minsc (May 7, 2006)

Good catch zQ. I knew something looked a little off, but I couldn't quite figure it out.
I have about 10 quality full tank shots in both .pdf and RAW, so I can really play around with some stuff 

Jeff, I'm packing everything I own and driving to Portland Or. I have no idea how long it will take, so a full break down and plant/fish sale is all I can do. I'm excited to have a clean slate to work with, I just wish I had a few more months to tweak this tank!


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## Jessie (Apr 23, 2007)

What a pretty tank! The plant health was just fantastic. It's a bummer that you had to tear it all down, but like you said, clean slates are fun! Be sure to share your next layout with us too!


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