# 10 years of stumbling ..



## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

This journal is to fulfill a promise I made to myself when I signed up on plantedtank.net in 2011 and was flabbergasted at the astounding potential of a planted aquarium. As I sucked in all the new information, and saw people's journals, I said, "When I get a handle on my planted tank, I'd go backwards and I, too, will make a journal so that people will realize how easy it is to set a great one up!" Follow the good advice, apply the formula, and voila! Perfect planted tank! So easy! How hard can it be? Well, this journal will show that it's been anything but easy for this aquarist. Months, before long, turned into years before I got to get my tank to a satisfactory enough state to do this journal. For me, I didn't feel like I had anything to show if I didn't have something completed. Hopefully after you peruse this, you'll realize the struggle is real. Not everyone is lucky like any of those gifted guys who can seemingly just throw things in a tank and have em grow and then on top of that, have the artistic mind to make it look good! I don't intend for this journal to prevent you from making my mistakes. I don't have any delusions that it's anything that grand. It's just to share some sympathetic thoughts. To show the struggling aquarist that you're not alone! To show that if you made silly mistakes or have gotten bad advice, you're not alone! To show how finding the right information on dedicated sites like plantedtank.net and barrreport.com can make a big difference! To show that even when you think you've got it right, when you're telling people what to do, you can still fall into the trap of not doing it yourself! So, if you feel like you're at the end of the rope, tried everything, and ready to give up, grasp that last strand of hope and try again! There are many roads to having a decent tank, some may just be more winding. There's just so many interesting and distracting side attractions sometimes that keep you from arriving at the destination.


*Too much to scroll! Jump to Present*




*The Odyssey*

*2007-09 .. how trips start*

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Get a 20G, get some real plants, get a rock, have some fish, have a crab... what can go wrong? Don't feel like buying a fixture -- oh look! There's a floor lamp! Here you go plants, you have light! You'll be fine! Grow and flourish! Who wants boring plastic plants that get filled with algae?










*2008-12 .. It must be good for aquatic plants because it says "Aqualight!"*

A year has passed already. Haven't encountered plantedtank.net yet. Just sort of proud that I can keep fish alive and I sort of knew what I was doing with aquariums--or so I thought. Don't think the crab worked out despite my giving him what I thought was pretty optimal conditions. I think at this time, I may have realized what true aquatic plants are so I got rid of that Dracaena (Lucky Bamboo), flooded it completely, added some sad plants, and got myself a real light. It was a Coralife Freshwater Aqualight. Plus, it's just tacky to use that floor lamp. Not the best picture here. I cared about tanks and I cared about photography, but I don't think at the time, I ever cared about taking pictures of tanks. I had some of that old time mentality where conventional wisdom was that there was never really enough light to take picture of things inside a tank clearly. Then you'd have to use flash, and then it'd bounce off the glass, or you'd have to take pics at an angle.... wait, I'm going off on a tangent. This was a crop from some other holiday pic.










*2010-03 .. a-HA! CO2(carbon dioxide) was the missing ingredient!*

Have you guys ever picked up a product and read the label? With high hopes that it'll work the way it advertises? For sure, it'll solve your woes. How can it not? It's lab proven! Well, it's been a little over another year. The plants seem to be doing good, or so I thought, until I came across a local fish store that cared about their plants a little more. Conversation probably went like this, "Ey buddy, why are you injecting air into a plant only tank?" "That's not air son, it's CO2." So I nod, stalk off, and tell myself that I'm probably not that serious about this hobby, I don't need that. A few more visits, I go back and see this cheap CO2 kit. It's a Hagen CO2 Ladder kit. For $25, you, too, can get serious about aquarium plants! Fine! Sugar, check, Yeast, check, water, check. How hard can it be?? 



















*2011-07 .. moar light! because more is better!*

So my plants still aren't really flourishing and I revisit the fish store. I'm told, well, you probably don't have enough light in that small Aqualight. Look at these Glo T5 HO lamps we have on our show tanks. I look at the price too and I balk. I probably left with some driftwood and flourite instead because it looks like I got rid of that silly fake rock that seemed like such a great idea before. Figured the driftwood would lower the ph for optimum plant keeping and the flourite was a better substrate "made for plants." Did a little "scaping" while these new things were added. I saw a cool idea at the fish store that inspired me to make a "blue path" because it allowed me to both save on flourite and look good while doing it.

As time passed, I spend some time thinking about it and saved up some money. Found out that they were getting rid of a Coralife 65W Aqualight. Oh swell! From 28W to 65W, these plants are going to GET it! 3WPG! I discover plantedtank.net around this time. I see the old timers eschewing too much light, so I ask my store guy, you sure it's not too much light? Of course he goes, naw, you can never have too much light for plants! Pssh. I guess the planted aquarium hobby was still new to a lot of people. Everyone was about reef tanks. I ignore plantedtank old timers at my expense. There's also seemingly conflicted information when you first come on here and don't understand the hobby. The separate aspects of a planted tank forums have their rabid hobbyists and it's easy to get sucked into wanting a bigger and more powerful light, a $500+ CO2 rig, a beautiful rimless tank, a great filter.. and on and on. The Equipment and Lighting forums are so exciting! Look at all these toys! Everyone wants the best. You don't get drawn to boring things -- like who cares about the "Fertilizers and Water Parameters" page.











*2012-03 .. algae farming*

I think at this point, it was safe to say I was pretty overwhelmed with plantedtank. So I decide to take things slow, real slow. Piecemeal. Cheap. Frugal. There were probably many competing factors that caused me to implement things slowly. Too many hobbies, life, work, you name it.

Oh, look, a DIY reactor because that stupid CO2 ladder just isn't cutting it. Plus, it got full of gunk and was a huge eyesore. Consuming tons of sugar in the meantime. Added a koralia because well, I read that it was the way to go to get the CO2 cycled through the entire tank. Flow issues, you know. Got some tougher plants. At this point, I'm just hoping I can keep em alive. At least the fish aren't dying.. Meanwhile, I was getting great at keeping algae alive. There's a reason why your title is "algae grower" when you join. This is it.


























*2012-09 .. time to step up to the big leagues son!*

What's one of the major answers to solving algae? CO2! Of course! Denial will tell you it's never too much light! You just need CO2! But I'm already injecting CO2?! You need more! Yeast and sugar (DIY), when done the way I did was unstable at best. I mean really, how much CO2 is really coming out of your little hagen reactor? So do you go full on 2(or more) - 2L bottles of solution with the tubing/check valves/space to match or do you commit and take it high tech? Of course, I've always loved toys, so I chose the latter. It's not a knock on DIY co2, it's just a knock on halfhearted DIY CO2. There's tons of tanks that are beautiful on dedicated and reliable DIY CO2, I think I just wanted an excuse to have a new toy. Ever since I've seen CO2 systems at store displays, I've wanted one. It also tells casual visitors that you're serious about your plants! Reef guys have their skimmers, coral lights, wave generators, and so on. They have a lot of tech to show. Well, I got pressurized CO2! I thought about going cheap with a paintball tank because it seemed easy, but then I read about end of tank dumps (EOTD), needle valves taking on too much pressure, possible explosions and I decided to invest in something better. Thanks to oldpunk, bettatail, and the gang that were really into building their own rigs at the time and writing up howtos, I saved up some more and frugally built this bad boy. For the uninitiated, this is a dual stage Matheson regulator that I scored off of ebay for a great price after much long research and a little bit of luck. See the cost savings? Brass nipple and minimalist post body kit from fellow plantedtank member, bettatail. This is going to be so glorious!


















*2013-02 .. foiled, no pressurized yet*

Other hobbies or priorities strike again. CO2 sort of took a back burner. Was still mulling over the price of a CO2 tank, where to fill, stuff like that. I wanted a nice CO2 tank, but places seemed to only do swapping. Meanwhile, the beautiful regulator stood there, on my dresser, as a witness to my lack of conviction. At least the algae seemed to have receded a bit. Toyed with some different plants for a little bit.










*2013-04 .. aquasoil and a new era*

So around this time, I discovered a new store called The Planted Aquarium Store. Imagine that, a local fish store that was dedicated to planted tanks! These guys not only knew about plantedtank.net, but also did NOT dismiss them as, "ah, the internet." Finally, some fellow hobbyists! They show me this Current Satellite+ LED with fully adjustable intensities and lightning storms AND it's got a remote control to boot. Who doesn't want that?! It's amazing! But man, it's pretty expensive. So that goes to the back of my mind for the time being. After some discussions, along with some research in the substrate forums, I decided to do aquasoil. Since I couldn't, or didn't want to afford getting two bags, I ended up with one and kept my flourite as the base below the aquasoil. At least I got rid of the blue path. What was probably an interesting idea at the time turned out to be annoying in practice. The substrate kept mixing at the borders and I had to keep separating them to keep the look. The substrate work was done without restarting the tank. This may have been a misstep in terms of aesthetics, but more on that later. I also scratch on different theories of algae control by increasing plant mass to "consume excess nutrients," and to add shade. I would discover later that probably only the shade part of that really applies but you know, it sounded like it made sense at the time. I don't think I was committed to fertilizing yet because the "Fertilizers and Water Parameters" forum still seemed to be a bore, plus I was already adding Seachem's Flourish Comprehensive! I mean it's comprehensive! What more do you need?










*2013-08 .. Finally, pressurized and EI(estimative index) !*

I must be the only idiot that sits on a great completed regulator for a year before using it. Anyway, it probably worked out for the best because it seemed like I actually did something right and grasped the concept of proper balance between lighting, CO2, and fertilizers in the interim. Those look like my first EI bottles below the CO2 tank. I FINALLY spent some real time in the "Fertilizers and Water Parameters" forum. Imagine or recall the surprise when you realized that Flourish Comprehensive was mostly only micro fertilizers! The nerve of them! They called it Comprehensive! Well, I guess it might be pretty comprehensive for tanks that are non accelerated, high light, and drugged up with CO2. There's a lot of types of micro fertilizers in there. I chose EI, because well, I'm still in denial about my light. There's not too much light. There's just not enough fertilizers and CO2! Even if it takes weekly water changes to get my plants to respond, I commit to it. I see reef tank guys on the forums complaining about not understanding planted tanks. I start to wonder about my chosen hobby. I set forward with gritty determination to prove my worth -- that a planted tank takes more skill than a reef tank. I see now that that might have been just one of those things I told myself to justify my hard work. I have no doubt that reef tanks are hard. Everything is hard when you don't understand it right.










*2013-08 .. all systems go! all cylinders firing!*

CO2 - check
ferts - check
light - check (of course)
After some initial struggling with CO2 dialing and worrying about leaks, I can plant anything now. Green drop checker verified by CO2/PH/KH tables means I can FINALLY buy whatever I want on the For Sale threads and they'll grow because .. I've got the trio in balance! Those sad looking plants? Oh, don't worry, I'm told. It's just initial melt. Can't wait for that glossostigma to fill in. Got a bunch of plants from my local planted aquarium store. It's going to be glorious!










*2013-09 .. just humming along*

Man, EI and CO2 are just great! Why didn't I do this sooner? Look at the growth! Aww, I lost some plants, but look at the others, they're doing grrreat! I lost the glosso, but it seems like staurogyne is a better carpet anyway. Finally! I've achieved something. I think I can post my journal. But you know what? Lets let the staurogyne grow in a little better so that it's a nice mat. Can't be showing off embarrassing stuff. Plus, I haven't gotten my LED light yet. Maybe I'll wait for that. I find out that these Current guys are going to drop a new, more powerful light. The Satellite+ is alright, but it sure could use more PAR! It's too weak! So I wait. 










Look at these awesome natural sunlight shots! There's only a 10 minute window when the sun hits just right during the right time of the year to get this kind of view. Now if I only knew how to aquascape properly .. I add some more plants because collectoritis is in full swing now. Because I'm losing plants still for various reasons, I also sort of get everything to see what sticks. Plant packages from fellow members are easy on the budget. I press onwards, ignoring the plant loss because some plants are just growing like gangbusters so I just attribute those plants to being not suited to my environment. This sort of happens in terrestrial gardening. If you've got to do too much to recreate a plant's natural environment that happens to be vastly different than yours, then it's almost doomed to fail when you think about neglecting it. 


















*2013-08 .. first real try at aquascaping*

So I've never been much an aquascaper (still not). I don't have that artistic eye. This applies to terrestrial gardening too. I can see what other people do and appreciate it greatly, but when it comes to my own, I just seem to have a mental block. Sometimes, it's probably because I'm a hoarder. I can't stand throwing out stuff. So it's no surprise that after I get those humongous plant packages, I find it hard to throw out what I don't need. So I spent a day drawing diagrams, perusing the aquascaping forum to get ideas, and finally came up with some semblance of order from the mess. Sure, go ahead and laugh. At least it has a shape now. 










*2013-10 .. in memory of ..*

In the meantime, I get some new fauna because well, it's still a fish tank too. I purchased a pair of bumblebee gobies because the wife said they were cute. Boy, were they. They turned out to be friendly, curious, testy, picky, and all sorts of things. Very personable. Of course, it was AFTER I purchase these things that I discover they're really kind of brackish water fish that can sort of survive in freshwater. That's why we've never purchased more since. It was also AFTER I purchase them that I find they're picky eaters. We had to handfeed them bloodworms so feeding time became an event. Anyway, they lasted for about a year (maybe a little more) when they finally decided to move on. You can see the beginnings of BBA(black beard algae) in the second picture -- the beginnings of a 2 year battle..


















So, after the initial elation of having some plants survive and somewhat flourish, I start to see signs of algae. How?! I have the trinity (CO2, lights, ferts) maxed out! The light is pretty darned powerful, the ferts are on EI (so excessed), and oh .. CO2 is hard to tune I learn. On closer observation, I guess I've always had this HOB and I like being able to easily clean its filter -- not that I do regularly, but that's another problem. Maybe the extra surface agitation is offgassing too much CO2. I decide that I like the HOB anyway and since I had pressurized, I merely need to turn up the gas! Hah, take that DIY CO2. Boy, I'm glad I don't have to figure out how to add and maintain another 2L bottle of solution. I guess a diffuser with a circulator isn't cutting it in my tank. It's probably not mixing into the water well enough. Well, I could probably go back to my DIY reactor. Nah, let's try a real one. I purchase an Ista Max Mix and a noisy marineland powerhead to push it. I also do a nice spraybar so it evenly spreads the now rich CO2 water all over the major clump of plants on the left. Circulation should get everything mixed in. There were all sorts of flows in that tank. Maybe too many conflicting ones. 


















*2013-11 .. new plants and a little trimming, some BBA*

Looks like BBA is taking hold on those java fern. Let's do a little trimming. Got some red plants to spice up with tank. Hopefully they'll grow out from that back area. Forecast remains hopeful. I complain to our Current rep on their sponsor thread. It's coming up to Christmas. Where's my new light? I need to show off the tank to visitors! I learn that it's going to be an Ecoxotic light instead. He has no answers, but it didn't look hopeful for Christmastime, so we wait.










More shots of my little buddies. Man, look at that impressive growth of BBA? Staghorn? 


























*2014-09 .. Looks like BBA is one tough customer*

I spent a good part of the year fighting the BBA. During the fight, I'm convinced at this point that the Coralife has to go. It's just too strong, it's not dimmable, I'm not hanging the light, and I suppose I can put a screen there but it just doesn't seem right. Current's just slacking with their new light, but finally, at long last, they've come out with the Ecoxotic E series in the summer. At the first sign of a sale, I promptly get my Ecoxotic E-60! Bye Bye, Coralife. So, of course, I put it at max power because I can. I've got blasting CO2 and EI so why not?

On the plants front, the red ludwigia all melted away. What a waste of plantbrain's good stock. I have plants that grow and plants that just love melting away at the roots. As a result, they never really take root and flourish. The red ludwigia was one of those. What survived the initial melting just never took hold to recover. I added some java fern windelov to fill up the right side since the stauro wasn't doing the job. Something's eating my stauro! I never did figure out who. So I tried to protect it with that little soap/sponge holder. That gave it a chance to survive and they seem to grow nicely in there. My local fish store guys don't believe me when I told them something's eating it. They think it's some sort of deficiency. I tell them, no, really, there's bite marks. Other than that, plants are somewhat flourishing. The java fern is so happy that it's even doing its trident form instead of one blade. Finally getting things to grow fast! 

