# Alternantera tank, 20g lower light



## lljdma06 (Sep 11, 2005)

Hi,

I moved back to Miami, FL after three years in IL. I setup 2 tanks when I arrived, an 8g featured here and a 20g. The 20g had major algae issues which resulted from a very bad piece of driftwood. I had some pretty wierd stuff growing in there, and I'll leave it at that. I replaced that wood with two newer pieces and the tank fixed itself. The water is now that crystal-clear light tea color with very little if any algae to speak of. Now that the tank is nearly 4 months old, I thought I'd tweak the layout a little. I really would like to keep the Alternantera reineckii background. These stemplants will be a year old in January and they have been wonderful plants.

Here are the tank specs:

20g Planted: 1.4WPG, Co2 injection, 4mL Flourish 2x a week(Alternanthera reineckii, Anubia barteri var. barteri, Anubia barteri var. nana, Anubia petite nana, Anubia gracilis, Cryptocoryne wendtii red and green, Marsilea quadrifolia, Cryptocoryne willisii or parva, Cryptocoryne lutea and lucens, Ludwigia repens, Lysimachia nummularia, Willow moss, Christmas moss). Fish: 6 Hyphessobrycon callistus (Serpae tetras), 5 Corydoras aenaeus, 6 Hypessobrycon herbertaxelrodi, 3 Otocinclus affinis, 7 Boehlkea fredcochui

Here are a few pictures.

Full tank shot









Left Side









Shot of Alternantera with it's reflection in the water. I deliberately underexposed this shot to capture the reds of the alternantera. The tank is darkish anyways because of the tannins. The previous two photos were not underexposed. I like the shot. I remeber APC's "reds" contest. I would have submitted this photo for sure.









Thanks for looking. Comments, good or bad, are always welcome. Considering what this tank looked like before, I'm super happy with it now. Believe me it was really bad, so bad I nearly gave up.

lljdma06


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Very nice tank! I would have thought it difficult to achieve what you have achieved using only 1.4wpg. I would bet this is a testament to the importance of having CO2 present in a system. Nicely done!


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## lljdma06 (Sep 11, 2005)

Thanks for the complement. It actually only looked like this once I reduced the lighting and changed the wood. It had 2.8WPG with CO2 and EI and it was an algae mess. I don't think I'll ever go over 2WPG again unless it's with a tank that's less than 10g.

So is this a low-tech tank or not? I'm not entirely sure.

llj


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## lljdma06 (Sep 11, 2005)

I removed the H. difformis a few days ago and purchased some more A. reineckii to fill in the background. It needs to fill in and I have to find a better arrangement of the A. reineckii. Perhaps a more sloping background as apposed to a straight wall? I like the plant species, though. I think they work very well for a lower light tank and are more unusual. I also added a Bobitis fern from my 36g that was just not being seen. The picture is below. Just click on the thumbnail. 

Thanks for looking.

llj


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

Lovely tank, I like the contrast of your bright green plants against the red A. reineckii.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Wow. And some people here have even said Alternanthera has been very difficult for them even under very bright light. C02 and excel really seems to make the difference for you. I am amazed the Marsilea is doing so well.


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## lljdma06 (Sep 11, 2005)

Thanks for the complements. It's greatly appreciated. 

The marsilea is doing very well and is a nice foreground plant. Those poor plants finally have a permanent spot. I moved them around so many times between tanks to find the right spot for them. It's such a diffictult leavf shape to work with. It could be the substrate, it's really fine gravel with laterite and root tabs spread out throughout the tank. I don't use excel, I use Flourish. I have two canisters for CO2, one I change on Mondays and one I change on Friday. I think the wood is leaching trace elements. I have heard that tannic tanks can do that at times. I have a pretty big bio load in this tank. I definitely need to change the bulbs on the fixture, but I don't think I'll do it all at once because things are fine the way they are now. It's been like this for a month after a really rocky start. 

Again, thanks.

llj


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## banderbe (Nov 17, 2005)

lljdma06 said:


> Thanks for the complement. It actually only looked like this once I reduced the lighting and changed the wood. It had 2.8WPG with CO2 and EI and it was an algae mess. I don't think I'll ever go over 2WPG again unless it's with a tank that's less than 10g.
> 
> So is this a low-tech tank or not? I'm not entirely sure.
> 
> llj


I started my tank at 2.25 WPG back in February of this year. Had bad algae from the start.

