# Newbie 20 Long Planted (IMG INTENSE)



## ereefer (Jul 14, 2007)

Well, I know my photography skills are as bad as my camera  , but here is the work in progress. I figure it would be nice to see exactly how bad a reef tank enthusiast executes aquascaping in a planted tank ... so without further ado

First Day No Plants









First Day with plants(right angle)









""(left side)









"" Full Tank Shot









Today Left side









Today FTS









Well I pruned the heck out of it tonight, it looks bad  ... but like a bad haircut.. it will grow back!

I have to work on the left side(alot) The crypto's are obviously going to fill it in, the cardinal is going to be midground and I planted the glosso poorly, I just read the archive on how to plant sooo... I will try again doing it right this week. another note, the red tiger lotus I am not so sure about. Someone chime in for a good vote. Please criticize away. I would like some advice.

Dosing:
Flourish Line

Equipment
Hagan Yeast co2
Fluval 2
2X 96 pc fixture

Substrate: Flourite
Livestock:
11 cardinal tetra's
4 Long fin bristle nose pleco
12-15 red cherry shrimp

Plant Life:
Bronze Wendth (crypto wendtii v. tropica)
glossostigma
telanthera (alternantbera reineckii)
Dwarf baby tear (hemianthus callitrichoides)
Cardinal plant (lobelia cardinalis)
Red tiger lotus
Rotala indica


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

*Re: Newbie 20 Long Planted(IMG INTENSE)*

Looks like a good start. I suggest trimming the background plants so that they offer a tiered blended look instead of two tall towering clumps of plants. Also, the glossostigma may look a little better if they were planted in individual plantlets and then allowed to fill in. It looks like your lobelia cardinalis needs some time to transition from emersed growth to submersed. But it's gonna look great when it does.

The tiger lotus is a great plant, but I'm not sure it fits your tank. Maybe some smaller varieties of crypts or a sword would be better suited for your overall scape. Looks like your on your way to a nicely planted tank!

Oh, and a photography tip: Take the photo with only the tank lights on in the room and with no flash.

-John N.


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## ereefer (Jul 14, 2007)

*Re: Newbie 20 Long Planted(IMG INTENSE)*



John N. said:


> Looks like a good start. I suggest trimming the background plants so that they offer a tiered blended look instead of two tall towering clumps of plants. Also, the glossostigma may look a little better if they were planted in individual plantlets and then allowed to fill in. It looks like your lobelia cardinalis needs some time to transition from emersed growth to submersed. But it's gonna look great when it does.
> 
> The tiger lotus is a great plant, but I'm not sure it fits your tank. Maybe some smaller varieties of crypts or a sword would be better suited for your overall scape. Looks like your on your way to a nicely planted tank!
> 
> ...


Thanks a lot! The camera is broken and I can't change any settings(can we say 3 year old+Camera+ toilet= Very Bad!).The glosso is what I was referring to when I mentioned reading the archive yesterday. I plan on doing that this week. I am amazed at the growth in one week. The baby tear, rotala and red temple all grew a whole lot. well... compared to corals.. LOL
Thanks again.
Oh yeah the crypts behind the lobelia.. Do you think that is suited to be in back. BTW, I trimmed the heck out of my rotala and talanthera and replated the trimmings to thicken the density. How do you think I should trim for contrast?


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## Naja002 (Nov 15, 2005)

*Re: Newbie 20 Long Planted(IMG INTENSE)*



> 2X 96 pc fixture


Are You running all of that light?


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## ereefer (Jul 14, 2007)

*Re: Newbie 20 Long Planted(IMG INTENSE)*



Naja002 said:


> Are You running all of that light?


Yeah I am, #1 on @11am #2 on 4pm #2 off @6:30 #1 off @8pm... sometimes back on for 5-10 minutes for observation(I get home late)


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## ereefer (Jul 14, 2007)

*Re: Newbie 20 Long Planted(IMG INTENSE)*

Guess it doesn't even matter, my wife just called me at work, my son uprooted all my plants in the aquarium, I get to come home to a couple hours work now


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

*Re: Newbie 20 Long Planted(IMG INTENSE)*

Ouch! That stinks. At the very least you have an excuse to try something new or fix things you originally didn't like.