Meanwhile, the BBA battle continues. It's taking hold on the driftwood and the older leaves of the java fern, dwarf sag, java fern windelov. More CO2! I think the fish are stressing. I observe the flow in my tank some more and I also get an eheim 350 skimmer to get rid of the top film to allow for more stable CO2 injections via consistent CO2 and O2 gas exchanges in hopes of adding a little more without stressing the fish. It also helps with the flow since plant content is starting to obstruct it. The other thought was that someone mentioned plant rot at the roots may be due to a lack of oxygen down in the substrate so hopefully, this allows me to up the oxygen content a little. 












*2014-12 BBA woes continue*

This BBA just won't go away. Plantedtank algae forums are full of new threads with BBA. Everyone's talking about it. I figure they take up 60-70% of the threads in there. There's speculations, arguments, and probably even peace accords between factions that formed by their stances on what causes and eliminates BBA. So, I select a moderate approach. I originally tried the 1-2 punch algae removal method, but true to the words of wisdom, it only removes the current generation of BBA. I get my satisfactory red tufts and as they fade away, a new generation crops up in its place. The 1-2 punch seems too drastic, so like some other members, I make it a habit to squirt the BBA with H2O2(hydrogen peroxide) during water changes and we just repeat the cycle. I push my CO2 as far as I dare, but since that isn't helping, I look at flow again. 

As for plants, I grew out my stauro but it got promptly eaten up as a tasty salad by someone, so I buy some tissue cultured loebelia cardinalis (cardinal plant) from petsmart. These tissue cultures are the way to go sometimes. It's a little costly, but I think a lot of people, including myself, have had a lot of success with them. Considering the amount of plants you get and the chance that they survive, the cost becomes justified. They've filled up the foreground on the right pretty fast. Pretty easy plants. I take them and throw em into my non CO2 goldfish tank and they don't melt. I trim them and they recover easily. I take the trims and stick it in the substrate and they take off. 










*2015-01 .. it's really really gotta be a flow problem*

I spend any spare time during the holidays a little obsessed about flow. I try weird things like two spray bars, trimmings, eking out just a little more CO2. It was all to waste. The BBA just laughed at me. It's getting really bad on the windelov. It seems like they've even asked their diatom friends to join the party. There's all sorts of weirdness between those cardinal plants.

I figure I couldn't really change flow much unless I go with a canister filter. I come to grips with the reality that I don't really clean out that filter as often as I think so I suppose a canister would work. I got a new fluval 206 thanks to a timely ebay bid -- and a 306 thanks to black friday. I put the 206 in and replumb the output to the reactor and get rid of that crazy hob once and for all. This ought to allow me to reduce agitation just a little to allow for better gas exchange control. I pored over the equipment threads and I find that I still like the fluval for it's internal chambers setup, the quick release valve, and the overall design. Eheims are probably more reliable based on collective plantedtank experience, but at the price I got the fluval for, I'd have to get the classic model and get my own quick release valves. Plus, people didn't seem too enamored of the newer ecco line with the cool features. The added benefit of this setup is that now I have a whisper quiet tank. 










*2015-02 .. spraybars were a dead end*

I ride with the spraybars for a little while before they started getting pretty dirty, not to mention BBA decided to grow on the little output holes. I also decide that they sort of look ridiculous. No one has a setup that way. I spent some time poring over plantbrain's famous big tank. I realize that he doesn't bother with spraybars. It's just one big output from a pvc pipe and the input is on an overflow into a wet/dry. Well, I briefly flirted with the idea of getting a wet/dry but this is getting ridiculous. Plenty members on here do great with a canister. So I get rid of the spraybars and just leave the output of the reactor naked. I also tune the skimmer to output on a path that goes along with the flow. I hope this allows the water to do a big circle by agitating the surface as it comes out and goes to the right and then going back to left at the bottom half of the tank. I figure in nature, water just flows. It doesn't come shooting out of spraybar holes. I'm really wondering if that high dissolved oxygen content in fast shooting water was causing me grief.

I chose not to give up on the red plants idea so after some research, I decided to add some AR Mini(alternanthera reineckii mini) to my setup. By all accounts, it should be easy and add a pop of color to my monotone green. I get some from a member, but they promptly melted, roots and all. Man, this substrate must be poisonous to plants. Remember the time in the past when I was cheap and didn't change out the flourite and just laid aquasoil on top? I'm starting to think the flourite just doesn't allow enough oxygen into the roots. I start thinking long term about how I'm going to redo the tank and get more aquasoil.










*2015-03 .. bye bye AR Mini, and Java Fern windelov, and ..*

So my flow must be obstructed with my high plant mass. I decide to do a pretty significant trim. This is no small feat considering my tendency to hoard. I decide to throw the java fern windelov into my goldfish tank. Something plantbrain said about leaving some plants in a garage in a low tech tank with shrimp to rid it of algae made me decide to take it over there to see if the BBA clears up. Of course it does! No CO2 issues. Perhaps more importantly, low light! So I figure I'll leave it over there a while, let it clear up, and then bring it back. It sure beats spraying it with H2O2 all the time. I was probably getting to the point that there was simply too much H2O2 getting into the tank during the water change squirting. I didn't want to chance killing fauna. The rest of the AR Mini melted and I desperately saved two last stems about this long ------<--------. No kidding. I remember that the seller said he had them emersed, so I get a little plastic box, a 3x5 index card storage box, from the dollar store, put some MGOPM (Miracle Gro Organic Potting Mix), and flood the bottom up to the soil level with water and stick them in there. It was an experiment and a gamble. Fingers crossed.











*2015-04 .. diatoms?*

I'm starting to get these weird brown cottony growths between the cardinal plants. BBA is sort of a normal resident now but who's this new kid on the block?! 










*2015-05 .. not enough CO2 for the light!*

I cleaned the nasty stuff growing on the white fluval in/out connectors. Trying to get the cardinal plants to spread out but leaving that back section empty for something else that may come along. This may have turned out to be a mistake as BBA, BGA(Cyanobacteria, Blue Green Algae) and brown cotton algae promptly move in. 

I decide to take another look at everything. Since I was tired of telling people on the algae forums that it's their light causing them problems, I realized I had hypocritically left my new light at max intensity since I first got it. I cut it to half power. Thank goodness I can do that. After all these years, I finally face my light obsession, and realize that the phrase is not merely "not enough CO2." It's "not enough CO2 for the light." Just because you think you did or even if you DID achieve 30ppm of CO2, it doesn't mean that you can just throw any amount of light with EI, and expect everything to be alright. 










*2015-07 .. new inhabitants!*

I realized that my amano shrimp stock had slowly dwindled down to one lucky tough one. Probably should get some more amanos, but in a time not so long ago, I failed miserably in raising cherry shrimp. Imagine that! Simple, allegedly indestructible neocaridinas. They were all in this small 3 gallon tank that I probably couldn't keep stably clean. I don't know. I thought they were simple at the time. Just get a small tank, dump them in, in no time, I was supposed to have tons to pass out! Anyway, this time around, I decided that I'll put them in my most stable tank. I knew I would be taking a chance in a community tank as many fish would probably love to snack on them, but I counted on the large plant mass to give them hiding spots. Because of that, I also didn't go with a more exotic blue line because I didn't want to give my fish a $60 snack. So I came across these dream blue rilis from this guy on aquabid (hansypatty, very nice chap) that was cheap enough to fit the bill. Don't let this completely blue one fool you, all his friends are rili patterned. It just so happened that this guy was in the right place for this timely shot. I put them all in and they promptly disappeared into the java fern mass. So begins my tradition of scouring around the roots right after the lights turn off just for a glimpse of one or two of them -- to make sure they're still around.

It was CO2 tank refill time and after connecting up the new tank, I realized that the bubble count had slowed down a bit. Curse that "relatively cheap" needle valve. So hard to adjust. I tweak it up a bit and wait. That must have contributed to the recent algae woes.

I also fill the right back area behind the driftwood with cardinal plants to take up that whole empty area. Figure I'll remove them when I get something else. 

These combined actions with the light reduction the month before sort of calmed the tank down somewhat. I believe the brown cottony stuff and the BGA is fading, but the BBA persists! At this point, I go back to accepting small amounts of BBA. It seems like when I have BBA, I usually don't have massive amounts of other algae issues. Yea, I think I'll trade BBA for BGA. 










*2015-09 .. BBA beaten!*

Finally! After TWO long years! Over the past months, harmony and peace settled in. The BBA receded. No sign of brown cottony stuff. There's some minimal GSA(green spot algae) on the glass but I can really really live with that instead of BBA. I could say that it's the catch of the CO2 slowdown, and the light intensity decrease, but I'd be lying if I didn't want to give credit to my new cleanup fauna. These guys are the icing on the cake. The first group are the little blue rili shrimps hiding in the java fern that are probably doing their cleanup jobs invisibly at night -- giving a big assist to the resident amano shrimp and pair of otocinclus. The second group are the crossocheilus fish that were recently added. These allegedly are the True Siamese Algae Eaters. I came across them in a great stroke of luck at a local Pet Supermarket. They were (probably mis)labeled as flying foxes. As anyone who may have hunted for True Siamese Algae Eaters will attest, it's a pretty confusing mess out there. There's all sorts of things being passed off as Siamese Algae Eaters that don't do their job later on in life. These guys were really scouring the surfaces at the pet store. In my tank, they were really scouring the BBA! I mean, my BBA was receding, but these guys completely nullified it.

The 3 True Siamese Algae Eaters at home. I can't tell which crossocheilus species they are. Atrilimes, Siamensis, or Langei. There's all sorts of conflicting information on which one is which. Some say Siamensis are the true,true ones but they hardly exist in the trade. Doesn't matter, they scour my BBA. That's why they're my mascots now. Check them out hanging together on the lower right picture. They're responsible for that driftwood finally being carpeted heavily with moss instead of being choked out by BBA.











For plants, I let the cardinal plants grow taller. That was just due to laziness of maintenance. Summer was distracting. But it was fate. As they grew taller, they seemed to get healthier. I originally wanted to keep them on a carpet but I don't think they liked it. Maybe its the lowered light intensity not powering them when they're at the bottom of the tank. I feel that's the same thing happening to my limnophila aromatica whenever I trim it. But if you increase the light intensity to get down there, you get algae...

To combat this problem, I added a smarter controller for my light. The iAqua Lite Ecoxotic E-series cross fading controller created by fellow plantedtank member, anotherhobby. The default E-series automated light cycle is fade from daylight to moonlight. It's sorely lacking. It doesn't even turn off! If you want off, you have to set moonlight to 0 light, so you lose the moonlight feature. This controller allows me to have two extra levels of light, plus on/off during an automated cycle. That's four extra states. So, I can set a minimal low light level for sunrise and sunset (mostly used for fade transitioning), a medium light level for the bulk of the daytime running (so as to not tempt an algae takeover), and a really high level of light for a midday burst to get to those guys at the bottom! 











After looking for something to replace my unhappy and not really growing dwarf hairgrass, I finally get some blyxa japonica in and they were a huge help in tying the over all look of the tank together as they took over the foreground duties. It's amazing when the tank is working. I'm furiously knocking on wood, but when they were introduced, they didn't melt. Roots are also not melting away from their substrate. In addition, the desperately saved AR Mini have been reintroduced and they seem to be growing this time.











Here's the emergency emersed setup boxes. The AR Mini has recovered so I flooded it to test it in low CO2 conditions. The excess blyxa was thrown in another box as a precaution in case the ones I added would melt. 


























Well, it's been a memoir up to this point. Maybe it'll be a journal going forward. Thanks for sticking with the story if you've read through the entire thing. If you're struggling, I hope it gives you the resolve to keep trying, and above all, to have patience. If you've been slightly entertained, then I'm glad it held your attention. If you feel like you lost time in your life sifting through it, then I apologize, I'm in no position to offer any refunds. Until next time..










*next update: 2016-06 -- 2017-02*


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## latchdan (Sep 7, 2007)

Wow, that was fun to read. I saw a lot of things here that i went through. The hagen. ladder the lighting from a lamp.... i can relate a lot. Started keeping a planted tank at age 13 now I'm 28. Just look how far you came!


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Agreed, great read and glad you sorted through everything and are successful now. 

Took me a while as well to sort through light/co2/flow. Finally just realized myself now you don't need insane amounts of light to grow all plants.


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## whitepapagold (Aug 19, 2010)

Nice thread! I always like seeing everything in the first post.

Two thoughts on SAE-

1. As they acclimate to your tank, they will stop eating algae (or eat way less) especially as they grow. They will exploit the feeding you do and out compete anything in the tank.

2. SAE get HUGE. I mean HUGE. And they will get aggressive. Very aggressive.

They may be helpful now but in the end they are a huge PITA!

Congrats on the BBA resolve- once its under control its always easier to keep it that way!


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## bereninga (Mar 18, 2006)

Love this story! Thanks so much for taking the time to write this up AND have pictures with it. There's always that struggle w/ algae that binds us together. There's barely ever a tank that has zero algae, and I think we can always win small battles against it, but the war never ends.

It's so true that there are times when you want to just totally give up, but once the tank looks good it all feels worth the struggle.

Taking care of a planted tank is art. Even our best tanks never feel good enough until we look back at them sometimes and say, "Wow, that was a great tank." The journey to having a nice tank is the best part of this hobby. If you ever achieve your perfect tank, then the hobby will end up just being boring.

Thanks again for sharing this!

Bump:


latchdan said:


> Wow, that was fun to read. I saw a lot of things here that i went through. The hagen. ladder the lighting from a lamp.... i can relate a lot. Started keeping a planted tank at age 13 now I'm 28. Just look how far you came!


LOL Yes, the Hagen ladder was one of my favorite parts because I remember having that when I first started doing CO2. I started nearly 9 years ago, and I too know how it feels to have real life make you neglect your tank. But the fun part about getting back into it is seeing how much has changed.


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## theatermusic87 (Jun 22, 2014)

Just be glad you didn't go down my path of I dimmed the light, algae is fading, plants are taking off, I can increase the light again stage... Though I'll be honest I'm glad I caught light being an issue before investing in CO2, saved myself a few bucks and probably wouldn't still be keeping tanks had I done that


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## latchdan (Sep 7, 2007)

2012-03 picture... that reactor looks similar to mine 



.... gosh such an eyesore ha.


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## ua hua (Oct 30, 2009)

That really was a great read and I'm sure many people can relate to your entire journey including myself. It's easy to be new to this hobby and get frustrated when you go through these struggles and see pictures of perfectly manicured, well layed out planted tanks that others have. But the thing that people need to understand is that anyone that says that they haven't had struggles with algae at one point or another is either lying or haven't been doing it long enough yet to have the pleasure of experiencing the frustration of an algae outbreak. 

I have been involved in the aquarium hobby for almost my entire life as I was introduced to it by my father that use to breed many different fish in the 70's and 80's. I have kept many different types of setups from African cichlids, freshwater, brackish water tanks and almost a decade in reef tanks before trying my luck at planted tanks. I was always looking for a new challenge and wanting to learn something new when I decided to try a freshwater planted tank. I thought that it couldn't be that difficult, after all I use to keep a successful reef tank and if I could keep a slice of the ocean in a glass box how hard could keeping plants alive be. I mean all plants really need is water, lights and nutrients right? Well as simple as that may sound I was quickly proven wrong. There is many other factors and variables that I learned along the way and I would be a liar if I told you that I have it all figured out still. I'm always learning from other hobbyists experiences and I don't ever think I will be to the point where I feel like I've learned all I can when it comes to this hobby.

Thanks again for this great post and you can find some pleasure in knowing that many others will read this and be able to relate. And for some it might just give them the motivation in knowing that if they're committed and persistent they can end up having a successful planted tank as well.


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## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

Thanks so much for this journal, terrific read. I've gone through most of this as well just on a bigger scale as my first modern planted tank was a 50 gallon and I've gone up to a 180 gallon over the 18 or so years I've had a tank up continuously. My excuse for the light thing is I started out with a 25 watt incandescent which cannot grow plants if you believe the nonsense that sunlight will boil the water and grow algae and keep the tank as far from natural light as possible!

The internet is the only reason I have an okay looking planted tank. I learned modern day planted tank stuff from back issues of FAMA at the public library, that's a couple pages that mostly repeated month to month, that was more up to date than the few picture books the library and book store had. First APD and I got a handle on fertilizers and light and CO2 to a certain extent then TPT for all the journals and discussions with pretty and not so pretty photos.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

I enjoyed reading through that. I've still got a lot to learn, but struggled with lots of the same things, even though I haven't gone w/C02. It took me an entire year to get my first tank looking decent, and then I moved so now going through it all over again trying to get things right. I've kept a detailed online journal (on a separate blog) so I can go back and pinpoint causes/mistakes, it has helped me a lot but there are a lot of awful embarrassing pictures on there (when I thought my tank was improving/looking good and really it _wasn't_). I hope you post more to this journal! It's nice to see the progression through your photos. 

