# Rotala Rainbow - Journal



## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

I haven't been around the forums much lately except to sell off a few plants from my latest project. I've built an all new rack for my tanks in our apartment and this is one of the additions.

*Tank:*
90 cm x 45 cm x 45 cm

*Lighting:*
DIY IceCap SLR reflectors w/ 4 39 watt Giessemann Midday T5HO bulbs
10 hours total lighting, only 6 hours with all 4 bulbs.

*Substrate:*
Mineralized topsoil covered by 3M Colorquartz Aggregate T-Grade Black Sand
See this thread for full details regarding the topsoil.
I did 4 good wet/dry cycles with the soil this time and haven't had the algae issues I did before. 

*Filter:*
Rena XP3

*Plants:*
Rotala sp. 'green'
Rotala sp. 'colorata'
Rotala sp. 'Vietnam'
Rotala sp. 'Nanjenshan'
Rotala sp. 'Araguaia'
Rotala sp. 'Goias'
Rotala sp. 'Mini'
Rotala macrandra 'green'
Rotala pusilla
Rotala hippuris
Rotala sp. 'Ceylon'
Hemianthus callitrichoides (HC)
Fissidens fontanus
Pogostemon helferi (Downoi)
Bacopa sp. 'Araguaia'
Hygrophila sp. 'Bold'
Hygrophila sp. 'Araguaia'
Ludwigia sp. 'Guinea'
Anubias minima
Anubias barteri var. nana 'Gold'

*Fauna:*
Pseudomogil furcatus
Hysonotis leucofrinatus 
Caridina japonica
Olive Nerites

Here's the original setup date picture on 5/25/07









Here's an update today on 6/3









I haven't chosen a backround color yet, hence no backround. I'm trying to decide between white, black, or light blue.

Comments and criticisms are welcome.


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## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

Nice selection of plants, grow out will be nice. I dig it A.T
The rocks look very nice as well. Thanks for sharing. Rotala city.


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## stepheus (Jun 13, 2006)

Really nice. I clicked into this thread hoping to see a new species of rotala. haha! _Rotala var. Rainbow_. I ll be interested in how this one will turn out as  btw really nice growth on the HC. Its already spreading on the 9th day? Wow... did you get it in submersed form?


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Thanks for the nice comments. The HC was already submersed from another two tanks that I took down to setup this one.


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## snickle (Apr 8, 2007)

Aaron,

Looking nice. Hopefully it will grow in a little more by the meeting. Which I assume is at your house.


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## Genin (Jan 28, 2007)

that tank will look awesome when those plants grow in some.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Great start Aaron! We're going to have to start calling you the 'Rotala king'!


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## Alex Ribeiro (Nov 25, 2004)

Rotala kingdom! 
Nice start, seems very promising.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

Nice idea and layout. Looking forward to it maturing. Can I ask what your dosing on this one?


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## UG Dude! (Apr 12, 2007)

This will look simply excellent when the plants begin to fill out...


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## redstrat (Apr 3, 2006)

Nice concept you have here I can't wait to see this tank fill in I bet it will be spectacular


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

houseofcards said:


> Nice idea and layout. Looking forward to it maturing. Can I ask what your dosing on this one?


Thanks for all the nice comments folks. 

I'm starting to see the beginnings of some algae so I suspect the practice in patience phase is about to begin. 

No dosing on this one whatsoever. I absolutely love this topsoil method!


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## Fabac (Jul 2, 2006)

Great rockscape!


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## hooha (Apr 21, 2005)

sooo......any updates?


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

hooha said:


> sooo......any updates?


It's in the algae phase at the moment. Mostly just lots of spot algae on the glass. I'll get some updated pics when things settle down.


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## Kelley (Aug 27, 2006)

Aaron, with your soil method, do you do anything during the algae phase, or does it just work itself out in a few weeks? 

Glad to here that trick about washing the soil. I can't wait to try this one. My next tank is planned for August and will contain soil and pressurized CO2!


