# Venturing into the Whole World Series Five – Valley of the RED



## HarryPlanter (Apr 30, 2004)

Hello aquascape lover,

I'm Harry Kwong (HarryPlanter) from Hong Kong of CAU.
This is my first 36" tank layout in 2006, hope you will like it.























































Please feel free to comment.

Setup: 17 Dec 2005 
Photo date: 14 April 
Tank SizeWxDxH):W90cm x D51cm x H46cm
CO2: CompressCO2, 1 bubble/sec non stop
Lighting: 150W HQI x 2
Filtration:1.) Tetra 120 
2.) P20 Hydor Power Filter
Substrate: ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia

Flora:
1) Nesaea crassicaulis 
2) Rotaia rotundifolia 
3) Blyxa japonica
4) Cryptoryne petchii 
5) Ludwigia plaustris
6) Glossostigma elatinoides
7) Hemianthus callitrichoides
8] Hemianthus micranthemoides
9) Echinodorus tenellus

Fauna:
1) Hyphessobrycon callistus 
2) Dwarf Otocinclus
3) Flying Fox


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## yoink (Aug 31, 2005)

Absolutly beautiful. I'm always amazed by the tanks you guys do.


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

Harry, any tips for attaching the HC to stone?


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## Skyfish (Jun 8, 2004)

One after the other, you Wyane, Gary, Justin and all at CAU amaze me. You guys are fantastic.

Can you tell us more about your specs? Lights, dosing, substrate etc.

How do you get your plants so RED? What do you do in terms of light and dosing?

Thanks!


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## jsenske (Mar 15, 2004)

So refreshing. 
Once again-- truly awesome. You guys should be ranking very high this year. Very nice works. I can't say enough about every layout from the CAU. Love them all. Inspired by them all.


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## chester (Feb 22, 2005)

Beautiful work. One think I don't like is background - too big contrast for me.


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

Great work! Thanks for sharing.

I have a difficulty matching the red plants in the flora list and the plants in the tank. Could you help me locate the species below? 
2) Rotala rotundifolia
5) Ludwigia palustris

What is the name of the red plant in the third pic?


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## Skyfish (Jun 8, 2004)

Faruk,

The 3rd plant is _Nesaea crassicaulis,_ which is similar to _Ammania gracilis_.

The huge red bunch on the left and right look like _Ludwigia arcuata_.

Correct me if I'm wrong Harry.


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## ranmasatome (Aug 5, 2005)

L. arcuata is usually thinner.. i think itshould be L.brevipes


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

I am puzzled. The wavy leaf form does not fit into Nesaea descriptions. Here is a pic from our plant finder. Do they look similar?


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## Skyfish (Jun 8, 2004)

Faruk,

I googled and found this photo of _Ammania gracilis_ which looks like your photo. Except it's more orange.


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## trckrunrmike (Jan 31, 2005)

Maybe its a plant that hasn't arrived to the US yet.


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

Skyfish said:


> Faruk,
> 
> I googled and found this photo of _Ammania gracilis_ which looks like your photo. Except it's more orange.


That means Ammania and Nesaea look similar but both of them do not look like the red plant in Herry's the third photo.

Two years ago I had a similar difficult plant with somewhat wavy leaves:


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## HarryPlanter (Apr 30, 2004)

Thanks for enjoying my tank.

Greenmiddlefinger
It don't have much technique to grow HC and Glossostigma elatinoides on the Rocks. There are lots of holes in my stone and I just fill the soil inside and plant HC and GE into the soil by a pointed pinsetts (ADA). After a certain period it will grow and the roots will attached to the rocks.
Faruk,
Ammania and Nesaea are look similar. However Nesaea grows very slowly. For strong light it can turn into very reddish color like my and will not grow tall. If light is not enough it will turn into orange and elongate. 
The large portion of red is done by Ludwigia and behind is Rotala rotundifolia.
Nesaea crassicaulis








Ludwigia plaustris - a very beautiful plant and easily grow


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## Xmas_Beetle (May 18, 2006)

Really nice looking tank there. I dream of a tank like that.opcorn:


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

Thank you for the answers and the beautiful photos Harry. 

How did rotala at the back stay green? I would expect them to turn to pinkish color.

As far as the books show palustris have a very similar leaf form as repens. What you have looks like Ludwigia arcuata.


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## Navarro (Feb 12, 2004)

Harry ,this layout is very nice you guy's take this new aquascaping approach to a new level congratulations.
Luis


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

What chemicals do you dose with? Also how old was the tank when you took those pictures?


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## HarryPlanter (Apr 30, 2004)

Frauk,
I'm sorry that I'm not good at plant's names, we usually use their Chinese common names in Hong Kong.
I too have the problem of rotala turning into pink due to strong lighting. But I found some of them still remain green. So I put all green rotala at front and those pinky at the back. This make me headach and delay the time of finish this layout.

Zapins,
I use ADA step 1, ECA, TMG, KCL, iron Bottom. To make the red plant red, strong lighting is the major reason not the chemical.
I took 4 months to maintain this layout and photo at that time.


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