I had SAEs at one time too they looked just like yours- ate up all the hair algae I had like it was spaghetti- but sadly I lost them to ich.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

latchdan said:


> Wow, that was fun to read. I saw a lot of things here that i went through. The hagen. ladder the lighting from a lamp.... i can relate a lot. Started keeping a planted tank at age 13 now I'm 28. Just look how far you came!





bereninga said:


> LOL Yes, the Hagen ladder was one of my favorite parts because I remember having that when I first started doing CO2. I started nearly 9 years ago, and I too know how it feels to have real life make you neglect your tank. But the fun part about getting back into it is seeing how much has changed.


We should start a hagen ladder support group! 



bsantucci said:


> Agreed, great read and glad you sorted through everything and are successful now.
> 
> Took me a while as well to sort through light/co2/flow. Finally just realized myself now you don't need insane amounts of light to grow all plants.





theatermusic87 said:


> Just be glad you didn't go down my path of I dimmed the light, algae is fading, plants are taking off, I can increase the light again stage... Though I'll be honest I'm glad I caught light being an issue before investing in CO2, saved myself a few bucks and probably wouldn't still be keeping tanks had I done that


"It's almost always too much light!" should be my signature. But then that would detract from my new understanding that we should always look at the tank as a whole, instead of disparate elements. Hehe, easy to say now that it's working, right?



whitepapagold said:


> Nice thread! I always like seeing everything in the first post.
> 
> Two thoughts on SAE-
> 
> ...


How big did the ones you have get? This is why it's so confusing. Of the three species that I looked up, I think their max length is about 6 inches. I guess that's sort of big. And yea, I'm sort of having to supplement their diet with blanched zucchini and other vegs since there's no more BBA for them to munch on.







latchdan said:


> 2012-03 picture... that reactor looks similar to mine
> 
> .... gosh such an eyesore ha.


hehe, it's the famed Tom Barr DIY reactor no? It's definitely one of the cheapest and simplest ways to go and when you don't want to invest too much, it's a pretty effective piece. It's not like my current reactor isn't an eyesore, it's just got plants sort of hiding it. At some point, I'll probably plumb in a cerges, but then I'll have to worry about more leak points and shelf space. 



ua hua said:


> That really was a great read and I'm sure many people can relate to your entire journey including myself. It's easy to be new to this hobby and get frustrated when you go through these struggles and see pictures of perfectly manicured, well layed out planted tanks that others have. But the thing that people need to understand is that anyone that says that they haven't had struggles with algae at one point or another is either lying or haven't been doing it long enough yet to have the pleasure of experiencing the frustration of an algae outbreak.
> 
> I have been involved in the aquarium hobby for almost my entire life as I was introduced to it by my father that use to breed many different fish in the 70's and 80's. I have kept many different types of setups from African cichlids, freshwater, brackish water tanks and almost a decade in reef tanks before trying my luck at planted tanks. I was always looking for a new challenge and wanting to learn something new when I decided to try a freshwater planted tank. I thought that it couldn't be that difficult, after all I use to keep a successful reef tank and if I could keep a slice of the ocean in a glass box how hard could keeping plants alive be. I mean all plants really need is water, lights and nutrients right? Well as simple as that may sound I was quickly proven wrong. There is many other factors and variables that I learned along the way and I would be a liar if I told you that I have it all figured out still. I'm always learning from other hobbyists experiences and I don't ever think I will be to the point where I feel like I've learned all I can when it comes to this hobby.
> 
> Thanks again for this great post and you can find some pleasure in knowing that many others will read this and be able to relate. And for some it might just give them the motivation in knowing that if they're committed and persistent they can end up having a successful planted tank as well.


ua hua, I remember the posts when you first built your cerges reactor and where we were jawing about what really caused the BBA and the frustration that they were forming IN places with high flow -- which sort of was going against what everyone said about not enough CO2 and/or low flow. I think you solved yours, but I never did realize how. Anyway, I'm always amazed that you have time to do all that stuff AND have a great looking pond!



Kathyy said:


> The internet is the only reason I have an okay looking planted tank. I learned modern day planted tank stuff from back issues of FAMA at the public library, that's a couple pages that mostly repeated month to month, that was more up to date than the few picture books the library and book store had. First APD and I got a handle on fertilizers and light and CO2 to a certain extent then TPT for all the journals and discussions with pretty and not so pretty photos.


yea, I don't know where I'd be without some of the stuff we share on here. probably algae growing. This is what's so amazing about forums. It's why I decided to support this one.



JJ09 said:


> I enjoyed reading through that. I've still got a lot to learn, but struggled with lots of the same things, even though I haven't gone w/C02. It took me an entire year to get my first tank looking decent, and then I moved so now going through it all over again trying to get things right. I've kept a detailed online journal (on a separate blog) so I can go back and pinpoint causes/mistakes, it has helped me a lot but there are a lot of awful embarrassing pictures on there (when I thought my tank was improving/looking good and really it _wasn't_). I hope you post more to this journal! It's nice to see the progression through your photos.
> 
> I had SAEs at one time too they looked just like yours- ate up all the hair algae I had like it was spaghetti- but sadly I lost them to ich.


Losing fish (any critter for that matter) is tough. Feels like I've failed them in some way. Just hang in there. All of this is a rite of passage. It's like life. When your elders try to prevent you from making their mistakes, you don't necessarily listen to them. You go on ahead and try it and experience it yourself anyway. I've seen your 20L, it's pretty nice!


To All, 

thanks for the kind words! I'm glad my time on this post was not wasted! I'll try not to wait 8 more years for an update!


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## walluby (Dec 3, 2007)

I would walk a mile for a camel

Actually I don't smoke!
But in 8 years you have walked
many miles to get some good greenery.

Time flies when you having fun.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2016*

Greetings All! 

It seems like it's time for an annual update to this journal*cough* memoir .. biannual, biennial? I guess it's shaping up to be the latter. Is it still a memoir if you're constantly updating it? 

*2016-06*

_Almost_ a year goes by since we left off. It seems like I still can't grow nicer plants. Maybe it's that or sometimes, I just tend to rest on the laurels of small successes and let the tank slide by not keeping up with the tedium -- be it refilling CO2, trimming, changing water, etc. There's just too many hobbies to keep up with. I lack focus on one. Blyxa japonica and alternanthera reineckii mini has melted away so I work with what I have. I still can't scape either, so I attempt to somewhat reset the layout with what I have left. My wishful thinking allows me to believe that it'll be better this time, the Blyxa will fill up that whole front row like the lush "grasslands" that I see here on plantedtank, the moss will fill up that middle band and .. (I can't even remember why I did that), and the loebelia cardinalis will bring up the back. Tank is reset for success and all I have to do is wait! 











It looks like I decided to try that tissue culture AR from petsmart here. If AR mini won't work, then tissue cultures of regular alternanthera reineckii (non mini) will save the day! So I line up the whole front area with it hoping for the best. This quest for color did not come without its own frustrations. After many years of intermittent forum scouring on the topic, iron adding, nitrate limiting, I've heeded mostly to the advice of this thread: whats the best way to keep red plants red? So, I tweaked the lighting schedules to maximize the use of the built in red leds of the ecoxotic. Sunrise and sunsets now look abnormally red but whatever, I'm going to get my red plants! I even purchase an extra strip of red leds with intention to boost this exposure.










A brief interruption, if you're not reading this many years after 2016, you can find these at your local publix (if you're in the southeast US) and repurpose them for your dosing bottles. Quite handy since you get free coffee with it. 











*2016-09*

It looks like some sense finally got smacked into me here and I moved the driftwood with moss in front of the java fern. Some minimal rearrangement happened and now I'm trying to fill the whole right side with the AR. Due to some melting of plants in the lower part of the tank, I experiment with extending my "midday burst" of light to see if it helps those denizens of the bottom. "Moar pars!" I wasn't sure what the Dwarf Sagittaria was in the beginning was so I let it grow, but apparently, it turned into the regular sag I had previously and nothing was dwarfish about it as it got into stride. 

The observant eye will notice that the right side is getting wild because I simply haven't been doing my trimmings. That was the beginning of another round of negligence after this because I notice my small success with the alternanthera reineckii and the one lone blyxa has recovered and is actually doing well. It gets much worse after this and I have no pictures to tell that story because I didn't even bother to take them. Plants were left to fend for themselves and it was truly survival of the fittest.











*2017-02*

So even while things were getting messy looking, plants on top were growing overtime while plants below were suffering. The results made sense due to the lighting differential. Suddenly, I noticed melting -- even on the plants at the top?! Aww.. man, I was completely out of CO2. Even this, I had to discover by accident. Gauges were completely empty. Glad I went out of my way a few years back for that dual stage regulator now. Uneventful emptying, livestock safe. Now, CO2 refills are somewhat troublesome for me since I don't want to swap my tank, so I dreaded having to go to my old supplier on the weekend, waiting for them to have time to fill it, and then picking the tank back up another weekend later. Luckily, I find a new supplier that's a) open after work b) closer to me c) chills and fills it in 20 mins! d) has (yes, even craft) beer. It's a beer keg place! This is a sign. This was the wake up call I needed to get cracking on my tank again. If you're near or in the 954 area code, he's called The Keg King. I sure hope he stays around. 

Well, after a massive throwout of random plants that didn't survive, here's what I got left with. Too bad I didn't take a 'before' picture. I was so disappointed with myself that I just started taking all sorts of scraggly looking stuff out. A couple loebelia cardinalis got huge and they were the ones that laid all over surface. I had no idea they could take that form. I trim them back to something reasonable and they didn't look half bad. So now they form 3 of my focal points. I tidy up the ever present java fern so that they don't cast so much shade on some of the lower plants that need light and I move the not so dwarf sagitarria to the back because well, they don't seem to look good anywhere, but they grow so splendidly that I can't bring myself to part with them. The blyxa sadly did not survive so I bring forth the java fern windelov (triumphant return! muahaha!) to fill up some empty space in the front. 

I manage to save one stalk of alternanthera reineckii and split them into two since it was so healthy -- my only splash of red. There were quite a few good stalks early on but they were victims of the shading I mentioned earlier. This stalk managed to push through and laid on the surface too. Because I never got around to finding a nice way to mount the red led strip, I realized that the increased midday burst of light, along with its timely reach to the top of the tank brought out the reds I wanted. Perhaps it got the extra red light that it needed out of the extended and closer full spectrum exposure. Nature finds a way!











The tank in its current state. I push my midday burst to 3.5 hours now -- being ever so watchful of algae. I'm dealing with green spot algae on older leaves of various plants, but as long as black beard algae doesn't show up, I think I'm okay with it. It'll give me more of an impetus to trim more diligently. Our respected forum member with amazing well kept tanks, Xiaozhuang, always preached about the importance of pruning maintenance so I'll try to adhere a little bit.










*next update: 2017-03*


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## Pat24601 (Mar 4, 2017)

I just caught this thread. Awesome progression pics and story!


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

I like how it looks now. What's that medium-sized plant with the roundish leaves you've got front right & left corners?


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Pat24601 said:


> I just caught this thread. Awesome progression pics and story!


Thanks, glad it entertained!




JJ09 said:


> I like how it looks now. What's that medium-sized plant with the roundish leaves you've got front right & left corners?


That's the loebelia cardinalis (cardinal plant)! Who knew it would take that form after being laying on top and being super fed with EI/CO2/tons of light. I'm half expecting it to return to its skinny form now that its back down in the bottom half of the tank. It's a small reason why I bumped up the max light time -- in hopes of maintaining that shape a little longer. 

Here's a comparison of what it used to be .. it was actually even smaller than that and low to the ground. I kept it like a carpet because I could keep no other carpeting plant alive until I realized it didn't like being a carpet. As a carpet, I think fundamentally the problem, too, is that it looks ugly if you keep on cutting the top and keeping the bottom part. As it is, if I can maintain its size and shape, I may have to trim from the bottom and replant.










I've been told that it gets crazier if it ever emerses. There's these amazing red flowers. Maybe a good plant to try if you have a paludarium or something.

Google Images for lobelia cardinalis


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Agree, I really like the shape it has for you right now. I've always seen it with smaller leaves, that's why I didn't recognize!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2017-03*

Well, I got over that last look fast. I just couldn't get used to the overbearing size of that huge java fern, I felt that it made the tank so much smaller and sort of reduced the whole look to only 4 components. So I did a decent amount of trimming. Also contemplating finally moving it out of this tank. It's had its time and I feel like it's restricting me by requiring me to design anything I do around it. We'll see .. 










*next update: 2017-04*


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## Science Seuss (Mar 10, 2017)

Just read you whole story. Wow! Well done! I like the current incarnation. Very nicely maintained. Looking forward to following your further stumblings... though youre looking more sure on your wet-feet now..

Java fern is charming, but it defintely can feel "boring" after a while. Had a bunch of wendelov in my old 39 tall, and the way it grew on my drfitwood made it look like a bushy tree. Pretty cool... however, it also shaded much of the tank to oblivion. And dont forget the constant trimming... especially under the high lights I was using to punch to the bottom of a stupidly deep tank (lots of wet arm-pits in that tank).

Your story rings true to many of us, as you seem to know. I fought BBA, diatoms, green water, hair algae, CO2 problems, floods, mechanical failures, dead animals, dead plants, angry wife, money down the drain...literally! I lost a ten while cleaning a tank once. I worked at a LFS and learned a ton of stuff... lots of it wrong. Discovered the forums, learned more... still got lots wrong. Got involved in the local fish clubs. Met Tom Barr. Went into CC debt while working at the LFS, actually, 'cause, "Hey, it's just 10% above cost!" Problem is, married college students with limited time, VERY limited funds, and a kid on the way shouldn't have expensive hobies 🤓. And yet we persist, and keep coming back , dont we? Why? The beauty of the aquatic ecosphere. The fun of the science. A deep facination. And, to be honest, probably some sort of neurosis. 🤑

Sorry to threadjack... I just connected with your tank and journey. Cheers my fellow crazy water-box person.

- Jared

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

If you had stuck with green low light problems you wouldn't had to have to inject Co2. That is easier said than done though.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2017-04*

new plants, new plants! new angle! Doesn't the tank look longer with this angle? 










April brought on a renewed focus on the tank. I've been spending more time with it and spending more time lurking around here. You guys inspired me to make changes. The pull of red plants has once again drawn me in. For those who don't know and haven't read the past entries, I've always had a problem growing red plants for random odd reasons. Some limited success with tissue culture alternanthera reineckii has me daring again. Plus, it was looking a little lonely in a sea of green. That dude, wheezo, sold me some pretty nice plants and packaged them awesomely. They showed up with no melt whatsoever. Thanks, @wheezo! The new additions are rotala macarandra type iv, ludwigia sp. red, and hydrocotyle japan. 










The fiddling continues through the weeks and I finally put together that cerges reactor that I've been planning from since 2 years ago. The suction cups on the ista reactor inside the tank started to harden and lose effectiveness. As a result, it kept on floating up and while I tried to pull the cups off to soften them back up or replace them, one of the suction cup holding arms broke. I get it. It's tired and it told me as much. And I'm getting tired of hiding and scaping around it, so I told it as much. So here it is, its successor, born through trials by fire by the local community, through much interpretation, via much hand wringing and hair pulling! 










Heh, Heh, please excuse the hyperbole. There was some hair pulling on my behalf about the parts though. That T junction involved some internal and philosophical debate and much hardware store scouring. I've come to the conclusion that retail has changed greatly. The internet marketplace has the niche market in such a monopoly that no one else can even come close. It's practically economically impossible to expect a brick and mortar store to stock the parts I needed. Anyway, there's one player in the game right now and it's USPlastics. Despite all my attempts to avoid them and their exorbitant shipping fee, I ended up only able to find all the arcane parts that I needed through them. They're not at all a bad company. Pretty good, actually, but I was just trying to be cheap with shipping. Anyway, the T is built upon a PVC junction with 1/2 NPT female connectors all around. 5/8 hose barb to 1/2 male NPT adapter one side, 1/2 male NPT to 1/2 male NPT nipple on the other, and 3/16 hose barb to 1/4 male NPT adapter into a 1/4 NPT female to 1/2 NPT male adapter on the co2 input. It is then mounted to the ubiquitous clear Pentek clear slim housing with a PVC "output" pipe inside and a male 1/2 NPT to 5/8 hose barb elbow for the output. I also toyed with various other connection ideas but decided that this route was the cleanest looking one I could assemble short of 3D printing a custom adapter myself. Here's the main Cerges Reactor thread for more information.

The retiree and its successor in comparison:








Larger size means "moar" CO2!!

