# 1st dirt tank inspired by Maryland Guppy



## DutchMuch




----------



## Maryland Guppy

This is very unfair!!!

I would never have inspired a tank with so few plants, come on now???:rain:


----------



## DutchMuch

LOL
Send me some for free and it will Really be inspired 

Letting it cycle before I add more plants...!


----------



## DutchMuch




----------



## DutchMuch




----------



## DutchMuch

new camera is coming in a few days, so get ready for some update pics you wont believe what the tank looks like now.


----------



## Maryland Guppy

Maryland Guppy said:


> This is very unfair!!!
> 
> I would never have inspired a tank with so few plants, come on now???:rain:


It seems like you are still "leaking" on me and telling me it's raining!
Either add plants or edit the title, come on now!


----------



## DutchMuch

Maryland Guppy said:


> It seems like you are still "leaking" on me and telling me it's raining!
> Either add plants or edit the title, come on now!


I should warn you its full of plants now 
when new cam. arrives more pics to come!


----------



## Maryland Guppy

This is your inspiration!









and this!









and I'm even being nice right now!


----------



## Maryland Guppy

The "Critters"


----------



## DutchMuch

haha! looks really nice!  thanks!
Honestly don't have a plan for this tank yet, just letting thing adapt first!


----------



## DutchMuch

New Camera arrived, still practicing with it though... lol its tough! Ill have to buy a new macro lens to most likely... :/


----------



## DutchMuch

Did a trim, plant growth is good, etc etc etc
Adding some plants to.
Pandea golden is finally coming up, was a dead stem now its doing pretty good  
Tannins are clear and gone!

My problem now is algae, I got it all,
BBA
GSA 
And this very fine fuzzy string algae, another member recently posted on here I have that to now... Its getting annoying now as its all over. 
So now I need to find whats the problem there? my Co2 is 2-3bps, of course this is a heavy dirted tank so I'm guessing its extra nutrients. And the light is maxed out.


----------



## Maryland Guppy

I am noticing some improvement!


----------



## DutchMuch

Thanks Maryland!  
my S grade fire red mother in there is officially 2 years old. She's been in multiple tanks over the years... she is officially a pet I actually care about...!

You think the algae will eventually go away? looks bad. lol. hopefully looks are deceiving!


----------



## aqualady420

Update? 


Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


----------



## DutchMuch

Lowered plant mass by 75%

Current plants are:
Marsilea Hirsuta 
Dwarf Hairgrass
Tall Hairgrass (eleocharis) 
hydrocotyle japan
cabomba furcate
Crypt (unknown)


----------



## DutchMuch

lol the tank looks totally different now, that last pic is of the algae faze. Ill update with an FTS later on


----------



## DutchMuch

*2 pics 
*
















new lud. glandulosa.


----------



## niceshirt

Amazing


----------



## DutchMuch

Will upload pics within the next 3 days.


----------



## DutchMuch

Sorry its so bright, didn't edit the image.

Id like to remove the giant hairgrass in the back as its to wild, doesn't grow compact... well it grows Thick but its to fast. Would like to replace that with ludwigia mini red and just have DHG, so just 2 plants. But that's a work in prog. because its a dirted tank sooo i gotta figure how id remove all that stuff "hahaha...."
Oh and i found a red Ramshorn snail in there i officially named "Pedro" idk why i picked pedro but i thought it was a funny name. So he's pedro xD


----------



## DutchMuch

Well i went ahead about 1 hour after posting the image above, and removed ALL the plants except the crypt and the DHG. So now its a huge nicely trimmed carpet, but where the giant hairgrass was im replacing with some extra ludwigia sp. super mini red. So once that fills out *if at all* ill update then


----------



## DutchMuch

Ill upload tonight  didn't get the pics Monday night.`


----------



## DutchMuch

FINALLY THE PICS SORRY I KEEP FORGETTING IM BUSY LOL...!


















Waiting for the DHG to spread more tot he right, the limno in the back left i gotta take out, dont know how that got there lol. 
My one stem of ludwigia mini super red in the back there trying so hard to get taller, really pretty bright pink red though.
Gotta trim the giant hairgrass in the back again (trying to kill it)

Pygmy corys aren't supposed to be in there, they were supposed to be in the 40b but i had an emergency, had to put them in there... and lets just say, _they're staying in there. _
The s. repens is also a random one i didn't put in there, or at least i dont remember, its been in the tank for a long time and appears to grow very slowly but when the DHG tries to cover it, it fires back and makes a quick growth jump so it doesn't get blocked of light.


----------



## DutchMuch

took the tank down due to moving.


----------



## Stan510

I would have used gravel over the soil..not sands. Other then for show in front of an aquarium or as a winding river of white sand..gravel is always better for plants. Not only do roots move better through it,they do that because gravel lets oxygen in ..sand cuts it off.
Plus,if you are going to layer dirt on the bottom,You should use really greedy rooters...Swords,Nuphar,Valls maybe...then fill with weak smaller plants.

I know when I used soil in pots for my big tank? I got the worst case of hair algae I'd ever had and blue green algae was no fun either.
When I use potting soils? Not the same thing happens. With potting soil you might get tinted water from all the peat...water changes eventually remove that.


----------



## DutchMuch

Stan510 said:


> I would have used gravel over the soil..not sands. Other then for show in front of an aquarium or as a winding river of white sand..gravel is always better for plants. Not only do roots move better through it,they do that because gravel lets oxygen in ..sand cuts it off.
> Plus,if you are going to layer dirt on the bottom,You should use really greedy rooters...Swords,Nuphar,Valls maybe...then fill with weak smaller plants.
> 
> I know when I used soil in pots for my big tank? I got the worst case of hair algae I'd ever had and blue green algae was no fun either.
> When I use potting soils? Not the same thing happens. With potting soil you might get tinted water from all the peat...water changes eventually remove that.


i use sand in all my setups. High tech or low tech (and i dont do low techs anymore as i find them to easy)
I have to highly disagree on the simple comment, "gravel is better than sand" 
sand is of less porosity yes but holds debris better, providing more nutrients than gravel would (as gravel has higher porosity and leaches the debris/nutrients into the soil making a less appealing and less resulting effect)
There is no scientific studies to back this up obviously, other than dennis wongs (2 hr aquarist) right up on soil porosity and the benefits/effects/pros/cons. Swords do not pull in most of their nutrients through the roots either, same for vallis and etc. They pull more nutrients in through the leaves than the roots, the roots that pull in nutrients are (virtually) microscopic and are not to be seen and once pulled out of the substrate usually detach fairly quickly from the plant. Dennis wong also (ironically) explains this in another one of his articles on his site the 2 hr aquarist. 
I didnt have to much algae problems in this tank whilst it lasted, now its an emersed setup for ar mini and different high tech plants.
Sand also doesnt allow as much nutrients from the dirt to be leached into the tank, making it pretty exclusive to the root systems of the individual plants. This has its pros and cons, but the pros fortunately outway the cons. *Sand is the only way i will dirt a tank. *

*This post (the thread we are currently chatting in) is my first (and very neglected) dirted tank. However you can see the real thing here..* https://www.aquaticplantcentral.com...65-gallon-traditional-dutch-aquascape-25.html


----------



## CadyMai

I love the dhg carpet. Even your first scapes are good! Big jelly


----------

