# What I've been doing the past 3 days....



## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

*What I've been doing the past 3 days....*Updated 2/9**

Here's the new scape of the 75 gallon over at our apartment. It's all Crypts and Anubias so far. Here's the plant list:

Crypt moehlmanii
" parva
" willisii
" balansae
" albida
" cordata 'rosanervig'
" ponterderifolia
" wendtii x hybrid
Lagenandra meeboldii
Anubias barteri var. caladiifolia ''1705''
" barteri var. 'nana golden'
" barteri var. 'nana narrow leaf'
I've yet to decide on a foreground plant.








Right side








Left side








The whole setup. The stand and light stand are custom build by me.








The light stand. (idea compliment of ianiwane and bharada)


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## ianiwane (May 6, 2005)

That idea is complement of Bharada. I had nothing to do with the idea. Bill can take all the praise. Very nice start. What is the substrate in there?


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## bioch (Apr 8, 2006)

Super sexy lights.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

ian - the substrate is 3M colorquartz T-grade black sand on top of mineralized topsoil/clay and a sprinkle of potassium and calcium. See this thread for a more detailed description: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/el-natural/32043-el-natural-with-a-twist-long.html

I don't anticipate the algae issues with this tank however because I'm a cheater and I'm using UV on this tank. I'm not taking chances with it being in my living room. 

bioch - thanks.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Looks good man.

I think you might find that the crispatula eventually get a bit big even for a 75. _C. retrospiralis_ might be a bit better. It would probably help too if you had something tall on the left side.

_Hemianthus callitrichoides_ looks very good with _C. parva_. Then again, there might be another plant you could use...


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

I wonder how marsilea would work with these plants-- it's of a similar shape texture. Don't know if that would work out good or bad . . .


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## JERP (Feb 4, 2003)

You might still have algae with a UV, you'll just have it with crystal clear water


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

I think he's talking about the green water in his 20g


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Cavan - Yes, I was thinking that, but I was at the mercy of the club members and Jim was nice enough to donate some gorgeous balansae to my cause. If it works out to be too big I'll look into swapping it out with something else. I thought about having something tall on the left side as well. Perhaps I could have spiralis on the right and retrospiralis on the left?

jerp / steven - Yes, I was mostly referring to the green water. In my experience it does cut down on filamentous algae as well such as green beard and brown diatom algae.

There are a couple things missing still. For one I plan on replacing the lovely green intake w/ something a little less conspicuous. 

Secondly, I need a backround for this tank. I don't want the usual black. My choices are white, orange, or blue. The main schooling fish will be rummynose and green neon tetras. Any suggestions?


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Aaron, looks nice. I tip my hat to you for starting a tank with all slow growers! I started one once heavily planted with Anubias, and decided I'd never do it again! LOL, I had 'green-spotted' Anubias.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Bert H said:


> Aaron, looks nice. I tip my hat to you for starting a tank with all slow growers! I started one once heavily planted with Anubias, and decided I'd never do it again! LOL, I had 'green-spotted' Anubias.


Well, the idea is for it to be low maitainence. I've only got the full blast of lights on for 5 hours a day so I'm hoping that will keep things manageable.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

*Update 2/8/07*

Well, it's about stinkin' time for an update.

I did end up having a horrid bout of green fuzz or pelt algae, whatever you prefer to call it. It was all just about gone and I thought I'd add some potassium to help things along...BIG mistake. It all came back full force.

Well, things are finally settling back in and growth has been good so I thought I'd share an updated picture. Please excuse the equipment in the picture.










I have since added a foreground of Elatine gussonei and Lilaeopsis sp. 'micro'. I also added some Hygrophila sp. 'Pantanal Wavy' in the backround. So far the balansae has stayed in the tank. It's my wife's favorite one so it's likely going to be permanent. 

I still need a backround for this tank and I need to do something with the left side. I'm thinking the large Anubias has to go. Thoughts? Suggestions?


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

> I did end up having a horrid bout of green fuzz or pelt algae, whatever you prefer to call it.


I know exactly what you mean. But it's looking good. :thumbsup:

I agree that Anubias doesn't look right there. How about a little L. aromatica growing tall in the back somewhere?


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Hmmm...aromatica would look really nice in there with zero nitrates. I'm trying to keep the stems out though. The Hygro made it in because it looks 'grassy' and you can keep topping it and topping it and never need to uproot and replant it.


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

AaronT said:


> Hmmm...aromatica would look really nice in there with zero nitrates. I'm trying to keep the stems out though. The Hygro made it in because it looks 'grassy' and you can keep topping it and topping it and never need to uproot and replant it.


AaronT, 
If you do go with a stem plant in the soil, what I have found to work for me is when pruning cut it off at the substrate level then just replant. that way you don't have to pull anything up and disturb the soil. The root mass just becomes new soil after a while.

Brian


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

bpimm said:


> AaronT,
> If you do go with a stem plant in the soil, what I have found to work for me is when pruning cut it off at the substrate level then just replant. that way you don't have to pull anything up and disturb the soil. The root mass just becomes new soil after a while.
> 
> Brian


Thanks Brian. I'll keep that in mind. I keep mostly Rotalas in my other soil tanks and they can be topped and topped and topped and ...well, you get the picture.