Fully plumbed with a piece of 5/8" ID tube: 









"Reactor, online .. Sensors, online .. Weapons, online .. All systems nominal.. <bip>"









As I half expected, I realized after the water started flowing that I had too much flow and undissolved bubbles were escaping. Probably the proper way to do this according to above Cerges Reactor thread is to plumb in a bypass, but I barely had enough space in the cabinet already and I don't need that additional mess of tubing. So, enter the cheaper method. I jammed up the bottom with poret foam that I had lying around. Other items usually used for this include pot scrubbies, bio-balls, ceramic rings -- anything to block the bubbles from jumping straight to the bottom of the downpipe and escaping. It does a pretty good job and only very minuscule bubbles get past. The other downside of this cheaper method will be more maintenance for it as no doubt, whatever escapes the main filter will end up in here. We'll see as time goes on. The upshot is more homes for beneficial bacteria!

Well! That brings us into May... 'til next time!




And now for some replies:



Science Seuss said:


> Sorry to threadjack... I just connected with your tank and journey. Cheers my fellow crazy water-box person.
> 
> - Jared
> 
> Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk


Of course! No need to apologize. For me, these journals are entirely for such connections. I used to think it was just a bragfest, but I understand now that it's a time and place to give a shoulder or find a shoulder to lean on, to marvel at some creations, to share in life's lessons, to have a laugh and even a cry sometimes.



Hilde said:


> If you had stuck with green low light problems you wouldn't had to have to inject Co2. That is easier said than done though.


But then think of all the CO2 fun I'd missed! Nah, I think it's when you're new, and these forums are so diverse, that you don't know which way to go. So, if I recall correctly, I saw suggestions of adding CO2, and I just flew with it. Might I remind you, that hagen ladder had this picture!! 








Look at that difference in 40 days! Imagine what that does to an impressionable mind!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2017-05*










May sees the java fern going through more massive trimmings. I'm slowly backing it away with various other stems and am still appreciating it's smaller look. Also gave everything else a good trim while I was at it. I guess I'm finally resisting my pack rat mentality and actually throwing away stuff. I yearned for the day that I had trimming problems in the past and couldn't fathom that someone was willing to hack off 1/3rd or more of their plant content, but I think I'm finally here and can understand the need for it. (In the meantime, I'll knock on some wood so that I don't get returned to the former days) Smaller and lower bunches of plants seem to make the tank longer and more varied. From a distance, if you squint really hard, some semblance of a busy scape is starting to form  . The rotala macrandra has been swapped in position in the corner with the alternanthera reineckii -- first to give it more light, and second because the replumbed setup with the new reactor has greatly increased flow and was just blowing those thin macrandra stems all over the place. Java fern windelov is shaping up nicely and performing a better foreground duty than I originally intended. If anyone cares to recall, it was a BBA nest previously before it got some time out in a low tech tank. The new hydrocotyle is just nicely sprawling along, but more surprisingly, my dwarf hairgrass is finally growing somewhat. Maybe it's rewarding me for this stronger light cycle so I'll stick with it for a little. I'm still messing with GSA due to the extra lighting -- always too much light, right? Extra phosphates against GSA like everyone said seem to be helping too, but I think the bigger issue is that ambient light is giving me a much longer lighting period than I've set. I stubbornly refuse (read, am too lazy) to set up a nice black background to block the light coming in, but am equally curious to see and practice how well I can address this via various other means. I feel the extra growth of the DHG and the proper reddening of the red plants is worth my GSA troubles for now. I think I'm hooked on strong light again. I make excuses to keep my light levels high. Something along the lines of, "Well, I just put in this new reactor that's pushing in more CO2, so err, it should be okay!" Will it? Guess we'll see in a month! This super fueled plant growth, this massive pearling.. it's such an addiction. 

Next update: *2017-07*


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

The macrandra looks like it might be deficient in calcium and nitrates. What is your Gh and nitrates?


----------



## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Hilde said:


> The macrandra looks like it might be deficient in calcium and nitrates. What is your Gh and nitrates?


Hey Hilde, 

Thanks for the advice. I haven't tested water in forever. So much that the GH test is expired. Nitrates is indeed hovering only at 10. Guess I'll have to push that dosage up. Must be the increased lights using it faster than I thought.


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## KWaters (May 1, 2017)

Just read through all your entries. It's a delightful read, extremely entertaining and informative. I hope you will keep updating us on all your tinkering for much longer.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

ipkiss said:


> Hey Hilde,
> 
> Thanks for the advice. I haven't tested water in forever. So much that the GH test is expired. Nitrates is indeed hovering only at 10. Guess I'll have to push that dosage up. Must be the increased lights using it faster than I thought.


You can always have it tested at a pet store.

I am experimenting with Calcium Nitrate for my plants seem to need a lot of calcium. Possible because my tap water is very soft. Calcium Nitrate contains Calcium 24.425%, Nitrogen 17.072% and Oxygen 58.503%. Thus hoping it will help red plants that need Co2 injected to adjust to Excel.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2017-07*










Two months of growth... it's a jungle again! As I look back to the beginning, I remember that I wished I had these kinds of problems. The me who was struggling to keep those few allegedly "easy" stems alive just yearned for this day. Well, I guess I've finally arrived. I think that I get so thrilled that its happening that I just like to let it go wild. While it pleases the "I just want to be able to keep it alive" version of me, I suppose I'm somewhat transitioning and now I'm getting the hankering to make the tank a little more easy on the eyes. Sometime, a while back, I read The 12 stages of the aquatic aquascaper, and I can't help to smile inwardly that I'm finally mentally moving on from plain collectoritis. Of course, when someone like burr740 over there is at stage "13", how can you not want to at least try something?!

Wanting to do something with the scape and actually doing it is very hard for a non artist like me. So I just pore through plant journals like crazy and mentally make notes. I draw diagrams and start planning. I think the biggest hurdle I had to overcome was being willing to throw away stuff. It's like an episode of hoarders. The other problem of just letting a tank grow wild is, as I'll find out later, that it suffocates some of the other not so fast growers by robbing them of light. So, with great mental fortitude, I grit my teeth and start hacking away...










Bye bye, java fern!


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## ChrisX (May 28, 2017)

Nice journal!

What is amazing to me is that you stayed with the same tank all these years.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Oh, that is beautiful. I thought the java fern was lovely- Where did you put it? or did you just take it out to have more room while you did trimming.


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## Angella (Aug 11, 2017)

What a great story!  Tank looks awesome, too.
Fun to read and great pictures, thank you!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

ChrisX said:


> Nice journal!
> 
> What is amazing to me is that you stayed with the same tank all these years.


Hi ChrisX, 

Yea! I dunno, I guess I get sentimental with stuff. I'd like to think that there's still descendants of the first beneficial bacteria that populated this tank in 2007! To my chagrin, though, there's definitely remainders of that blue gravel in my tank to this day. I'm slowly picking them out every now and then. If the Doctor can punch through azbantium over billions of years, I figure I could at least pick out my stupid blue gravel!



JJ09 said:


> Oh, that is beautiful. I thought the java fern was lovely- Where did you put it? or did you just take it out to have more room while you did trimming.


Ahh, the java fern, the ever troubling conundrum with it. It's annoying what little scaping ideas I have, but it probably was one my first true plants. Ever since I've picked up a bottle of this excel back in the day,







, 
it's been a goal to have a great big java fern. I'll have more updates. We shall see what becomes of it...




Angella said:


> What a great story!  Tank looks awesome, too.
> Fun to read and great pictures, thank you!


Thanks and you're welcome!


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## StevieD (Jun 17, 2017)

Always wanted Cardinals, never around when I have the cash!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2017-07 Java Fern Rides Again!*











Here is the tank, 5 days later from the picture in the last posting. As always, I'm behind in my posting. Of course, I couldn't part with the java fern, but I did find a niche for it. It will still perform the duties of hiding my big ugly sponge prefilter, but in a much more limited way. Missing stems were trimmed, restored, and remaining ones got a good trimming to get a tighter look. 

Doesn't look like much, but I feel the silhouette looks okay ..










---------------------------




StevieD said:


> Always wanted Cardinals, never around when I have the cash!



Agreed! You would think for such a quintessential planted tank aquarium fish that it'd be more ready available. And THEN, whenever I try to add some, the collective population knows, and roughly whatever number I add, tend to die off from some sort of disease or something. I have decided to not add anything and just let the remaining ones dwindle.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2017-07*










Rotala Macrandra Type IV is getting a little scraggly, so it was cut back. I don't think the AR likes where it's at.

*2017-08*










August was mostly spent just trying to fine tune the new look. Did some re-org on the right side. Moved the AR back to the middle row. The pains of having a narrow light strip. I'm seriously thinking about adding a fixture to help with the light spread. Trimmed cardinal plant to tighten the look a little.










New plants!! Got some mermaid weed and hygrophila araguaia from @burr740. Very healthy. Trying to make the tank a little less scraggly and more filled in. Mermaid weed takes middle back and hygrophilia araguaia takes right corner duties over the cardinal plant. Also trying to extend hydrocotyle tripartita over to the right side starting with a little patch. East shall meet west!










Mermaid weed is getting weedy! One week's growth from last pic. 










I love silhouette pics. I actually try to trim for it too!










Messing around with different lighting colors. Cheating to get my plants red! Mermaid weed grew tall enough to be cut and it's now filling in the middle even better. Managed to make two rows of it. Hydrocotyle patch on right is filling up and going westbound. Moved cardinal plant from front right towards the back as filler instead.










Going nuts with all colors!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2017-09*










Post-trim update. The hydrocotyle has met! Hmm, I guess you can't see it with this pic angle too well. Ahh, you'll just have to believe me  Otherwise, things were getting a little wild again so I tried to work on it instead before it got completely nuts like my other trim cycles. I think those AR stems are shot -- but I guess I'll let it ride to see what happens. I thought the rotala macrandra was gone but a conversation with sohankpatel made me hang on with them a little longer. He pointed out that his woes went away after he added more light. I couldn't see how I could put in more light with my GSA issues, but then I doublechecked my last batch of ferts and realized that I miscalculated and my phosphates were indeed low. GSA is now more in check now after that mistake was corrected. @sohankpatel, thanks! I've also started to begrudgingly accept that I need to cut bottoms and replant if I want any semblance of a tidy trim. Obviously, it also gets rid of older growth that's starting to get covered with GSA. I suppose the extra work is worth it. I could be wrong, but I think the hygrophilia araguaia is having some trouble. I get random leaves being dropped off from the stem. The leaves themselves look like they're in good condition, but it's the connection point that loses it. Weird. Almost like stem melt. Will have to keep an eye on it. Cardinal plants are restored to their smaller form because they were just too distracting otherwise.


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## sohankpatel (Jul 10, 2015)

@ipkiss Glad to help, macrandra is pretty tricky, and you will see it stunt for no apparent reason every once in a while. Nobody in my local planted tank club has been able to explain it either. Good news is that it rebounds pretty quickly and looks great. The tank looks healthy and I like that plant on the left, the one with broader leaves.


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## torque6 (Jun 7, 2008)

It's great that you had held up despite having challenges. Well done.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

sohankpatel said:


> @ipkiss Glad to help, macrandra is pretty tricky, and you will see it stunt for no apparent reason every once in a while. Nobody in my local planted tank club has been able to explain it either. Good news is that it rebounds pretty quickly and looks great. The tank looks healthy and I like that plant on the left, the one with broader leaves.


You mean the java fern? :grin2:

Oh, the one directly left of the macrandra. That's supposed to be a crypt flamingo in transition from low to high tech. I'm eagerly awaiting pinker leaves, but in this phase, it's not bad either.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

And so it's been 3 months since I last updated. Unlike previous times, despite my lack of postings, I was still engaged with the tank and did not let it slide from care. I think 2017 had been a decent year for it. Not the best year for other things in life, but for this tank, it wasn't bad.

First up, a fall equinox shot. 

*2017-09b*










As mentioned a few years back, there's a window of 10 minutes where I can get variants of this shot. The sunrise comes through the right windows from across the room and hits the tank just right. Even then, I did not get the best possible one this year. There's always so many variables that throw the shot off -- especially as I'm not the best photographer and am always out of practice.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2017-10*

I'm sure some of you guys can identify with me when I say that even when away from our tanks, we're just spinning our brains, never satisfied, wondering how to fix that next thing that could be a little better. Well, if you recall a few posts back, I was trying to get a handle on that rotala macrandra. The prescription was more light, but my green spot algae was too rampant at the time. After I finally figured out that I incompetently miscalculated my phosphate dose, I was granted the pass by my tank to increase the light! The other annoying thing about my existing situation was that that narrow ecoxotic unit just wasn't giving a good enough spread. I was tired of scaping my red plants into that narrow band in the middle. AND, they weren't really getting that red. So with glee, after so many years of spending time in low light purgatory to finally get my algae under control, I was once again in the market for a light!

There's so much fun in searching for high tech toys. But there's also that sobering moment where you realize that you probably shouldn't spend $300 on the next level lighting because...well, priorities. Anyway, seeing that Beamswork units have been getting so much love lately, I decided to jump onto that bandwagon. Super bright, economical, and not built too shabby. Best bang for the buck. What's not to love? 

I fleabay a 24" Beamswork F-Spec from the favorite vendor that's selling the most of them and was happy as a kid on Christmas. Christmas 2 months early for meee! With great glee, I unbox, mount, and turn it on. Choir music rings in my ears like a cheesy TV scene. What brightness! It's .. blinding! An already pearling tank starts fizzing like fresh soda as the photosynthesizing take a big spike.

Awesome. Extra light spread and intensity. An order of RED plants please.

Well, that initial glow fades as I start thinking about the situation more. Time to apply this light in a meaningful way. I did not live through an algae war just to trigger another one. As I had spent tons of time on the Beamswork thread, I had the foresight to order a TC-420 controller with the intention of programming in proper lighting cycles. Clearly, I did not research enough, because my post purchase research confronted me with this: 










If you look closely at that picture, there's only two control wires (the white ones) for this light unit. Some more desperate research and consultation with our resident LED expert @jeffkrol reveals that I'm stumped for what I want to do. There's only two channels of control! Blue moonlight LEDs and everything else! This may be enough for some, but for me, I've been spoiled with the independent RGBW control that I had over my ecoxotic and the slew of colors that I can throw at my tank. The disappointment dawns upon me and I spend the next two days wondering how I can rig this. I desperately study the board and look into cutting the circuits to isolate the different color LEDs and then redrawing them the way I want with a circuit pen. Did you know there's such thing as a circuit pen?! I digress. Common sense hits me and I cut my losses. I realized I was falling a little too deep into this rabbit hole. Another good reason to not continue this route was that it would've exacerbated the ever worsening wiring situation underneath the tank. Sadly, I return the unit. Hopefully, it will bring someone else happiness. Stuck with a TC-420 tho. Maybe another project will come along for it. It IS a pretty nifty controller.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2017-10b*










So, as I'm waiting for my next light, I resign myself to just keeping the tank stable. A trim here, a nip there. Some slight reorganization to spread the color plants out. Trying to play up the contrasting colors a little bit.

*2017-11*











November finds me admiring @Triport 's tank and the cold glint of stainless steel inflows and outflows. I believe he has since changed his mind about them, but I haven't tried mine yet. I realized there were a ton of these that were probably made by the same factory and labeled under different brands. I got the one named 'Mufan'. Apparently not 316 stainless, but I'm not about to try to afford those. Here's the box and this is how they come packed. I hadn't mounted them yet because there's two problems for me. 

1. The size of the plastic holders are not wide enough for a plastic rimmed tank. 20mm is necessary for that. 










I knew this going in so I had some alternate ones on order.

2. The direction of the outflow would require me to hang it on the left side of the tank instead of the back as it is now. That left a bad impression on me. I also knew this going in, but I didn't want to order another outflow facing the direction I want because I'd have to buy another set. Apparently, even after my extensive search, the application that I desired is not addressed. I wanted a skimmer AND rotated outflow. Well, maybe there was one made of 316 stainless, but go back to earlier comment. I didn't want to 'afford' that one.

So, I over researched on how to cut stainless pipe. At the end of the day, my jigsaw, some files, and a couple of clamps did the job: 










A quick snip of 5/8" ID tubing and some hot water and I've got what I wanted.