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Kelley said:


> Aaron, with your soil method, do you do anything during the algae phase, or does it just work itself out in a few weeks?
> 
> Glad to here that trick about washing the soil. I can't wait to try this one. My next tank is planned for August and will contain soil and pressurized CO2!


No, mostly patience. I do manual algae removal and frequent small water changes, but that's about it.

Washing the soil is only part of the reason for soaking and drying it a few times. It also serves to help bind the ammonia into NH4 making it available to plants, but not so much algae in the long run. I suspect the initial algae I get is due to the tiny bit of remaining ammonia in the soil.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Okay, I know I've neglected to update this thread for some time now. Here it is so far. 
It's still not quite filled in all of the way yet. I also still need a backround. The quickfilter and heater
are to deal with some ick I'm battling and aren't permanent additions.


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## Haeun (Oct 19, 2006)

Wow, looking nice! The HC looks very lush. *drool* I love how colorful the tank is. Those rocks are just perfect too.
Would look AMAZING when the plants all grown in and come together completely.


:heh: Whenever you do your next trim, you can always send it over my way. :heh:


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## Jessie (Apr 23, 2007)

VERY beautiful! This is going to turn out great!


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## zig (Jul 3, 2005)

Yes this is looking very good, how are you dosing/not dosing this tank now AaronT? nice job so far.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

zig said:


> Yes this is looking very good, how are you dosing/not dosing this tank now AaronT? nice job so far.


Still no dosing. The soil does all the work. I do add pressurized CO2, but that's it so far.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Any suggestions? I can always take some constructive criticism as well.


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## Kelley (Aug 27, 2006)

The Rotalas are so red, they almost burn my retinas! Great color! 

The only criticism that I have is the plant on the far left by the rocks. (Is it an anubias? Hard to tell from the picture) It looks a bit out of place. Maybe if you tucked it in the littles nook in front of the big rock, it would fit a little better.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Looking good, Aaron. :thumbsup:


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## Chrom0zone (Jun 4, 2006)

Gorgeous!


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Kelley said:


> The Rotalas are so red, they almost burn my retinas! Great color!
> 
> The only criticism that I have is the plant on the far left by the rocks. (Is it an anubias? Hard to tell from the picture) It looks a bit out of place. Maybe if you tucked it in the littles nook in front of the big rock, it would fit a little better.


Yes, it's Anubias barteri var. nana 'gold'. There is another Anubias on the right side that got overgrown. I'm thinking of adding some more Anubias to balance it out.


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## stepheus (Jun 13, 2006)

wooooow... really awesome. i gotta admit that at first i thought it ll end up like a mix rotala salad. but this is waay better thn salad. cant wait for the final pictures


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Okay, I know it seems like I forgot about this tank. I entered it in the AGA and was waiting for the results to come out before posting the final shot. Here she is:


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## longhornxtreme (Feb 20, 2007)

Gorgeous picture! I understand that you're not dosing at all but you are adding CO2. Have you by chance taken any water column measurments on your Nitrate or Phosphate? Over Christmas I'm looking at adding something more nutritive than my eco in my 29G, but I don't particularly want to go the aquasoil way.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

longhornxtreme said:


> Gorgeous picture! I understand that you're not dosing at all but you are adding CO2. Have you by chance taken any water column measurments on your Nitrate or Phosphate? Over Christmas I'm looking at adding something more nutritive than my eco in my 29G, but I don't particularly want to go the aquasoil way.


Thanks.  Yes, that is correct, no dosing except for the VERY occasional potassium dose and CO2 addition. I haven't taken any measurements in a long time. I can't stand to test water so I usually don't unless I can't figure out what's going on by observation.