-John N.


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## ereefer (Jul 14, 2007)

*Re: Newbie 20 Long Planted(IMG INTENSE)*



John N. said:


> Ouch! That stinks. At the very least you have an excuse to try something new or fix things you originally didn't like.
> 
> -John N.


Yeah, I just spent 2 hours cutting EVERY piece of rotala and temple in half and replanting it last night. ....

Any RE aquascaping suggestions; move something, change something place driftwood somewhere else....etc.

FYI , I am individually planting the glosso, maybe tonight.


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## ereefer (Jul 14, 2007)

*Whew!*

Well, just finished "re" Aquascaping, and that glosso planting is TEDIOUS... but I won't cry about it. Post some new pics in a week or two.


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## erijnal (Apr 5, 2006)

It looks like you have 3-5 plants planted together in the back right corner. You might want to keep the stems per bunch down to 2-3, otherwise you'll notice a lot of your stems die as they all compete for light and nutrients in that small area.

Good start though! I like your cardinals too, they look really good


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## Nymph (Apr 6, 2005)

*Re: Newbie 20 Long Planted(IMG INTENSE)*



ereefer said:


> Guess it doesn't even matter, my wife just called me at work, my son uprooted all my plants in the aquarium, I get to come home to a couple hours work now


that just means he wants to be like daddy.[smilie=b:


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## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

A single 96W is a lot of light for that tank.
If your son isn't careful he'll burn himself on the light - or even worse[jk] break it.

Looking good so far - you're really going to have to do a lot of pruning & trimming w/ a couple of those plants, but there are paople here who will be happy to take the excess from you.


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## ereefer (Jul 14, 2007)

*New FTS after hurricane and pruning*

I replanted the glosso I hope correctly, and pruned all the telanthera and rotala and replanted, it'll grow back in a couple weeks I am sure, don't mind the mess... next week I will post hopefully a nicer looking pic









Please critique my glosso planting also.
Eirik


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## pepperann (Jun 28, 2007)

hi eirik

really nice looking tank, coming along well. re the glosso, i would plant it singly (like you have) but really deep. you only need one lobe showing above the substrate, this will encourage the more prostrate growth that looks awesome as a ground cover ; )

i am about to start a 2foot stem tank, i thought i was dreaming again when i saw yours, looks a bit like what i am planning, i will watch your growth with aniticpation : )

the stems look good shorter too, i have some growing in a 2foot tall tank atm and i can't believe how fast they grow, its hard to deal with the waste : ( not too many people round here to take it, mostly the garbage / compost bin gets the lot : (


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## Haeun (Oct 19, 2006)

Ooh la la, looks gorgeous. Much better than before. :heh: Your son may be a aquascaping genius in disguise. :heh: He may have been trying to get you to do this.

I really would keep the stems at that height. They look amazing right now. As for the glosso planting, what pepperann said; you can bury it deep until only one lobe shows, or separate each lobe (labor intensive) and plant each separately. That really is the best way to do it. I dunno, if you have a high enough light on the plants, it _may_ grow horizontally, but I would not waste time waiting to see if it does that.

I really like how the right side foreground looks (is that the HC?). Personally, I would just pull up the glosso and spread the HC across the front. The tank would look pretty rock'n then.
Glosso grows too quickly anyways.


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## LindaC (Nov 7, 2005)

I think the photograph of your tank above, after prunning, looks great, it's coming along very nicely. Your rotala is a nice pink color!


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## ereefer (Jul 14, 2007)

Haeun said:


> Ooh la la, looks gorgeous. Much better than before. :heh: Your son may be a aquascaping genius in disguise. :heh: He may have been trying to get you to do this.
> 
> I really would keep the stems at that height. They look amazing right now. As for the glosso planting, what pepperann said; you can bury it deep until only one lobe shows, or separate each lobe (labor intensive) and plant each separately. That really is the best way to do it. I dunno, if you have a high enough light on the plants, it _may_ grow horizontally, but I would not waste time waiting to see if it does that.
> 
> ...


Yeah it's HC, not HM. It's ok, I want a glosso farm LOL!


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