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## agrasyuk (Jan 5, 2018)

hi ipkiss, beautiful tank, really enjoyed your story.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2017-12*

So after parting with the Beamswork, a multitude of mental calculations led me back to the Current-USA fold. As someone mentioned on this site before, they have some pretty good sales on refurbished units on fleabay. So I sucked it up and shelled out for a refurbished "A" 24" Current Satellite Plus Pro. One of the reasons I chose this was that I can tap into my existing iAqua Lite Controller as I discovered the relevant IR codes used for the lighting cycle are the exact same as the ones for the Ecoxotic. This bodes well for not having to add unnecessary wiring. FYI, the IR codes between the Ecoxotic and the Plus Pro are roughly 90% alike. There's a few side buttons/functions that don't match up, but the important ones like M1, M2, Daylight, Moonlight, RGBW up and down, Power, etc do. This only applies to the Plus PRO, NOT the regular Satellite Plus. So why didn't I get another Ecoxotic and call it a day? Well, they don't make them anymore, and the Plus Pro has more color LEDs (9 vs 4) to help with color rendition. Thought about going with a refurbished B unit, but according to their own description, the B units have more hours burnt into them. LEDs last long, but I swear my Ecoxotic feels a little dimmer than when I first bought it. When the package arrived, the box was a little beat up but the unit itself was pretty pristine. 

The white LEDs on the Plus Pro are definitely warmer than the Ecoxotic. I'm sort of happy about that. It's also brighter, but I'm just going to attribute that to age on the Ecoxotic. The color RGB LEDs feel a little colder so it makes for interesting colors being thrown between the two throughout the lighting cycle. The net result is a much brighter tank with a better spread. I tweaked the lighting cycle for the whites to 2 hours at max down from 2.5 just to head off a possible algae bloom. The other 5.5 is spent at an average of 25%. .. because it's almost always too much light -- until it isn't :wink2: Red plants, here we come!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2017-12b*












Unknown crypt is getting pretty big. Might be due for a trim soon. That extra light is kicking stuff into a higher gear. Not too visible here, but the rotala macrandra is responding somewhat favorably. Just trying to fill the tank now. Realized things were a bit .. sparse.

*2018-01*










Did a small trim of the macrandra to tighten the look a little. Letting the others get a little taller before splitting and planting.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Tank looks much better with the plants filling in more. If you trim the lobelia cardinalis heavily it will really fill in and cluster nicely. It looks even better when you top them and just replant the tops.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

The Dude1 said:


> Tank looks much better with the plants filling in more. If you trim the lobelia cardinalis heavily it will really fill in and cluster nicely. It looks even better when you top them and just replant the tops.




Good advice! I was thinking of resplitting them and putting the bottoms to the left between the java fern and the red ludwigia just to fill in the gap there. The hydrocotyle was supposed to do that but for some reason they have a mind of their own once they got there. Just wasn’t being obedient like it was everywhere else. Haven’t found what I want to add to the tank yet so the loebelia has to do double duty. It’s a shame that I threw away a lot of it before. Good thing it’s one of my more easy plants to grow so I can farm up some more and use them for fillers.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2018-01b equipment updates*










Man, just as I was enjoying my new light, one of the RGB leds started acting weird. When cold, it would light up properly, but when it gets hot, it seems like the RED channel would drop off. @Current USA stood by their product and sent me a new unit after some troubleshooting. Here's a shout-out and thanks to them.

In other news, I got an algae scraper off AliExpress (the new fleabay) that I'm pretty happy with: 










"Magnesium Alloy" eh? Well, I don't know about that part, but the rod is a firm all black piece of metal that lets me apply good pressure to it. It's plenty long and I don't even need the short extension piece to get to the bottom of my 20G high without barely getting my hands wet. I suspect with everything attached, it should reach the bottom of a 45G. The head is plastic, and you unscrew the back plating to attach a razor blade, but I like my credit cards so I rigged a piece of plastic card back into it. 










Glass so clear that all these vain fish can admire themselves in.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2018-01c Fish Shots*

Still lingering in January updates. For today, I have some fishy shots. I never seem to give them attention. Truly a planted tanker I am. Plants first. Fish second. Sorry fishy lovers 

These are the only fauna that matter that are currently active in the tank: 










Cardinals










Glowlight Tetras (excuse the algae on glass. serves me right for not cleaning it first  )










And my Siamese Algae Eater ( still occasionally faithful to it's purpose of sucking on surfaces, but clearly has no taste for aforementioned algae on glass )


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Funny, I use sample credit cards to scrape the glass, too


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

JJ09 said:


> Funny, I use sample credit cards to scrape the glass, too


Pshaw. That's no sample. That card was real! You've clearly not tried a real card. They work way better. 



:hihi:

Naw, but really, what IS better is this simple rod/extension. Due to my fat hands, I was uprooting all sorts of stuff every time I went to the bottom with my cards. This contraption allows me to get to everything with minimal uproots.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi @ipkiss,

A suggestion if you would like to see some healthier plant growth in your tank; start adding some Seachem Equilbrium to your tank. I suggest an initial dose of 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons. Thereafter when doing a water change add 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons of new water added.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Hey @Seattle_Aquarist 

Thanks for the advice! I currently use some sort of GH booster I made from 3:1 CaSO4 and MgSO4. Admittedly, I've dosed it pretty haphazardly (meaning quantity wise) per biweekly water change. I've toyed with adding it weekly (once in between the water changes) but I didn't stick with it. I shall break out my GH test kit and reconsider that upon your advice. Equilibrium does have some other cool stuff in it, but I have such big bags of magnesium and calcium left


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

ipkiss said:


> Hey @Seattle_Aquarist
> 
> Thanks for the advice! I currently use some sort of GH booster I made from 3:1 CaSO4 and MgSO4. Admittedly, I've dosed it pretty haphazardly (meaning quantity wise) per biweekly water change. I've toyed with adding it weekly (once in between the water changes) but I didn't stick with it. I shall break out my GH test kit and reconsider that upon your advice. Equilibrium does have some other cool stuff in it, but I have such big bags of magnesium and calcium left


Hi ipkiss,

Your DIY booster should do the trick just fine. If you dose 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons as an initial dose it should provide 17.9 ppm of Ca and 4.1 ppm of Mg and will increase your dGH by about 3.5 dGH. Thereafter when you do a water change dose 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons of new water added.

Is there a water softener being used in your home?


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi ipkiss,
> 
> Your DIY booster should do the trick just fine. If you dose 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons as an initial dose it should provide 17.9 ppm of Ca and 4.1 ppm of Mg and will increase your dGH by about 3.5 dGH. Thereafter when you do a water change dose 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons of new water added.
> 
> Is there a water softener being used in your home?


No water softener. Any irregularities in GH are from the tap or my irregular dosing -- or maybe sucked up by a piece of driftwood that is hidden deep within the tank. Man, I was just using 1/4-1/2 teaspoon for 20G. I will rectify. Thanks so much for piping up!


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

ipkiss said:


> No water softener. Any irregularities in GH are from the tap or my irregular dosing -- or maybe sucked up by a piece of driftwood that is hidden deep within the tank. Man, I was just using 1/4-1/2 teaspoon for 20G. I will rectify. Thanks so much for piping up!


Hi ipkiss,

Keep us posted as things progress!

-Roy


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

Seconding Roy's recommendation. 

And for the record, no, it didn't put me to sleep and I read the whole thing.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2018-01d finally, a tank shot*

For today, I have a final belated January update. 










Re-org'ed a few things. Like @The Dude1 pointed out, those loebelia cardinalis were just getting overbearing again so I moved them to backfill the left side gap between the java fern and the red ludwigia. Cleared up some ground for another try at some sort of carpeting plant. I was preparing to pick up something hopefully at the Gold Coast Aquarium Society 2018 expo. If I can't pick out all those silly blue gravel pieces (don't ask, old mistake), then I'll cover them! Didn't like the "shape" of the December tank when I stood back, so I'm still playing around with it. I've pushed the "accelerator" down a little and the hairgrass is responding. Perhaps, more so that I'm now also consistently trimming them to stimulate them to send out runners as well. 

That "dwarf sag" on the left which I'm learning is probably more a jungle vallisneria is spreading over the surface. I used to trim it hard, but it seems okay this way too. Especially after someone was disappointed the last time I cut it back. It's also disrupting the return surface flow a bit to allow some random floaters to hang on to existence. Time will tell if I leave it this way. Along with the java fern, this plant is just doing too good for me to eliminate. 

I had some java fern 'windelov' hiding in the back right. I tried to tell myself it was for 'negative space' but in reality, I just didn't know what to do with it. It also falls into the above category of growing too well to rid. Yes, yes, I know... I'm a certified hoarder. So now I brought it to the left front to sort of fill the gap between the hydrocotyle and the regular java fern. This way, it looks a little cramped, but you don't see any java fern rhizomes. Maybe someday, I'll get some alternanthera reineckii to try again to break up that mass of green. 

If you're reading this in sequence, this is still pre sage advice from Phil and Roy about GH Booster a few posts previous so please excuse the sad plant growth. I apologize for backfilling my journal and leading to this sort of confusing out of sequence of events.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I really like what you did with the windolev and the lobelia cardinalis. It's difficult to pull of that cohesive look, but you did it.


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

Regarding your Hydrocotyle. I know it's a total PITA, but when you replant, do individual plants or tiny groups of two or three at a time. That'll encourage flatter growth and spreading. This method's worked well for me since the days of Glossostigma.

Bump: I just thought of something. You're in Florida. What's your GH and KH out of the tap?


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

The Dude1 said:


> I really like what you did with the windolev and the lobelia cardinalis. It's difficult to pull of that cohesive look, but you did it.


Yea, thanks, my hoarding forces me to think about it a lot. It also helped that I started visiting more people's journals and slowly I'm able to visualize what looks decent or not. Now if I can just break it up with some red. But first I have to keep my plants alive and healthy!  



Phil Edwards said:


> Regarding your Hydrocotyle. I know it's a total PITA, but when you replant, do individual plants or tiny groups of two or three at a time. That'll encourage flatter growth and spreading. This method's worked well for me since the days of Glossostigma.
> 
> Bump: I just thought of something. You're in Florida. What's your GH and KH out of the tap?


Huh, so no shortcut to decent looking plants I'm hearing. I guess I'll have to tear them up and redo it. They HAVE been getting a little ratty of late and I just sort of push them back upon themselves and keep hoping for the best. As for GH and KH, I've been meaning to test it since your advice yesterday, but didn't get around to it last night. Will try to do it tonight or at least this weekend for sure. It's water change weekend!


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

The reason I ask about GH and KH is you may have more success with genera such as Ludwigia and Proserpinaca as they're native to Florida vs. the Rotala. I've been a fan of the philosophy of going with plants that fit your tap water so you don't have to modify things as much. I don't always follow that rule, but it usually helps a lot to follow.

Cheers,
Phil


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2018-03 --- whaa ha happened to February?!*










February is too short. It doesn't deserve an update. It's the month of love. I was too busy.. It was cold, my camera stopped working.. take your pick of excuses  .. or add to them for me.

So I went to the GCAS expo in February and ehh, it was a real small expo, but I guess such is the state of our hobby. Hopefully the fact that it was cramped and crowded is signifying that they need a bigger space next year and maybe it'll be better. Didn't pick up any plants there BUT did meet a vendor who has a somewhat new store. A new LFS! The Aquarium King in Ft. Lauderdale. For you South Florida folks, it's in SR84 somewhat close by the Ft. Lauderdale Airport. They had a pretty massive custom rimless tank by the entrance that held all their plants. I got some ludwigia cuba, regular green cabomba, a mat of microswords, and a mat of monte carlo. 

I liked the ludwigia cuba's emersed form but silly me, I didn't do my research and was surprised when it turned immersed. So as you can see in the left side back underneath the outflow, it's trying to convert. We'll see how that goes. I'm no burr740. That looks like a plant that needs his kind of care. The green cabomba are doing great. This is actually post trim so its been shortened a lot. You can see a bunch in the back if you look hard enough. Microswords to the left front have caught on. Montecarlo carpet to the right was pretty touchy for the first two weeks. Planting these two species were backbreaking. I split them up real good and planted small bunches. Groups of 2 to 3 plants. Even single in some cases. I was replanting little floating scraps endlessly and gave up on some days. Almost lost hope on the montecarlo because they were looking pretty ragged with only one or two bunches having new shoots. But one day when I was looking, the rest of them got real happy and now the whole batch is soon ready for a mowing. 

I also had a few weeks of snail evicting. They had developed a taste for my mystery crypt and was nibbling just enough on the bottom of the stems to cause it to rot out and cut off. Had these healthy leaves just floating in the tank... curses! As I mentioned in another post, had to establish a snail free zone around the crypts. Any snail caught hovering near or on was immediately evicted. I was paranoid for the crypts because I was intending to obtain some crypt flamingos after seeing them in Triport's tank. After I was able to see my crypts survive, I promptly purchased a cup of dennerle tissue cultured crypt flamingos when they became available a few weeks back. The most I've ever spent on a plant. I'm sure some of you who have spent much more, but I'm still new at this rare plant collecting. Orchids? I've blown a lot of money on. Aqua plants? Just starting to have some ability to keep them alive so just starting to get adventurous in the selection. If you look real hard, there's two little batches sort of behind the hairgrass to the left of the montecarlo. As of this writing, I think one batch melted. I should've kept the faith and left it alone, but I couldn't resist temptation and pulled it up. I still felt a tiny, but pretty firm root ball so I cut off the melted leaves and put it back in and am hoping for the best. 

True SAE is on the back right sucking on the glass when he wants to so at least he's making a show of earning his keep. 

In response to @Seattle_Aquarist and @Phil Edwards, here's my findings from yesterday's water change

GH 6, KH 3: Tank prior to water change
GH 4, KH 1: Tap
GH 7, KH 3: Treated with 15ml DIY GH Booster for 30ish gallon water barrel (roughly 1tsp for 10 gallons as recommended) where I prepare my water
GH 6, KH 3: Post water change this morning

It seems like I may have lucked on some good dosing during the last water change, but will pay more attention to this in the future to make sure they stay this way. Still have yet to enact Phil's recommendation for the hydrocotyle.


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

That GH 6, KH 3 looks perfect. If you can get that consistently, you'll be golden.


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## sdwindansea (Oct 28, 2016)

I cannot believe I completely missed this journal. Just finished reading the entire thing, thoroughly enjoyed the writing and the evolution of tank. It should almost be required reading for anyone starting in the hobby.

I believe your crypt is a Red Wendtii. It looks identical to mine (well at least how mine used to look). It is easy to think out as well as I'm sure you have some close clustered babies...yes, that is definitely the scientific term .

I'm so tempted to try a Cerges reactor since my Griggs is a huge hassle every time I clean the canister filter (have to detach hoses and drain it, otherwise the back pressure of air prevents the filter from restarting the flow). I just hate messing with something that works well in every other regard.

Looking forward to the next update.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

sdwindansea said:


> I cannot believe I completely missed this journal. Just finished reading the entire thing, thoroughly enjoyed the writing and the evolution of tank. It should almost be required reading for anyone starting in the hobby.
> 
> I believe your crypt is a Red Wendtii. It looks identical to mine (well at least how mine used to look). It is easy to think out as well as I'm sure you have some close clustered babies...yes, that is definitely the scientific term .
> 
> ...


Heh, yea, thanks for the kind words and identification of my crypt. I am pretty inconsistent about updating so I wouldn't be surprised if the journal gets buried and overlooked. I hear Griggs are the bees knees when it comes to big tanks so you're right in not wanting to mess with what works. CO2 delivery is king. Forget about inconveniences! But, perhaps the addition of a spring-loaded pressure valve on the top edge of your Griggs? Nah, you may not want to chance ruining it. How about a pressure relief T along the hoses near the top? That little pressure relief button on top of my Cerges has definitely saved me from pressure locks, but if you had made one with a housing without the pressure relief, I believe you'd get the same back pressure situation you're experiencing.

Edit: 

on second thought, maybe this may be harder than I think due to the non-existence of what I'm imagining. I scoured the internetz and only found this: 
https://www.waterfilters.net/pressure-relief-button-kits.html

Now, I'd imagine you can make a small hole somewhere and add this button but who knows what else you'd be compromising. 

then, I thought, maybe let's add a T in the hosing and maybe there already exists such a PVC T with a built in pressure button, but that was a no go either. So, rats.


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

@sdwindansea Do a Cerges, they're so much better than any other type of CO2 reactor system I've ever used. Seriously. 


ipkiss, 

Have you tried doing any ditch diving for plants for your tank?


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

sdwindansea said:


> I cannot believe I completely missed this journal. Just finished reading the entire thing, thoroughly enjoyed the writing and the evolution of tank. It should almost be required reading for anyone starting in the hobby.


+1......just read the whole thing. Very nicely done, and I am sure many can relate to your journey.

Look forward to seeing where it goes from here.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Phil Edwards said:


> [MENTION=300321]
> Do a Cerges, they're so much better than any other type of CO2 reactor system I've ever used. Seriously.


