# 12g tonina tank



## phanmc (Jun 21, 2004)

The tank day 1 before the actinic bulb was replaced









Two weeks later









This looks to be my first successful tonina tank after several failed attempts to grow them. The tank is a 12g Current USA Aquapod with 54w of light. Substrate is ADA Aquasoil and powersand, also using ADA's fertilizers.










Plants include:
Tonina sp belem
Tonina fluviatilis
Ludwigia sp pantanal
Ludwigia sp from Guinea
Eriocaulon setaceum
Pogostemon helferi downoi
Echinodorus purple crown
Hemianthus callitrichoides










The tank's been running for about 2 weeks with CO2 just recently added and it's beginning to look VERY green, my coworker said it looked almost neon green. I wonder if I should replace some plants with a darker shade? The ludwigia sp guinea and Echinodorus purple crown had a rough time in transit and there isn't much showing, but they're bouncing back and I hope they'll provide some more contrast. Any comments and suggestions are appreciated.


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

Looks stunning! 

It's borderline on the neon green side, but I think that's part of the beauty of tonias. Maybe some more stems of Ludwigia sp pantanal will add some color and take the edge off the green.

-John N.


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## bigstick120 (Mar 8, 2005)

Nice, I have never seen downoi grown that way, it is a fairly heavy root feeder, what are your thoughts on it performance tied to the wood? Maybe something red in the back left corner


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## Tankman (Feb 19, 2006)

Nice plants and the Cardinals complement them nicely. 
Few more red plants will make things better 

Cheers!


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## trckrunrmike (Jan 31, 2005)

Whats the KH and GH of the tank?


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## phanmc (Jun 21, 2004)

I've heard people using downoi tied to driftwood and rocks before and decided to give it a shot. There was immediate melting at the beginning, which isn't uncommon, but the recovery is slow. The one closest to the lights is the fastest to recover, throwing out two new plantlets already. The farthest from the light remains green but has minimal growth.

Good idea about a red plant in the back left, I'm thinking about limnophila aromatica, Didiplis diandra, or cabomba furcata. Which would be better for this tank?

pH 6.4 (lowered by aquasoil, was at 7.8), kH 2, gH 5


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## Goof (Aug 24, 2006)

Thats a good lookin tank you've got phanmc, nice and green


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## jassar (Jul 30, 2006)

Now that's one GREEN tank! I kinda like it...
-Jassar


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## KRajten (Oct 23, 2005)

what kind of light do you use? very nice green colour...


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## DJKronik57 (Apr 17, 2006)

Love the driftwood placement! Very pleasing to the eyes and intriguing. About the neon green, it could be your bulbs, some bulbs give off huge amounts of light in green wavelengths (like Coralife 6700K's) making plants look neon green. Try looking up the spectrum for your bulbs online and see if there is a big green spike.

P.S. Although this green spike isn't harmful to plants, it doesn't help them at all either. Most plants use red and blue light for photosynthesis.


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

Red cherry shrimp may set it off nicely too. beatiful regardless!


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## phanmc (Jun 21, 2004)

The aquapod uses 2x27w square pin CF lights, it comes with a dual daylight (6,700k/10,00k) and a dual actinic which I replaced with another dual daylight. Since 27w CF lights aren't common, I'm pretty much stuck with Current USA's dual daylights.

I do have some cherry shrimp in there, though I also have a betta and I think the betta made snacks out of some of them.


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## Got Greens (Apr 13, 2006)

I like your plant choices awesome tank.I was wondering if you wouls sell me some Eriocaulon setaceum,Ludwigia sp pantal?


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## phanmc (Jun 21, 2004)

It'll be awhile before I'll be able to sell the Ludwigia sp. pantanal, need to get a nice bush going in there first. The Eriocaulon setaceum is growing quite nicely though, almost reaching the top of the tank, so I may some available soon.


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## sherry (Sep 30, 2005)

Hey if you want to sell some belum, let me know. I have fluviatalis and the other tonina sp.. but I haven't found belum


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## phanmc (Jun 21, 2004)

*1 month update*

I need to get a better camera...

The tank's been running for a little over a month and most things are growing in nicely. The tonina sp belem is growing slower than I expected and the echinodorus is very slow growing but everything else is growing fast.

Time for a trim









Afterwards









If anyone can see it in the bottom left corner of the tank, my HC has a couple of strands that has very large leaves. It looks more like Micranthemum umbrosum, is this common or has anyone ever had this happen to their HC?


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## bigstick120 (Mar 8, 2005)

Looking good!, As far as the HC goes, Im going to say that the plant that is growing hitch hiked along or is growing from under the HC.


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