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## redstrat (Apr 3, 2006)

Very Nice!!! love the final shot!! very lush growth, I also cut way back on my ferts toward the end with my recent scape, with no noticable changes. I still added CO2 but ferts were pretty much only added at waterchange time. This wasn't totally on purpose though because i was moving and the tank was staying at the old place untill I got a chance to move it. Looks great though I definately look forward to seeing your future work


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## dstephens (Nov 30, 2005)

Wow! You know I love it. The balance with all of the different rotala species is challenging, timing the trimming, additives to bring out color, etc. Most of the rotala sp. growing in my tank are from your tanks! Nice thick growth with your HC as well. Thanks for posting updates Aaron. Beautiful work.


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## gas (Jul 27, 2006)

Love your tank AaronT, healthy and well strutured plants.
Is rotala Nanjenshan on the left? If yes this is pretty I really want mine look as well as your.
Have you any advice for this plant, I can read it isn't very difficult but mine doesn't want to grow


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

gas said:


> Love your tank AaronT, healthy and well strutured plants.
> Is rotala Nanjenshan on the left? If yes this is pretty I really want mine look as well as your.
> Have you any advice for this plant, I can read it isn't very difficult but mine doesn't want to grow


Yes, the Rotala 'Nanjenshan' is on the left side of the tank. It's not the left most Rotala though, it's one right of the left most. It hasn't been too difficult in my experience. It does seem to grow a bit slower than the other so I usually trim it a little earlier to let it catch up.  This particular tank is a topsoil substrate so I don't do any dosing at all, only CO2 injection.

Thanks for all the kind words everyone. Anybody have any constructive criticisms for the next go-around?


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## PMD (May 3, 2005)

I love this thread. Please keep giving us updates.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

That looks great. Nice placement and good concept.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

PMD said:


> I love this thread. Please keep giving us updates.


Thanks.  Unfortunately, I'll have to start a new thread in a month or so as I'm moving in 2 weeks.


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

Very nice thank Aaron! Takes a lot of work to create what you've done. I can't imagine trimming those fast growers every week or two. Phew! My only thought and it's probably because of the photo (or my bad eyes), is that the plants appear washed out or illuminated with a very yellow bulb. I think the faded colors takes away from the beauty of the scape and plants. I would also like to see more peaks and defined shapes on the very far corners for the V effect. Other than that the aquascape is wonderful, and well executed. Well done!

-John N.


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## longhornxtreme (Feb 20, 2007)

I would have to say that it's more of a whitebalance difference than the plants being washed out, but I could be totally wrong..


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

longhornxtreme said:


> I would have to say that it's more of a whitebalance difference than the plants being washed out, but I could be totally wrong..


Yup, it's definitely something. I'm no good at editing photos. Any of you photoshop wizards want to take a crack at the original shot?


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## longhornxtreme (Feb 20, 2007)

Here's a real cursory attempt at fiddling with the colors...


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

longhornxtreme said:


> Here's a real cursory attempt at fiddling with the colors...


Yes, those are closer to the true colors. The Rotala 'Colorata' really is that red. Here's my amatuer attempt.


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Aaron,

How often do you do maintenance on this tank and what all do you do? I've got a client that wants a tank in his office but I wouldn't want him to have to do a lot of dosing and the like. With results like yours I'm really curious how you do it.

Regards,
Phil


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Phil Edwards said:


> Aaron,
> 
> How often do you do maintenance on this tank and what all do you do? I've got a client that wants a tank in his office but I wouldn't want him to have to do a lot of dosing and the like. With results like yours I'm really curious how you do it.
> 
> ...


Phil,

I'm not sure I would recommend setting up a soil substrate tank for a client, unless they were the patient type. With each of my tanks I've setup I've had initial algae issues, usually green water and green hair algae. Those subside once everything settles down and I've gotten some good growth for a few weeks. I journaled the whole process in a thread titled "El Natural With A Twist" in the El Natural forum section. On this paticular tank I added one step to the process, which was to sift the topsoil with a screen made of nylon window screening. This served to remove A LOT of the little pieces of rocks, sticks and even glass that were in the soil. It really helped a great deal with the initial algae bloom on this tank. I only had a few days of green water and that was it.

As far as maintenance I really only do water changes when I get evaporation, maybe every week or two. The plants tend to grow a little bit slower without water column dosing. I'd say I have to trim the stems after about 3 weeks.


