# [Wet Thumb Forum]-40 gallon breeder update 3-8-06



## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

Ok,
After 6 weeks I have finally decided to post a pic of my 40 gallon breeder. I've been reading posts on this forum for almost a year as well as other research and I've taken the plunge.
I have a small algae problem that I am hoping will be solved with the arrival of a pressurized CO2 system, my diy just doesn't cut it. As soon as the plants grow more I can form more of a scape.... I hope.
Almost forgot to post my parameters for all you aqua heads.
KH 6
PH 7.2
PO3 0.5
NO3 10
Hope I figured out the way to post an image.
40 gallon breeder


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## scalare (Feb 18, 2003)

nice job! can't wait to see what co2 does to it!


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## imported_bellisb925 (Jul 2, 2004)

Your tank looks great. Can't wait to see it fill in. What do you have in the foreground between the riccia?


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

Thanks, I will post more pics as the tank progresses.
The foreground plant between the riccia is Hemianthus callitrichoides, cool little plant, I think it will improve greatly with the pressurized CO2.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I agree, looks like a great start!


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## imported_BSS (Apr 14, 2004)

You clearly have done your homework. Awesome first shot!


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

Well I thought I would do a little picture update, as you can see things have changed a bit, plants are growing good, the problem I have now I think is too many plants, everytime someone sends me what I want they also give me other species... it could be worse I guess.
So the Wallichi is gone, as is the Didilpis Diandra, I added Hygrophila polysperma, Hottonia palustris, Blyxa Japonica & Heteranthera Zosterifolia (I hoping it will fill in the right side of my tank, from what I've read it should have no problem acomplishing this) 
I am thinking about pulling out the Hemianthus micranthemoides on the left side, I think it will look better with just the Hemianthus callitrichoides and a couple of Blyxa Japonica on that side.
Also you will notice a big reduction in the redness of my Limnophilia Hippuroides, I was dosing a little more Fe at the time but was also struggling with thread algae, stopped dosing Fe thread algae is gone, but so is some of the nice redness, just for fun I dosed a little extra Fe a couple of weeks ago just to see what would happen, some of the red came back to my hippuroides and my Mayaca turned a beautiful pink,(should have took a pic) but I also had a fine algae dust on my glass. Scientific madness, but fun.
Anyway, let me know what you think, and any suggestions would be great 40 Gallon Breeder


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

looks great. just waiting on that hc to fill in. maybe you could take some plugs out from the left side to fill in the right?


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

Just an update, no pic, but soon I hope.
So I pulled out the Hemianthus micranthemoides and planted a few plugs of Hemianthus callitrichoides, along with a some Blyxa japonica on the left side.
I pulled the Limnophilia aquatica that was behind the Rotella indica and added some long stems of Alternanthera Reineckii, Im thinking of adding Petite Nana in the empty spot on the right.
Hope to post some pics soon.


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

Ok,
Posted some new pics, now I play the waiting game to see it fill in, I tried Anubias Nana on the right side, but it wasn't working for me so I planted all my stems of Hottonia Palustris in the spot, I think I will be able to control this plant through trimmings to get the desired look.
I'm happy with the left side, I think once the Callitrichoides fills in and the Blyxa Japonica get bigger it will look nice.
Almost forgot about the Alternanthera Reineckii behind the Mayaca, I think it's an improvement?
Comments, suggestions? 
I'd like to hear from you folks.
Pete
40 gallon update 4-23-05


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## Ben C (Apr 16, 2006)

where is the new pic pete?


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## scalare (Feb 18, 2003)

Got to respect one that tinkers! Good job and keep up the good work!


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## Ben C (Apr 16, 2006)

ok.. the pics weren't there when i first checked!! 

It looks really good, Pete. I particularly like the look of the Mayaca. I just bought my first lot, partly inspired by your tank. The growth on all the plants looks impeccable though. Well done.


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

Thanks Ben,
I've really come to love Mayaca, at first I couldn't get it to grow well, but as soon as I got my fertilizer regiment into shape this plant has been my favorite, it even ocassionaly turns pink at the tips which looks really beautiful.
Well now all I have to do is watch and see how everything fills in, the only thing that might change is I will pull the Sag growing in the left corner and add the few Blyxa Japonica I have.
As soon as this tank shows some nice growth I will post another pic.


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

tank looks great

if you get this soon, i'm in chat


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## imported_Piscesgirl (Feb 19, 2004)

You've done a great job with that tank!


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## imported_BSS (Apr 14, 2004)

Earlier today, I uprooted all of my dwarf sag and replaced it with Blyxa japonica. Though the Blyxa is small, I already like the new look. I too recently got my Mayaca growing like gang busters and my Alternanthera is just getting there. Sounding like the things to do







!

Tanks looking great!
Brian.


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

Brian,
Keep us posted on how your Blyxa Japonica does, I recieved 2 nice plants as freebies with another plant order, then bought another 3 on Aquabid that looked terrible when I recieved them, small, unhealthy and covered in algae, I am happy to report that they seem to be growing, I honestly didn't think they would make it.
Seems like we are on the same page with our Aquascapes, cool.

Also glad to see people checking out my tank, thanks!


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

i love the contrast between the riccia and hc. you've got me thinking about using it for my tank


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

It's been awhile since I updated some pics, so here you go. I just trimmed my riccia so it's hard to see, also pulled a few species and added Nana.
40 gallon 6-17-05


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

man, that is looking great! i love the hc! i have a small amount i am trying to grow out, but it's nothing like glosso, much slower.