Huh, I thought with all the love for Griggs lately, I was sure u'd have been on that boat too. Or at least more ambivalent to it 



> ipkiss,
> 
> Have you tried doing any ditch diving for plants for your tank?


Hah, you would think in Fl, there'd be awesome plants to collect right? I've halfheartedly tried, but, I've only seen stuff I didn't care for. I'm in South FL to be clearer. I hear the good stuff is in Central FL. I did grab some hairgrass once but that didn't work out too well. In addition, I'm probably not that good to recognize a cool plant even if I saw it because its natural state isn't the look I wanted. Also, having only a 20G limits me in what I can put into it. I'm sure its quite due for an upgrade, but .. other things always fight for my attention. As it is, I let my tank fall off the maintenance pace the last two weeks. It's funny how I used to neglect it for months (as you can see in the old journal entries) but after following you folks that I subscribe to, I realize I had to up my maintenance game and now it's so glaringly obvious if I just let it go for a week.



Greggz said:


> +1......just read the whole thing. Very nicely done, and I am sure many can relate to your journey.
> 
> Look forward to seeing where it goes from here.


Thanks, I just did a round of trimming last night so hopefully things will settle down and I can take a pic for an update.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2018-03 A matter of perspective*











A couple extra shots back in March. Who knew the tank looked so interesting from a different angle. Was inadvertently in a different spot from my usual vantage point and suddenly saw my tank as a stranger. I wonder if I can start a new thread for it. I'll call it 20G cube. :grin2: I didn't "scape" for this angle but it might even look better than the normal front side...











*2018-04* 










This plant .. Rotala Macrandra Type IV Mini. What a diva. I just can't get anything too consistent out of it. But here's a shot of a few stems of it looking pretty amazing on a good day. Meanwhile, some of its friends in the background are not so happy. 










Well, that was a bad run for Ludwigia Cuba. It just couldn't seem to convert properly. As the new form came out, it be seemingly fine and then it would mysteriously just melt in the middle of the newest growth. Was also a bad run for those Crypt Flamingos. After surviving a few weeks, it just decided to melt on the new growth too and nothing I could do would save it. I split them up and tried different ones in different areas of the tank, left some alone, but alas, they all melted back to the rhizome and then after a couple days the rhizome turned into mush too. What a disappointment. 

GH 7 KH 3: After last month's update, I've been sure to maintain the GH diligently through water changes. Things that are surviving do indeed seem a little happier. 

"Scaping" and I use that term loosely :hihi:: I felt that the microswords didn't fit on the left side front so I replaced them with more monte carlo. This stuff is .. wow, definitely my tank's cup of tea. Finally, after all these years, I have a decent carpeting plant that's easy for me. I'm just mowing that thick, lush right side patch and planting those cut stems and they're taking. "So this is what it feels like when plants are easy.." *knock on wood*

The floaters are also taking off. There's some crazy duckweed that just decided to manifest itself. I brought in some red root floaters and I swore they died off, but out of nowhere, they bounced back and brought along some duckweed friends that I never saw before. I'm not too proud to evict happy plants so I keep them. I let the "Dwarf saggitaria" which is probably some sort of originally misidentified vallisneria grow long so it sort of provides a natural 'corral' for my floaters. It probably was what enabled the sudden explosion of floaters. They seem to not like it when they get tossed around the surface a lot and being corralled allowed them to just pile up happily. This weird synergy happened by itself originally so I embraced it. Now I don't have to run any air tubing across the surface.

*2018-05*










Still diligently maintaining my GH 7 and KH 3. Ludwigia Red seems especially happy about it. I don't think I ever noticed how bad they got in the last few months. I knew occasionally I had some struggles with it but now that it's proliferating, I notice the difference. Dwarf hairgrass is doing pretty good lately. But notice in the lower front right in the midst of the straggly monte carlo, I happened across a piece of crypt flamingo on ebay for a good price. Wasn't even sure if it would be real since so many people mislabel it. However, it did show up and it was nice and healthy. Glad I splurged for expedited shipping instead of taking the economy free option. So, hopefully crypt flamingo rides again! Here goes another attempt!

Another shot, one week later: 










Annnddd, another week after that: 










Probably a good chance to list out the plant species: 
Thanks to those who helped me identify some

1) Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo'
2) Java Fern (Generic)
3) Java Fern (Windelov)
4) Hydrocotyle Tripartita Japan
5) Green Cabomba
6) Mermaid Weed
7) Crypt Flamingo
8) Crypt Wendtii Red 
9) Rotala Macrandra Type IV Mini (below)
10) Purple Cabomba
11) Ludwigia Red
12) Vallisneria 
13) Micro Sword
14) Dwarf Hairgrass
15) Java Moss? Anchor Moss?
16) Unknown moss -- looks a little like Christmas moss but then again not.
17) Lobelia Cardinalis


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2018-06*










Just chugging along. The crypt flamingo is pushing up new leaves .. barely keeping pace with the old ones that are fading away. Seemingly a constant struggle there. I'm sure it's not helped with my spotty care compared to some of the more dedicated members. Not being able to find the time to consistently keep up with the tank has led me to do some creative things to keep the tank going semi decently. Being influenced by what I've been reading, I've pieced together an amalgam of fertilizing by haphazardly doing a little of weekly front loading, somewhat daily micros, all while watching the TDS. Oh wait, did I accidentally start practicing PPS-Pro?! :icon_surp Trying my best to stick to biweekly water changes, but darnit if it doesn't slip to 3 weeks without me noticing .. 










Fell behind on trimming too. What--er, no, I am NOT letting it slip away again. Stems touching the top is as far as it will go! I am very happy with the hairgrass growth though. I originally was worried that it would be overrun by the monte carlo, but I constantly see them fighting to invade each other at the border. It IS a bit of maintenance, but right now I'm so thrilled at their growth that I will tolerate some more. While I am happy with the way their growth rate, I'm not sure I like the shape they have taken. I had envisioned "bands" or "streets" of different foreground plants but it's just sort of disconcerting. That middle java windelov/mossy area is also getting a little out of hand. Time to finally suck it up and do something.










After a morning of hacking away -- so much moss. And to think, I used to not even be able to grow moss! Man, what happened to all that monte carlo on the left? I guess it was so mixed up with the sprawling moss that it got all yanked out with it. This stuff just drags out whatever along with it as I'm struggling to take it out. For another big change, what's not visible is that the a major mass of moss all rode on a piece of driftwood. The driftwood is not really that pretty so not seeing it is probably a blessing. I added an extra piece and angled the original one more to try to get a cascading look on the left side. Since the wood and plants are hiding the filter intake now, I didn't need as much of the tall regular java fern so I got rid of even more of it. I'm pretty close to eliminating it altogether. It's still only there for sentimental reasons but it's sort of not working visually anymore. Brought the lobelia cardinalis back to the midground to fill up the void left by the higher angled wood. Just straight forced the issue with the hairgrass and pushed them back an inch or two. Sprinkled in monte carlo trimmings to see if they will take over the front foreground area and just rebuild the left side so that it looks a little more coherent. I'm going for a wild look with "some guidance" -- yea... that's it. :grin2:


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

I really like the overgrown look!


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## sdwindansea (Oct 28, 2016)

You realize your last post is just going to encourage the rest of us to get lazy. I feel like I'm pretty diligent on my tank (never miss a weekly water change or dosing except if on vacation) and yet your tank looks so much better. Next thing you are going to do is convince me that pizza and beer/wine is good for us.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

sdwindansea said:


> You realize your last post is just going to encourage the rest of us to get lazy. I feel like I'm pretty diligent on my tank (never miss a weekly water change or dosing except if on vacation) and yet your tank looks so much better. Next thing you are going to do is convince me that pizza and beer/wine is good for us.


Thanks! I always thought YOUR tank looked mighty healthy. Distance hides things. Closer up, the plants are in no way as mighty looking as Greggz's or Burr's or Immortal's and those other guys who are itemizing their ferts to the separate micro elements. I really appreciate that they're doing that, but I don't think I have the wherewithal to keep up with that. Maybe when I retire.... 

As for beer/wine, can you believe what you read in the internet? 

We all know wine is beneficial in moderation, but the new propaganda, no doubt fueled by pro-beer groups is that ... beer, too!

https://muscleandfitness.com/nutrit...-heart-healthy-foods-you-re-not-eating-should

This one is pushing it about beer!
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/body/the-surprising-health-benefits-of-drinking-beer/

I got nothing for pizza .. 
unless you take your pizza with flat crust and arugula or broccoli rabe!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2018-07*

First, here's a picture for @JJ09, the consistent fan of my tank's more ..err.. overgrown looks . It's the view from the left most side glass. If you look close enough, you can see what my "mass" of stuff hides. A super useful as heck sponge pre-filter. I got it back in the day with dreams of having shrimp in this tank. They never really survived for whatever reason so now what it affords me is the ability to practically ignore my cleaning my fluval 206 canister -- and yet another bad, lazy habit. 










Next up, I did not know vallisneria can flower. After all these years, this popped up out of the blue. Wasn't even sure what it was. I'm there topping off the water and suddenly I notice this odd runner across the surface. I think, huh... I don't recall an odd leaf like this and I swore I just trimmed the Vals not too long ago. These things really shoot up. So as I go to remove it, I see this on the end, along with one spent bulb and one to come. They only seemed to last a day and I'm glad I got to see it as I already missed the first one.










And here's the tank as of yesterday's wild "guidance" trim.










If you're noticing that the images seems a little bit clearer than previous ones, your eyes do not deceive you. For the first time, I'm doing "post-processing" in my pictures. I was always a fan of what the camera can capture -- partly because I'm stubborn about using the camera to get the shot I want and I feel a little bit of cheating when I digitally create what I want. Perhaps misguided as the camera itself is digital and well, it probably does a bunch of processing itself. They teach you in operating systems (for IT guys) that software=hardware so, ehh, I've decided to revisit my earlier convictions. And the other "real" reason is that I suck at photoshop  Just too lazy to figure things out, load it in, mess with it and then save proper copies. Well, enter google photo's new editing feature for dummies. I was trying to do some simple brightness adjustments, and I accidentally discover the POP feature. 










As google defines it, the pop feature enhances color more against grey backgrounds. I don't know truly how the algorithm works, but it definitely looks awesome to my eyes. As you can see in the above pic, I promise that I only turned up the pop and didn't add color. I thought about adding color, but that seemed too blatant  

Also, the pic was taken with a different camera, my Galaxy S9, which I realize seems to go a little too bright by default (and probably does a ton of processing --hence my rethinking mentioned earlier). However, I suspect its small sensor compared to my old Lumix GF3 is allowing it to take pics at a much lower ISO setting with ease and getting clearer details - like individual hairgrass blades and moss stems. Maybe I'll be embracing it more for future pics. I hate to admit it, but I simply don't have the talent or my old m4/3 setup just can't get a better pic. I did a side by side yesterday of this shot and the GS9 shot won out for this posting. Maybe I've finally outgrown that camera.

Anyway, enough rambling about pics.. about the trimmings, 

The ludwigia red in the back was hacked off real low because I didn't like how I did it last time. The splitting of the stems was a bit too high and started to show its awkwardness above the midground plants. Now, you can barely see them and hopefully the new shoots will be hidden behind the lobelia cardinalis. Monte carlo is spreading on the left side to form up that carpet that I was hoping to fill up on the front. Amazing how such a small change tidies up the cohesiveness of the whole look. Perhaps it's partly because everyone does it or because its the "proper" thing to do, but yea, it definitely looks right now instead of the previous blocky transitions against the glass that I had between the different carpet types. 

The left side, as I mentioned in the last update, is now comprised of two driftwood chunks and as I've sort of bridged them up, I noticed that it sort of formed a cave. I decided to embrace it and cleared up more moss in that hole and tidied up the windelov to all go upwards in a more uniform look. That gaping cave also conveniently leads straight to the filter intake behind it so no doubt that has improved the flow in this tank a bit. No takers fish wise though. They don't seem interested in it at all. 

Everything else, I'm just trying to keep them up with a modicum of health so that they can survive trimmings and my continued "lax" treatment. Fingers crossed!


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## MNBassin (May 29, 2018)

Wow. Just read through this. The difference between the first pic and the last is incredible!


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Haha yes, I've always been a bit partial to 'jungle' style tanks.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi @ipkiss

It's been a while, just wondered if the tank is still doing well?


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Hah! @Seattle_Aquarist and @sdwindansea, I'm grateful that you two remember my struggles and care enough to look me up!  

So, as always has been the case, my attention to this tank waxes and wanes over the course of the year. The tank is still around and is, hopefully, currently on the upswing. Fingers crossed! 

Let's rewind and go back to september as that's the next interesting picture after the previous update

*2018-09*










Well, it looks like I've once again left the tank to its own devices and let it get out of hand. That experiment with the red ludwigia was a bust. Low hacking + choked out by other weeds practically killed it all off. almost every stem. The rotala macrandra suffered greatly too. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking the wild growth must mean all the plants are doing great, but this is classic weeds choking out the valuable stuff. 

So, I get off my butt and do a massive trim and clean. Also finally put in those stainless inflow and outflows. Look at this silly guy going where he shouldn't have. His friends are just straight up ragging on him. Yea. how's jail feel buddy? Would you believe just that little L crook above him and he was unable to get out until I emptied him out?










Here's the tank 2 weeks later from the big trim. Still recovering, but as usual, the obligatory fall equinox sunlight shot. Didn't get the angle quite right this time around. Maybe it came another day, but I wasn't around to get it.










So then, the tank pretty much stayed the same throughout october but I ran out of micros around this time. (read: iron) This completely withered up the rotala macrandra and finished perhaps the last stem of red ludwigia. At the same time I think I lost my cabomba to it too. The great iron shortage. Time to partake some of Burr's secret sauce. Orders for Burr Micros and a jeweler's scale were placed.

I also felt that I needed some new plants to liven things back up and restore my interest. 

*2018-11*










Here on the left, we have a plant I've wanted for a while now. Rotala ramosior (sp. florida)!! Oh the irony and the insult. Having to buy a florida native plant from a place on the west coast. I've even been tempted to go out to our waterways to hunt for it but I realized Florida IS a BIG state. Sanity prevails and I let my mouse do the traveling. Anyway, I've been trolling for this since the beginning of the year and a random google search in November netted me a place called pearlingplants.com offering it for a pretty decent price. Got that, along with alternanthera reineckii (variegated) [middle plant]. My AR dreams ride again! And finally, some rotala colorata just to fill out a package deal.

Planted in their new homes: 










Here's a wider shot after some housekeeping.










Tank is overdue for another water change for December's update, but as I haven't done so and the glass algae is kinda too strong for a good pic, I'll hold off a little.​


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## GWYIII (Dec 9, 2018)

Although I am just joining, I've enjoyed this forum on and off for a few years. I just found this post this weekend and it consumed the majority of Saturday afternoon as I read it a couple times. Thanks for sharing this. It's both entertaining and informative. I feel as though the beginning of your journey is a mirror of my own brief experiences in planted tanks. Tonight, after getting home from work I saw that you'd added to it so I had to give you a shout out. Keep up the good work!


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

It's looking lovely. 
Funny how your little fish couldn't find its way out of the bend.
Guess that's how I can catch them in an inverted water bottle- they just can't find the exit!


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## GWYIII (Dec 9, 2018)

@ipkiss Sorry about this, just trying to get the hang of this tagging (mention) thing.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi @ipkiss

Very nice, looks like you have things well 'on track'.....keep up the good work!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

GWYIII said:


> Although I am just joining, I've enjoyed this forum on and off for a few years. I just found this post this weekend and it consumed the majority of Saturday afternoon as I read it a couple times. Thanks for sharing this. It's both entertaining and informative. I feel as though the beginning of your journey is a mirror of my own brief experiences in planted tanks. Tonight, after getting home from work I saw that you'd added to it so I had to give you a shout out. Keep up the good work!


Hi @GWYIII 

Welcome to finally being active on the forums. Hopefully, you will find the experience rewarding. I, too, used to lurk like you until someone drew me out of my shell by insisting that I post to qualify for an RAOK offering. Thanks for responding positively to the thread! It's folks like you who help make it worthwhile for me to be so longwinded!  I wish you much success and contentment in your path! Know that there's good folks around here who are always willing to help. 


And so, here's the December post water change, pre trim pic. 