I found that increasing the lighting to 4.5 WPG has helped fight algae. Today my tank is totally free of algae.

I am telling you this because you ought not fear high wattage tanks. They are no more prone to algae than a lower watt tank.

The difference in a high watt tank is that if your nutrient regime gets out of whack, things go wrong _faster_. They will still go wrong no matter what your lighting if your nutrients bottom out.


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## lljdma06 (Sep 11, 2005)

banderbe said:


> I started my tank at 2.25 WPG back in February of this year. Had bad algae from the start.
> 
> I found that increasing the lighting to 4.5 WPG has helped fight algae. Today my tank is totally free of algae.
> 
> ...


I totally agree with you, and that's what happened. My nutrients were terribly out of whack and that was coupled by wood that was decaying and there you go. Imagine having a mess like that and then it goes away like magic once you change the situation. Of course, you're going to have nothing but praise for the solution that works. But I'm not afraid of high wattage tanks. I had a high wattage tank in IL, followed EI, and experienced no algae. The lighting in that tank was increased in a similar fashion to yours and it was my prettiest tank, IMO. The theory behind it is completely sound and it was great growing R. macrandra and some pretty fancy species well. But I had a lot of time on my hands then and really can't keep up with the rapid plant growth and the nutrient demands that high-wattage tanks demand. The plants are growing fast enough as it is and I have low-wattage tanks. These three tanks are much easier to maintain.

What's ironic is that the A. reineckii that is receiving so much praise (greatly appreciated, of course) was also prominently featured in the EI tank in IL. It did well in both situations, but I think the color is more intense in the 20g. Here are two photos for comparison.

Thanks again to everyone for showing interest in this thread.

llj


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## wannabescaper (Oct 14, 2005)

Huh, that's pretty impressive llj. I really enjoy the shots of that 20g! Great Alt. coloration.


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## lljdma06 (Sep 11, 2005)

Thanks, Wannabescaper. I enjoy this tank a great deal. It's settling into maturity nicely. It's great to do a water change and not have it resort to either a major prune or a major algae scrub. 

llj


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## lljdma06 (Sep 11, 2005)

This tank has undergone some changes and doesn't really feature A. reineckii anymore. I moved it to a 36g bowfront and works better with the scape of that tank.

A few pictures to show the final layouts with the A. reineckii.


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## ranmasatome (Aug 5, 2005)

I have a feeling that you like your tanks densely planted... which is great! i love my tanks to be densely planted as well.. however, one thing i find when tanks are so densely planted with differnt plant is to mold the tank efficiently.. still its not impossible and i think you're doing a good job. i personally just like this feeling when plants grow all haphazardly like the forest floor around here..


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## black_lung (Dec 19, 2006)

seriously, I am in awe over your tanks..your A. reineckii looks amazing! actually the whole tank looks amazing. only thing I don't care for is the bolbitis, which I find somewhat distracting. It is a beautiful layout though.
I am curious about your lighting..does the tank get any supplemental day daylight from a window, or is it all from 1.4 wpg? Are you using a standard flourescent fixture?


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## lljdma06 (Sep 11, 2005)

black_lung said:


> seriously, I am in awe over your tanks..your A. reineckii looks amazing! actually the whole tank looks amazing. only thing I don't care for is the bolbitis, which I find somewhat distracting. It is a beautiful layout though.
> I am curious about your lighting..does the tank get any supplemental day daylight from a window, or is it all from 1.4 wpg? Are you using a standard flourescent fixture?


You'll be happy to know that the bolbitis next to the A. reineckii is no longer in this tank. It is supposed to be a slow grower, but it just overtook that bogwood so quickly that I had to divided it and move it to my 36g, where it has a ton more room to spread out. That plant started off so tiny and its super huge now. Neither is the A. reineckii, I have to post new pics, but I want it to grow in a bit more.

The way it's currently situated, it shouldn't get extra light. It would be hard anyways, I've got a North-facing window, and the little light that comes through is promptly sucked up by the jungle of terrestrial plants I have there (Dieffenbachia, pothos, ferns, African violets, phaleanopsis orchids, etc). I have other tanks that get direct sun for a few hours, but not this one. It isn't a standard flourescent fixture, it's a 2x14W T5 fixture with very good reflectors, so I probably get quite a bit better than 1.4WPG with standard T8s. In addition, I inject CO2 to this tank, but again no ferts. This time its tetra and corydora poop. I also overstock, over-filter, and do weekly water changes if that makes any difference.

llj


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