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

Russell,
HC is a very slow grower, this is almost 6 months worth of growth. I've always thought it was light related, but I know you are up in the 3wpg range and it grows slow for you as well. Oliver Knotts aquascapes hooked me on this plant, but when you look at the begining stages of his tanks it looks like he plants well over 100 plugs of HC for the same size tank, hence the beautiful aquascapes after only a few weeks.
But I think the plant is worth the patience, imo it's just the right size forground in comparison to other species.


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

i am actually growing it out in my 10 gallon holding tank. it is a very stable tank with only 26cf watts. i know it will take forever, but it is growing nicely, slowly but it is very healthy.


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

June was my last update, so I thought it was time, added a hardscape, and as you can see Blyxa Japonica are very happy. I will try to get more of an arial shot in the next day or 2.
Also thinking of getting another tank I think a 60gallon, just trying to figure out were to put it.40 gallon 10/17/05


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## imported_BSS (Apr 14, 2004)

I really like the look and placement of the rocks, Pete. Well done. As to the Blyxa, how do you keep yours so low? Mine seem to want to reach up much higher. Did you recently prune them or do they stay fairly low like that?


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

Thanks for the comment BSS
To answer your question about blyxa japonica,
they stay low, I've seen hobbyist comment that it has to do with high light... well that myths been broken, I only run 2.4wpg. I think it depends on what strain you have.
The one thing I have noticed is that since switching to ferts using the EI method they get an amber almost orange color.
The other thing I love about this plant is the fact that my lfs give me a $1.00 per plant credit, this is why I am trying to figure out were to put another tank.


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

pete, i am really liking your tank right now. as far as aquascaping, one thing caught my eye. on the left side where you have some blyxa in the middle of your foregound, it looks like the blyxa is in the middle of the tank as far as front to back. i think that if you could eather put it all the way back on the back glass, or put some plants in behind it, you would get a better look of depth with your tank. another thing you could do (at a later date) is next time you uproot your foreground, you can slope your substrate more so that we can see the plants in the back better.

i know this is nit picky, but with such a nice tank, it's hard for me to find somthing to point out to you









oh, and another thing, i think you should grow glosso insted of HC. i can trade you all of my glosso for all of your HC. honestly, it would be in your best interest. j/k


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

Russel,
I really like the slope idea, that has been my biggest challenge, creating some sort of depth of field on the left side of my tank.
Now to just figure out how to creat the slope.
I think no greater plant tests your patients like HC, I've read so many post on other forums were people lose patients with it and just pull it out. I had a really beautiful carpet of it a few months back, then for whatever reason my SAE started ripping it up so I put the fish in my other tank and its slowely starting to come back, and I mean slowely.


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

here is my sloping job:

before sloping a whole lot:










after sloping:









i konw the glosso isn't filled in all the way on the second pic, but you can see how much a difference it makes. but, now that i have taken the stone and blyxa out, i can see how they too added to the depth. so in a perfect world, i would have the sloping with the blyxa and stones to add depth.

also, i have found that the further back you put the stones, the better it looks.


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

Will the slope eventually settle? I like the perspective it brings, maybe if I put a small shelf made out of stone that would not be visible, but give me the desired effect.
And yes you are right, stones need to be set back, my stones are set back far, I only have about an 1" to an 1.5" clearence between by biggest rock and the back wall.


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

i have been told that if you plant your foreground over that area, it will hold the slope. i've only had it sloped for a month now, but it hasnt moved yet.


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

Ok,
Time for an update.
As you can see I've completely rescaped the tank again. Added a couple of species that I've been unlucky with in the past.
The first being Didplis Diandra, last time I tried to grow this the plants that I received were in terrible shape, black stems and leaves, this time around I received amazing quality plants, I've had them in the tank for a couple of weeks, the only thing that concerns me is that the new growth seems a little pale, so I'm going to start increasing macros and micros. 
All my new plants seem to be growing in a little pale, my first instinct was to increase Fe, but when I did, I had an outbreak of green spot algae. So I don't think that is the problem.
Also, do you folks think that by increasing my Micro and Macros that it will get rid of the black tips on my Heteranthera Zosterifolia?
I also added Limnophila Aromaticoides, Stellata, Hemianthus Micranthemoides and Glosso.
Like I said this is the tank at 2 weeks since adding some new species. Lets hope I can keep them all happy with my hard water.

40 gallon 2-16-06


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

No big update. I have a few stems of Didplis Diandra hanging on, maybe they will make it maybe not, we will see.
Removed the Lobelia from the left side and trimmed up my Stellata, I'm amazed that this plant is thriving in my tank, I've tried it in the past with no luck, I think it may have to do with the increased amount of Flourish I now add in hopes of saving my Didplis Diandra (15ml 3 times a week







)

40gl 3-8-06

Pete


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

pete, it looks beautiful. what happened to the hc?


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## KRiley (Jun 30, 2005)

Looks sweet man! Is that blyxa in the middle ground next to the glosso?


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

> Originally posted by russell:
> pete, it looks beautiful. what happened to the hc?


I had 3 SAE's that pulled it all up. I've since caught them and put them into another tank, but by this time the damage was done.
On a side note, this fish seems completely useless as it gets older, losses its taste for algae I guess.
Glosso is a complete weed, I've only had it growing for a few weeks and it is already time to uproot and replant, kind of a pain in the ass. 
I have a small clump of HC floating in the tank that I may plant, we will see.
Russell,
I don't see you around here much, busy with school?

Riley,


> Looks sweet man! Is that blyxa in the middle ground next to the glosso?


Thanks Riley, and yes that's good ol' Blyxa Japonica

Pete


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## KRiley (Jun 30, 2005)

Those SAEs are almost always worthless once they hit 2.5 to 3 inches....hopefully you can get that HC to take off. Good luck.


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