*2018-12*










The rotala colorata (center, back cluster), an afterthought/filler during the purchase, is turning out to be a pretty big presence due to its seemingly easy to grow nature. The other new acquisitions are adapting surprisingly well with little or no melt. The previously damaged rotala macrandra is recovering. Frogbits are getting HUGE and the roots are getting very well developed now. If I had to guess, I'd attribute the lion's share of recovery to the tank joining the Burr Micro Brigade. That iron .. so critical. That iron without the inconsistencies of CSM+B .. all the better. The rotala macrandra is the one taking the best advantage. Also, they are being persuaded to consume all these nutrients by twin Current Satellite Plus Pros. The old Ecoxotic E-60 had finally been recently retired. The light output of that unit was seriously only a shell of its former glory. Maybe I'll find a low tech tank to hang it over someday. 

Cribbing from @Greggz 's spreadsheet format, 









Formula was from @burr740 's 2018-06 "Stronger FE version". With so many versions of Burr formulas out there, I just decided to pick on a recent one and I liked the stronger FE content. I was, however, prudent enough to half everything in that spreadsheet above to make 250ml worth. Just to make sure things worked. It bordered on the ridiculous to measure out 8 milligrams. As Burr mentioned, these jeweler scales sometimes don't even respond until you put at least 6-7 milligrams on them. May as well just count the granules instead!

But anyway, the trouble was worth it. I think the plants have been the happiest they've been in a long while .. or ever.


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## Mighty Quinn (Jul 24, 2017)

I am going to go out-on-a-limb and say that this is the most valuable thread on plantedtank.net that I have come across. Well-written, informative and highly entertaining. Kudos to the OP!

My only suggestion would be to have a "lessons learned" section in the thread that summarizes the OP's take-aways.

Great thread! Thank you ipkiss!!!


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

Nice update! The plants look very bright and clean and happy

Are you dosing that .2 blend 3x week or what?


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Mighty Quinn said:


> I am going to go out-on-a-limb and say that this is the most valuable thread on plantedtank.net that I have come across. Well-written, informative and highly entertaining. Kudos to the OP!
> 
> My only suggestion would be to have a "lessons learned" section in the thread that summarizes the OP's take-aways.
> 
> Great thread! Thank you ipkiss!!!


 @Mighty Quinn , very high praise. thanks! I hope it stands the test of time as you encounter more threads. I promise I won't be offended if I lose the most valuable title . It's interesting that you asked about a "lessons learned". I'll consider it and see where I can fit it in so that it flows with the story. Over the years, I tend to wax philosophical about things and those were the lessons I sort of brushed upon during the preface. 

If I had to tell you, directly, the best lesson I've learned from this tank.. and that it still constantly teaches me.. It's patience. That really works in the grand scheme of things as this is all meant to be a hobby --unless you're out to farm the plants for a living. A hobby is supposed to follow you through life. Keep you entertained, satisfied, and content. There's no end to a tank as long as your interest in it exists. So what are you rushing for? I put this first, because this is the most trying one for me. It's even harder to have when the tank is NOT going right. Patience is key to observing any results from actions taken upon in the tank. I always forget to just let the tank do it's thing before taking the next step. Otherwise, you may overcompensate and do more harm than good sometimes. 

Another good one is humility. Humility to acknowledge that guys are figuring things out every day and that new knowledge should not be dismissed. Remembering that there was a time when people surely believed that the earth was flat, that ph swings kill fish, that micro fertilizers were toxic -- just to name a few -- will put that into perspective. Humility to realize that none of us are a deity, or even an advanced being that can demand the plants to grow to your will. (See patience ) and to accept that sometimes, they just .. wont. Well, there's a few guys on here that seem to be, but they're humble enough to show you a plant that has taunted them. 

I seem to have enough time for another one. Lets go with acceptance. From a budgetary stance, I've had to come to terms that I cannot, and perhaps will not and need not afford some of the amazing tanks and tank accessories that litter this forum. I will admire from a distance, be happy for their owners, and wish it brings them great satisfaction to their hobby and maybe wistfully wish that someday, I'll be in a position to have one, but that it's also entirely okay to not ever achieve that. From a skillset stance, I've also had to come to terms that I cannot, and perhaps will not and maybe need not have some of the amazingly scaped tanks that litter this forum. I will ALSO admire from a distance, be happy for their owners, and wish it brings them great satisfaction to their hobby and wistfully wish that someday, I'll have the time to hone my skills to have one, but it's also entirely okay to not ever achieve that. Otherwise, you'll just kill yourself from the stress. Remember, it's a hobby. Not a career. If it's stressing you and you're not having fun... maybe it's time to call it off. and that's completely OK too! But, if the hobby still talks to you, then, realize, as I mentioned in the beginning, you DO have a sympathetic ear in most of us and we're all "suffering" oh so happily (maybe on different levels), and you are not alone!

Oh, wait, you mean you wanted SPECIFIC tank lessons? Oh, me and my philosophies ...  

The main lesson that is currently guiding me (subject to change due to above philosophies) is the triangle, the 3 pillars, the proper balance of lights, co2, and nutrients. It is the current laws of gravity for the planted tank community that I can seemingly observe. Everything you see in this journal and this time *I* will go on a limb, and everything you see in this forum can probably somehow be explained in a way that fits the proper balance. I could go into explaining, but why bother, as a fellow member has already concisely and elegantly presented it on his website: 3 Growth Pillars by Dennis Wong If you haven't went through that site and are new to the hobby, you must. You can waste your time reading tons of other guides on many pages all over the internet, but this guy sort of collated them all together in one place. Anyway, following the 3 pillars, all the sub lessons are well, just subsets and it's important to not forget the big picture of how doing something specific will the entire tank! For example, I could go on about how the recent lesson was don't run out of micros, or, stop being cheap, or buy in advance, but really, it pales in the face of the main lesson. I lost my balance of lights, co2, and nutrients. 

Of the 3 pillars, here's a few specifics I've learned. First up, my signature quote. It's almost always too much light. Of the three pillars, I feel light is currently the easiest mistake to make. Access to powerful lighting has never been easier or cheaper and thus, most new hobbyists fall into this trap -- myself definitely included. See the algae farming years. 

Then, I'd have to say if you're going to do CO2, do it right. Don't halfway it. It'll just be grief otherwise. Right can mean 3 bottles of DIY with proper valving and reactors or fully pressurized, etc. But for all that is good, don't do the silly single bottle with the hagen ladder that I did. It was a cheap way to get into the game but at that level, I may as well have not played and just focused on growing types of plants without CO2 properly instead. Doing it right, also means to put in enough, to aerate your tank for good o2/co2 balance, to manage current flow. Getting CO2 properly injected cannot be underestimated. It's usually not simply open a valve and watch a drop checker. 

As for nutrients, I've committed the error of simply ignoring them in the beginning. Without holistically looking at the 3 pillars entirely, I didn't recognize the interaction and it was to the tanks detriment. However, even having said that, I feel that as long as there is "some" nutrients, unless you're past the massive algae farm stage, it's usually not to blame. But if you're getting somewhere and your plants are just not popping healthy, then yes, it definitely is time to pay attention to what you're feeding them. 

*Addendum:* Here's a more specific itemized list from @Greggz that may be more what you or others are looking for:
*Greggz' contribution to a Pro Tips thread*
Came across this after the original post but it's so good that I feel it should be added here for posterity. I'm sure Greggz won't mind! 



burr740 said:


> Nice update! The plants look very bright and clean and happy
> 
> Are you dosing that .2 blend 3x week or what?


 @burr740, it's daily as long as I can help it or remember to do it. I noticed you went to a .3 for 3x but I didn't want to go there mainly because daily is easier to remember than every other day -- especially if I'm front loading and have nothing to do on off days.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi @ipkiss,

Funny that you should bring up Dennis Wong because he is one of the speakers, along with Christel Kasselmann, Cara Wade, Vin Kutty, and Cory McElroy at the *AGA International Convention* next spring in Seattle. I've been reading Dennis's website and the *"Three Pillars of Growth"*,etc for the last week or so.


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

Very, very nice post @ipkiss .........I really like the "lessons learned" theme. 

Well thought out, well communicated............all around a good read!


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## kaldurak (May 2, 2010)

Fantastic journal! Definitely a great read and I really like your tank!


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## Grobbins48 (Oct 16, 2017)

@ipkiss thank you for sharing your experiences. The key of this being a hobby for most I feel can be missed, and what you wrote really spoke to me! Nicely done!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi @ipkiss,
> 
> Funny that you should bring up Dennis Wong because he is one of the speakers, along with Christel Kasselmann, Cara Wade, Vin Kutty, and Cory McElroy at the *AGA International Convention* next spring in Seattle. I've been reading Dennis's website and the *"Three Pillars of Growth"*,etc for the last week or so.


 @Seattle_Aquarist, Man. So envious. Your venue is in the farthest possible state away from me in the continental US. Sigh. Accept. @Mighty Quinn, you see how that works? 




Greggz said:


> Very, very nice post @ipkiss .........I really like the "lessons learned" theme. Well thought out, well communicated............all around a good read!


 @Greggz, it pales in comparison to yours! I just came across it this morning it via a post @Deanna did in someone else's thread! 
@Mighty Quinn, this lessons learned list is probably more likely what you wanted. I couldn't have said it better and indeed I said it much worse.

*Greggz' contribution to a Pro Tips thread* 

Heck, I'm going to update the earlier post with it too!





kaldurak said:


> Fantastic journal! Definitely a great read and I really like your tank!


 @kaldurak, as I do yours. Your pink crypts are the envy of the forum!


*2018-12b*

Here's the post trim update. Tried to conservatively tame some of the overwhelming vegetation.


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## kaldurak (May 2, 2010)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi @ipkiss,
> 
> Funny that you should bring up Dennis Wong because he is one of the speakers, along with Christel Kasselmann, Cara Wade, Vin Kutty, and Cory McElroy at the *AGA International Convention* next spring in Seattle. I've been reading Dennis's website and the *"Three Pillars of Growth"*,etc for the last week or so.


I think I might claw through my social anxiety and come up to see this.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi @kaldurak,

It's going to be like a GSAS or GPAS meeting, just a bunch of plant and fish geeks talking about fish, plants, equipment, fertilizer, etc for an entire weekend - not to mention the all day auction on Sunday. 

I first joined an aquarium club when I was 18 in St. Louis (MASI) and have been an active member of GSAS for a decade - clubs are a great way to enjoy the hobby. If you don't have a local club join the *Aquatic Gardeners Association (AGA)* and join like-minded plant folks. Their quarterly magazine is worth the price of membership and even better you get access to presentations from previous AGA Conventions (from 2000 through 2015).


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi @kaldurak,
> 
> It's going to be like a GSAS or GPAS meeting, just a bunch of plant and fish geeks talking about fish, plants, equipment, fertilizer, etc for an entire weekend - not to mention the all day auction on Sunday.


I just looked over the information, and I have to say it's very, very tempting. 

Just the opportunity to meet Dennis Wong and Vin Kutty (and others) might be worth it.

Gotta give that some serious consideration.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi @Greggz,

AGA runs the convention; GSAS as the 'hosting club' does all the local legwork to find venue, menu options, field trip, etc. AGA just today sent out an update to AGA members and this is the current status on the convention:

"This event is looking to be big with over 130 registrations already booked, and a second vendor room added. We sold out of the field trip and both workshops within the first week, the banquet is already 2/3 full -- we may end up selling out the registrations entirely! If you're planning on coming, book now!"

Of course the speakers are the highlights of the event. I wouldn't want to miss the banquet since that is where Christel Kasslemann is doing her second (2nd) presentation!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2018-12c*

Dear Journal, 

This will seemingly be the last update of 2018. As I sit here and reminisce, I can say that overall, it's been a good year. My housemate seemed to have paid more attention to me this year. He has been the most active he's ever been talking about me on this journal this year. His lazy self finally put in those stainless steel pipes that he talked so much about around the end of last year. Did I mention it was a whole year later almost? This was also the year that I was lucky enough to have some of you members (@Seattle_Aquarist, @Phil Edwards) point out I lacked calcium so thanks are in order! Along with the rest of you visitors @Greggz @JJ09 @sdwindansea, to name a few, thanks for occasionally looking in. No doubt you have kept this guy going whenever he starts getting lazy and ignoring me. 

I don't know if I shared his obsession for adding red plants, but it seemed like he managed to achieve it on some level. It took the entire wipeout of the red ludwigia and an entire species change to rotala colarata though--with a splash of AR variegated. OH, don't get me started on how he sort of brought that upon himself anyway by running out of micro fertilizers. Good thing again, we're on this forum and there's this obsessed guy named @burr740 who supplied us with some custom micros full of juicy iron. Man, are those things great or what? Looks like he's got some sort of handle on a little bit of higher light too. I'm sure that has helped with this red tunnel vision.

To you guys old and new who find me inspiring.. Wow, what kudos and thanks. I hope that sort of praise doesn't get to my housemate's head and then he'll start thinking he's something and get lax on his upkeep again! 

Here's to a decent year and many hopes for a great new one with good health and happy discoveries!










Here's the closing plant list: 










1 - Big FAT Frogbit
2 - Vallisneria
3 - Java Fern 'Windelov'
4 - Loebelia Cardinalis
5 - Hydrocotyle 'Japan'
6 - Mystery Moss(es) maybe anchor
7 - Microsword
8 - (One!) Crypt Flamingo
9 - Monte Carlo carpet
10 - Dwarf Hairgrass
11 - Crypt Wendtii Red
12 - Alternanthera Reineckii 'Variegated'
13 - Rotala Colorata
14 - Rotala Ramosior 'Florida'
15 - Rotala Macrandra Type IV Mini
16 - Mermaid weed - US Type?












-- I'm only a box of water and stuff ... I don't get the hype ...


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

It looks great! I've always thought seeing the tank in b&w is cool- makes you view everything different. I've taken a few shots like that myself on my old tank. Cheers to a new year!


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## Mighty Quinn (Jul 24, 2017)

ipkiss said:


> Mighty Quinn[/MENTION], this lessons learned list is probably more likely what you wanted. I couldn't have said it better and indeed I said it much worse.
> 
> *Greggz' contribution to a Pro Tips thread*


That "Pro Tips" post by Greggz is amazing. Should be a sticky. Thank you for providing the link.

However, please, please continue your philosophical rantings in this journal as they are highly entertaining and educational.

Cheers,
TMQ


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

I like the way the reds are filling in.

That R. Colorata is a good looking plant.

If my tank could talk, it would say.............. "Oh No here comes those scissors again"!:wink2:


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## Little Soprano (Mar 13, 2014)

Your tank is gorgeous! The way the reds and pinks pop amongst all the green is stunning. Work of art!


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## Ken Keating1 (Nov 22, 2017)

@ipkiss: Your journal is one that I really enjoy reading, I like your writing style, the humor, and the honesty. It's fun to go through you journal, it's a different approach than the more technical journals. And I love the thread name, it really defines our hobby and the things we have to go through.

Your tank has come along way from 2007, and it looks great now. You need to change your journal name to "10 Years of Stumbling But Not Anymore!"


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Happy New Year, Folks! 





JJ09 said:


> It looks great! I've always thought seeing the tank in b&w is cool- makes you view everything different. I've taken a few shots like that myself on my old tank. Cheers to a new year!


Thanks! Would it disappoint you, then, if I revealed that it was mere google photo editing? I actually just borrowed that idea from burr to label the plants. I can hear my old school self muttering at me now. Punks these days, all about the technology. Taking away the magic.



Mighty Quinn said:


> That "Pro Tips" post by Greggz is amazing. Should be a sticky. Thank you for providing the link.
> 
> However, please, please continue your philosophical rantings in this journal as they are highly entertaining and educational.
> 
> ...


Will try to oblige! 



Greggz said:


> I like the way the reds are filling in.
> 
> That R. Colorata is a good looking plant.
> 
> If my tank could talk, it would say.............. "Oh No here comes those scissors again"!:wink2:


Hah, I do find myself breaking out those scissors more these days. The monte carlo needs a good razing often. The frogbit probably screams more as they get purged. To think, too, that R. colorata was an afterthought during my last purchase.. a filler. to get free shipping! Just goes to show, you never know what plant ends up working for ya and just gotta go with the flow.



Little Soprano said:


> Your tank is gorgeous! The way the reds and pinks pop amongst all the green is stunning. Work of art!


Thanks! As I still suck at scaping, I'd love to say it was intentional, but, I guess more frequent trimming and general hard work has gotten some results! 



Ken Keating1 said:


> @ipkiss: Your journal is one that I really enjoy reading, I like your writing style, the humor, and the honesty. It's fun to go through you journal, it's a different approach than the more technical journals. And I love the thread name, it really defines our hobby and the things we have to go through.
> 
> Your tank has come along way from 2007, and it looks great now. You need to change your journal name to "10 Years of Stumbling But Not Anymore!"