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Aaron,

Thank you. The client is a patient type, I've already put a 20 long "El Natural" in his office. He wants to upgrade now. If it comes down to it he's got the money to contract out the LFS to come do water changes if needed. Thankfully, he's a hydrologist, understands the whole nutrient thing, and is an apt pupil. I'll go read up on your journal.

Thanks again!


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## hooha (Apr 21, 2005)

any updates?


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

hooha said:


> any updates?


Sorry man, I've moved and it's been recaped. I'll post something up once it starts looking good again.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

AaronT said:


> Sorry man, I've moved and it's been recaped. I'll post something up once it starts looking good again.


Aaron, you should post the 'bad' pics now, and we'll be even more wowed when the good pics come in.  Anyhow, your 'bad' is probably most of ours 'good'.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Bert H said:


> Aaron, you should post the 'bad' pics now, and we'll be even more wowed when the good pics come in.  Anyhow, your 'bad' is probably most of ours 'good'.


Only if you like cladophora algae.


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## hooha (Apr 21, 2005)

I actually don't like cladophora algae one bit, but I' still like to see the 'evolution' in progress 

As for clado, I've manually removed it and then spot treated with Excel. The large clumps I've left in have melted away, and the areas where I've removed it manually and then spot-treated have not had any recurrence.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Okay, you asked for the bad pics now so I got a quick snapshot today for you. Can you tell it's now next to a large window?  I plan to move the tank to my dining room before too long.

*Plants*
Rotala verticillaris
Rotala sp. 'Colorata'
Echinodorus angustifolias 'Vesuvius'
Eriocaulon sp. 'Africa'
Eleocharis parvulus
Pogostemon helfer
Hygrophila sp. 'Porto Vehlo'
Hygrophila sp. 'Araguaia'
Anubias barteri var. nana 'Gold'
Myriophyllum ussuriense
Ludwigia arcuata
Cladophora sp. (I plan to get rid of this one )


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

OK, so you have a little clado, but otherwise, looks nice.  I hate clado! I've been known to pick up small strands of it by my forceps when I've seen it in the tank. Once my wife asked me what I was doing picking up what appeared to be little bits of gravel and nuking it then replacing it to the tank. It was definitely overboard, but I found the ottos loved the 'fried' clado.


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## hooha (Apr 21, 2005)

If you say it's a Marimo ball no one would no the difference 

Can't wait to see how it fills in, one of my difficulties is figuring out how a scape will look as I set it up. Seeing more designs from the beginning helps me out.

Bert, when you say 'nuke' what do you do? Put it in the microwave?


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

hooha said:


> Bert, when you say 'nuke' what do you do? Put it in the microwave?


LOL, yes, that's exactly what I did. I had a glob of it which was tucked under some Crypts. I pulled it out and it came up with a bunch of gravel. I microwaved it, and threw a little of it back in the tank, and saw the ottos go eat it.  Don't ask me why I did it, I have no idea.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Uh, yeah Marimo balls, that's the ticket. 

I find that shrimp will eat the clado. You need an army of them, but they will eat it. The key is to sparingly feed the tank.


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## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

Hmmm microwaved veggies for Otto's. Ill have to try it


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

....it's coming along a bit more nicely now.


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## hooha (Apr 21, 2005)

bout time you got an update up 

how does the growth compare to the 'classic' high light tanks? Does it grow as quickly/about the same/slower? Is there a higher chance of stunting?


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

hooha said:


> bout time you got an update up
> 
> how does the growth compare to the 'classic' high light tanks? Does it grow as quickly/about the same/slower? Is there a higher chance of stunting?


Growth is considerably slower in the soil tanks. I like it that way though. It takes more patience, but then the scapes last longer when they peak too. 

For example, the vertcillaris on the left side of the tank has not been trimmed since the other picture was posted. I recently upped the lighting a bit though since the plants have filled in more and growth seems to have sped up a bit.


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