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## banderbe (Nov 17, 2005)

AaronT said:


> Hmmm...aromatica would look really nice in there with zero nitrates. I'm trying to keep the stems out though. The Hygro made it in because it looks 'grassy' and you can keep topping it and topping it and never need to uproot and replant it.


Aaron, I am sure I'm missing something here... but.. what do you mean zero nitrates??


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

AaronT said:


> Thanks Brian. I'll keep that in mind. I keep mostly Rotalas in my other soil tanks and they can be topped and topped and topped and ...well, you get the picture.


I know what you mean. My rotundafolia got mowed down to 1" tall 2 weeks ago, and it's coming in nicely again.


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

banderbe said:


> Aaron, I am sure I'm missing something here... but.. what do you mean zero nitrates??


It's not uncommon in a soil tank to have no measurable Nitrates in the water column, most of my tanks run that way.

Brian


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Yeah, what he said ^

The nitrates are all in the soil in the form of NH4.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

Aaron,

Interesting project. I look forward to see how it all works out. 

As far as the scape, if you were willing to go bigger on the hardscape on the left side the anubias might fit in better. A bigger rock structure with the anubias sort of tucked between a new big rock and those smaller ones rearranged in front of it. 

BTW - I might have missed this, but what kind of water change schedule is a tank like this one?


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

houseofcards said:


> Aaron,
> 
> Interesting project. I look forward to see how it all works out.
> 
> ...


It gets a water change when it needs a top-off, which is about once a week. I dont' change much, but I figure since I have the python out already I might as well change a little bit. I keep it open top so evaporation is fast in the winter. During the summer it won't be so bad.

I do have some nice rocks to play with. I may give that a shot.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Here's another update as of today. You can see the Crypts and Lagenandras are getting quite full now. I'm doing a major rescape this afternoon so I thought I'd snap a quick shot before I do. I'm hoping to establish more of a midground in the updated scape. Pics will be forthcoming once it starts to fill in again. Oh, and still zero algae or dosing for 3 months and counting.


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## redstrat (Apr 3, 2006)

Wow thats some growth!! especially with no dosing, you gotta love crypts. I'm excited to see the changes you make too.  Great tank!


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## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

Nice pics!
So, if I read this right, you have your soil mix under quartz (which I failed to find any local supplier of when setting up my 46g - I'm jealous), and you filter it and feed it light. That's it. 

How long until the soil is exhausted, and what do you do then? Do you plan to net/pull everything out, drain, sieve the quartz out and start over? I can't imagine telling my wife that I was planning on doing that in my living room unless there had been a tank failure of some sort...


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## Kelley (Aug 27, 2006)

Way to go Aaron! This is such a lush jungle. Looks like soil and CO2 works just fine.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Looks good Aaron! Maybe I missed it somewhere, but what's your foreground?


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## Kelley (Aug 27, 2006)

Aaron you will have to let us know how the rescape goes. Do you think that it will kick up a lot of soil and trigger another greenwater attack? I hope that moving around plants is not too difficult.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Squawkbert said:


> Nice pics!
> So, if I read this right, you have your soil mix under quartz (which I failed to find any local supplier of when setting up my 46g - I'm jealous), and you filter it and feed it light. That's it.
> 
> How long until the soil is exhausted, and what do you do then? Do you plan to net/pull everything out, drain, sieve the quartz out and start over? I can't imagine telling my wife that I was planning on doing that in my living room unless there had been a tank failure of some sort...


The soil should last for years to come.

The method for replanting is simple.

- turn off the filter and powerhead
- gently uproot plants
- reslope the substrate so it is even ( I use an old hair pick )
- replant the plants I want in there

It's not just soil and lights. I also use pressurized CO2 injection to help with growth. There's also no need to sift the quartz. The soil is a much finer texture and will settle back down in a matter of a couple hours.



> Looks good Aaron! Maybe I missed it somewhere, but what's your foreground?


Thanks Bert.  The foreground was Crypt. willisii, Crypt. parva, Lilaeopsis sp. 'micro', Elatine gussonei and Echinodorus tenellus 'micro'. I haven't fully decided on what will be in the new one. I know the Crypt. parva is staying for sure.



> Aaron you will have to let us know how the rescape goes. Do you think that it will kick up a lot of soil and trigger another greenwater attack? I hope that moving around plants is not too difficult.


I've moved plants around before in this tank and a couple others without problems. The initial algae blooms are due to the organics still left in the soil that didn't get mineralized all of the way. I don't expect another algae outbreak, but then again as Monty Python would say, Nobody expects the algae bloom!


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Here's a shot of the updated midground / foreground. The foreground is now a homogenous mix of Crypt. parva, Echinodorus tenellus 'micro', Ranalisma rostrata and Lilaeopsis sp. 'micro'. Other new plants are Echinodorus sp. 'Sao Paulo', Echinodorus angustifolia 'Vesuvius' and Pogostemon yatabeanus.

Apart from new plants, the rock arrangement is different now. The 'heavier' rock formation is now on the left and slopes gradually to the right side of the tank. The rocks themselves are also much better quality for aquascaping.


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## redstrat (Apr 3, 2006)

the midground is definately stronger now, I like the changes. The rock is fantastic and adds some nice texture to the layout


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## Kelley (Aug 27, 2006)

Aaron, do yo still have this tank going? Any updates?


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Kelley said:


> Aaron, do yo still have this tank going? Any updates?


Yes, this tank is still going. I'm planning another rescape soon...not a total redo, just some different plants here and there.


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