Glad to have fans of the writing. I only do it because I lack the skill, tenacity, and tools to go full on technical :grin2:! Yeah, the tank is decent now all thanks to the fine community here, But, Oh Ken, to get cocky with that name change would be to court death -- by algae!


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## sdwindansea (Oct 28, 2016)

I really like the way the red wendtii and Rotala Ramosior 'Florida' look in the tank. Keep up the great posts and happy 2019 to all.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

sdwindansea said:


> I really like the way the red wendtii and Rotala Ramosior 'Florida' look in the tank. Keep up the great posts and happy 2019 to all.


Actually, you're more likely referring to the rotala colorata. I did a crappy job of labeling. The rotala Florida is much less prominent than I have hoped. U have to zoom in quite a bit to see the very few stems of it.


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## sdwindansea (Oct 28, 2016)

ipkiss said:


> Actually, you're more likely referring to the rotala colorata. I did a crappy job of labeling. The rotala Florida is much less prominent than I have hoped. U have to zoom in quite a bit to see the very few stems of it.



Well, that makes a bit more sense and I'm glad to see we both blame you for my mistake .


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2019-01*










Looks like trim time is in order. Wish me luck! This Burr Micro Mix is either a steroid, a serious catalyst, or a buckshot cure-all for what ailed this tank. The frogbit is trying to elicit movie references of giant mutated organisms. Rotala colorata is continuing to be the unexpected star of the show. It is coloring up way deeper and growing much faster than I ever expected. Go figure. All these years, I've been hunting down a red stem specifically for this purpose and one just decides to sneak in. Rotala macrandra is no longer petulant and has become even a little accommodating to my mistakes. This might mark the first cut of the alternanthera reineckii variegated. In the past, AR had been a bust for me too. Even crypt flamingo is getting in on the act and is pushing up some new leaves. Rotala ramosior Florida is the new canary of the month. I was able to see via its stalling growth that I was a little low on nitrates or macros. Nitrate test expired and can't confirm but a dose of macros perked it up within a day. Seems like I may be riding the nitrate limitation / lower macros train here. Boarding it wasn't intentional and was probably a result of my other meanderings, but as I'm seeing the results, I'm not sure I want to get off yet. As someone who has yearned and talked many years about trying to grow red (any shade!) plants, I'm just... Let's stay on for a little while and see where it goes.


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## Plantedcichlid (Mar 5, 2018)

Beautiful...


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## Ankhari (Apr 30, 2018)

The progress you've made gives me hope for my tank. It's so inspiring that I went back to the beginning and read it again. Please update frequently.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk


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## TheUnseenHand (May 14, 2017)

An underwater meadow. Beautiful!


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## KZB (Jan 3, 2018)

The colors are just Beautiful together. Keep up the good work


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## vijay_06 (Apr 11, 2017)

Looking fantastic. The bushy look on the left corner seems to give the tank a nice depth.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Ankhari said:


> The progress you've made gives me hope for my tank. It's so inspiring that I went back to the beginning and read it again. Please update frequently.
> 
> Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk


Welcome! Just keep at it and lean on us for help! You will get there! Would love to share your journey too so dont hesitate to post up a journal of your own!


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

ipkiss said:


> *2019-01*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That is absolutely stunning


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2019-01b*

Continuing on from the last update about needing trimming, I noticed that upper left corner was the worst. It was just getting to be a mess and plants were jamming up the inflows. Here's a top view of that "giant" frogbit, tons of duckweed, and hydrocotyle japan. They overgrew the skimmer so bad that I noticed it wasn't really skimming anymore and a film was starting to form.










All had to go, so after a good amount of pulling and cutting, I end up with this: 










I guess not that much cleaner overall, heh, but a much improved upper left. But, all is not well. Cleaning all that out magnified an issue that had crept up on the horizon. The flow from my fluval 206 filter has slowed considerably over the past months. I think I was in denial, but there's no denying now. Look at that glassy reflection off of the underside of the water surface.. .. barely a ripple. Alright, time to clean out that filter. Nope. No help. I guess filters get old. Alright, accept. The plants are doing well, fish are respiring well, CO2 is reacting pretty good. The issue continues to nags me for a couple weeks. I worry a bit about the surface agitation, but as a meek voice mentions the koralia water circulator I can add back into the tank, I steely stare down that suggestion. Then another week goes by before I think about the cerges reactor and its poret donuts for co2 bubble catching. ( This one: https://www.plantedtank.net/forums/12-tank-journals/936906-10-years-stumbling-2.html#post10171090 ). Can it be? No. The donuts.. they're kind of dark. They're accumulating stuff... No. Can't be. But the donuts, look, one even sank to the bottom. It's gotta be gumming up the flow. I sigh in resignation. This is going to be a mission. The guys are right, the harder things are to maintain, the less you want to do it. Gotta move the whole tank and stand, that means it better be water change day when I drain half the tank, gotta find a way to unscrew the housing -- I don't even have a wrench filter! Grr.. I bet I'll tear this reactor off the stand trying to unscrew it. Dread fills me as I try to ignore it. Yet, it still bugs me. Some more time passes by.

Alright, I got a filter wrench. I sure hope its the right size. Water change day this time happens to land late into the night because of, as always, life(tm). I grit my teeth and mutter "Maximum Effort!" under my breath (This was not said aloud because, well, I doubt anyone wanted to hear an old guy quote cheesy lines from a pop culture antihero) as I engage the task. Water drained, check. Low dishpan, check. Lets scoot this whole stand and hope the whole thing doesn't come crashing down on me. Yes! Filter wrench fits! I manage to get the housing off with a little drama but its ok. I didn't tear up everything. A bit of water splashes out into places it shouldn't go but nothing a handy towel couldn't handle. So, in the dark night lit only by dim stars*, accompanied only by the sound of hushed crickets, I rinse out from the donuts, a rich, thick, equally dark mulm that accumulated over almost two years. It probably took about 4 rounds of rinsing. Some garden plants had to be pleased that night as they got to engorge themselves on the nectar of the Plantae gods. Reassemble, reprime, and egads! The flow, it's blasting! The 206 must have cried so THIS is what a clear nose feels like! The fish, having been accustomed to an outflow stream that they languished in, was suddenly subjected to a torrent. It was like an underwater hurricane.. Quickly, I pull the filter lever up as I restrict the flow to something more sane and now I'm once again in the zone of a happy ripple. 

Well, now that the flow is good again for the past couple days, I've been reminded that the reactor does have a light trickle as the co2 gets mixed in. Guess it'll take a few more days to get used to the sound. Although, this incident has got me thinking again about the efficiency of back pressure. While it is true that I let it get out of hand, there was a sweet spot where the clogging had the proper back pressure to reduce the trickling while it wasn't too clogged to still provide a good current in the tank. Man, now I'll have to figure out how to put in that ball valve after all. I've read about it, recommended it to other people, but I guess it's time to shut up and put up too!


Aaand, it's trim time again.

*2019-02*









* some literary embellishment.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

2019-02b

quick morning update with a kinda .. freshly trimmed FTS










Here's a couple more localized shots


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi @ipkiss,

Looks like everything is flourishing very well! Nice job.


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## Jamo33 (Feb 18, 2014)

I love the havoc but order of this tank. More natural than most tanks, species intertwined and fighting for prominence. Very nice indeed!


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## tredford (Jun 29, 2018)

Starting to look really nice with that trim job. I think the Lobelia growing in a bit more will really fill out the scape.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi @ipkiss,
> 
> Looks like everything is flourishing very well! Nice job.


Thanks to guys like you and the others offering up help and inspiration!



Jamo33 said:


> I love the havoc but order of this tank. More natural than most tanks, species intertwined and fighting for prominence. Very nice indeed!


"Finally! A rare individual who sees it my way!" --- is what I loved to have responded with. But alas, the reality is much more banal. It's merely the result of me lacking the willpower to just rip stuff out. 



tredford said:


> Starting to look really nice with that trim job. I think the Lobelia growing in a bit more will really fill out the scape.


It does look a little scraggly doesn't it? Hm, didn't notice it until you pointed it out. Will have to top it off again. Thanks.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2019-03*

So! Thanks to the "Brotherhood of the Traveling PAR Meter" (and majorly @Greggz), I now have some PAR data for this tank! 
Lighting is *2x* 24" Current Satellite Plus Pros with my chosen "daylight" setting of White:95 Red:100 Green:50 Blue:0

Mirroring what @Immortal1 saw in his Seneye Review Thread, the PUR seems pretty low for these units at high a W setting. I'm sure B at 0 doesn't help this cause and I forgot why I took off B at the time. I think it was @jeffkrol complaining about 'purple' tanks . B is present during my Sunrise and Sunset cycle times but that's another story. Regardless, bumping B to 100, due to the only 9 RGB LEDs vs 20 whites, results in a neglible PUR change at this level of PAR. This is definitely where @KZB's additional R/B LED bars or those Sunblaster toting guys @Quagulator, @Ken Keating1, are kicking up the PUR. To heck with purple tanks, I love it! There, I said it. I even love purple plants! Sorry, jeffkrol. I have fallen to the dark side.

First up: a full tank shot to show where things are: 










It's no secret that right now, my prized plants are my cat like crypt flamingo (because it gives no care of what you want it to do) and my rotala ramosior florida so I start near there. Middle front. What's not presented in this picture is that the PAR is constantly fluctuating between this and 90 due to swaying whatevers (floaters,stems,filter ripples) above it. The sensor's location is well, I should've measured it, but I'm guessing around 14 inches deep given a 16 inch height of a 20G high. This sort of reflect somewhat closely to the claimed 100 PAR @ 12 inches on Current's site. As far front as the sensor is, I don't think the back unit is adding any significant light to this area. I learned that shading drastically reduces PAR from this endeavor. 










Let's see what happens if I move the meter a little more in and nestled between my two plants. This position is being shaded by the relatively tall midground stuff behind it and a floater or two on the extreme left. Said midground stuff is probably also blocking the back unit from shining on this area. Reflecting what I said about shading affecting PAR, I lose almost 1/3 of my light here. 










Alright, let's go over to the open carpet! No shade here! These montecarlos are getting everything the light has to offer. Probably even some wash from the back unit. The PAR reading reflects this. OR is it that I'm coming to the conclusion based on the PAR reading? :grin2:











Fine, then the AR should be getting a good hit since it's closer to the surface? Oh, no, what a surprise. I think the rotala macrandra is shading it. Even in an area where it's supposed to benefit from both back and front units, I think missing the left leds and not having the right leds being near the end of the tank, is severely affecting it.










Okay, enough of this. What DOES having two units give me near the surface of the water? Here's what the top most stems get. Between the rotala colorata, rotala macrandra, a stem of rotala ramosior, they're really soaking up the rays. A nice fat, combined 300 PAR.










I took the sensor back to the middle over the hydrocotyle and I thought I had made a snap of that, but I guess not. It was hovering around the mere 120s I think and not the high 100s or low 200s that I expected. I thought about it and I suspect again, it's due to the surroundings. Big fat floaters on the left and the rotala stems on the right soaking up 300 PAR. At this point, I was pretty satisfied that I got a handle on what's happening in this tank and life was interrupting so I had to finish up. I was both surprised and a little disappointed. Surprised that I hit close to 100 on the first reading. Disappointed that I didn't get higher PUR and higher readings in other areas or closer to the surface. But not so disappointed, when I started to figure what was going on. For PUR, I guess that's the nature of the light and I suppose I already had a preview by Immortal1's readings. As for higher PAR readings, I've always been mindful of where I place some of my plants to get the better light (i.e. aware of my floaters), but I don't think I've thought about neighbor shading so much. It was definitely beneficial to have one of these seneyes around to confirm or remind me of things. 

So what did I learn from all this? 

*I guess it's time for a trim!*


to be continued ...


----------



## Immortal1 (Feb 18, 2015)

Very nice write up @ipkiss - kinda amazing the information you can learn about your lighting when you have a nice PAR meter available. 
For my 75g tank I generally ran red and blue at 100%. I am now seeing some value in adding the green but there is a BIG difference between the Satellite lights and the Radions as far as LED power. 
Judging by how your tank looks - I would not be in a big hurry to change much lighting wise.
I do have a Satellite Plus Pro on my low tech 20g tank. I think I have the whites at 30-40%, red at 100% and blue at maybe 70%. I get a decent color in the tank, decent growth, and a decent PUR number.
When all channels are at 100% (yellow button) the Satellite does put out some PAR but to me the PUR value in the mid 50's just didn't work.


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## Ken Keating1 (Nov 22, 2017)

@ipkiss, great write up, very detailed, very helpful. Your plants look great, they're really doing quite well. Plus I like the layout and colors, it's more on the wild side, which is what I like. Your TJ is one of my favorites, just the way you started out and how well it's going , a very good, well written journey.

FWIW, I shut down my Sunblaster/6400K fixture on March 24; there was BBA starting to show up on my C. Parva and on the gravel in a few spots. Initially I had it running for six hours, then down to two and the BBA was still cropping up, so I shut the Sunblaster down. I'm already seeing an improvement. I'll start it again once everything gets back to normal, as I feel the peak lighting added by the Sunblaster helped plant quality with a few plants. It may only be on for 30 minutes a day, but I'll need to experiment to obtain best plant growth with minimum BBA. For your tank, I'd say the lighting is perfect, I probably wouldn't change anything. BTW, my front light is a Current Satellite Pro Plus, 48", and the plants seem to be doing well, so the fixture is providing sufficient lighting for the plants I have.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

It looks so lush and beautiful! So are you going to change anything with your lighting, based on the PAR readings? or just be more mindful of trimming plants that shade others?


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

ipkiss said:


> I think it was @*jeffkrol* complaining about 'purple' tanks . B is present during my Sunrise and Sunset cycle times but that's another story. Regardless, bumping B to 100, due to the only 9 RGB LEDs vs 20 whites, results in a neglible PUR change at this level of PAR. To heck with purple tanks, I love it! There, I said it. I even love purple plants! Sorry, jeffkrol. I have fallen to the dark side.
> to be continued ...



First, credit where credit is due..Lovely tank...Certainly more masterful in aquaculture than I am..!!!
Someday I'll change my lazy ways..

To be honest.. it's mostly a matter of "quantity"of toning. And also violet LED's..which you have none.
Besides it's magenta.. Blue and red make magenta..












Tone is a personal thing regardless..Maybe you misunderstood me..
Happens all the time.


Point has always been to do what "ONE" likes not what one tells them to like.. 

I defer to others to show the possibilities..

I wouldn't have really bothered but you said Beetlejuice..


Anyways just a compare/contrast of overall toning.. 

There is no right or wrong.. 

and, yea, my wife finds me annoying as well... 



https://www.advancedplantedtank.com/uploads/1/0/4/4/104405095/denniswong4ftscapelight_orig.jpg


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Immortal1 said:


> Very nice write up @ipkiss - kinda amazing the information you can learn about your lighting when you have a nice PAR meter available.
> For my 75g tank I generally ran red and blue at 100%. I am now seeing some value in adding the green but there is a BIG difference between the Satellite lights and the Radions as far as LED power.
> Judging by how your tank looks - I would not be in a big hurry to change much lighting wise.
> I do have a Satellite Plus Pro on my low tech 20g tank. I think I have the whites at 30-40%, red at 100% and blue at maybe 70%. I get a decent color in the tank, decent growth, and a decent PUR number.
> When all channels are at 100% (yellow button) the Satellite does put out some PAR but to me the PUR value in the mid 50's just didn't work.


Lighting has always been seductive to me. Even in my algae blasting days. So, I feel a kinship with fellow Satellite owners and especially am attentive when I see you guys upgrade because if we had similar enough tastes for a satellite, there may be a viable chance that it's the same again for the next one up. The ability to grow stuff was not really the desire for me to look at different lights. Your readings with your satellite plus pros were the first to alert me to a dissatisfaction. That is, colors are pretty washed out at higher lighting. While PUR does not translate directly to CRI, it does have a more than a little with how my eyes perceive the colors. And also, the funny thing about numbers is that once you know, you start to chase ...



Ken Keating1 said:


> @ipkiss, great write up, very detailed, very helpful. Your plants look great, they're really doing quite well. Plus I like the layout and colors, it's more on the wild side, which is what I like. Your TJ is one of my favorites, just the way you started out and how well it's going , a very good, well written journey.
> 
> FWIW, I shut down my Sunblaster/6400K fixture on March 24; there was BBA starting to show up on my C. Parva and on the gravel in a few spots. Initially I had it running for six hours, then down to two and the BBA was still cropping up, so I shut the Sunblaster down. I'm already seeing an improvement. I'll start it again once everything gets back to normal, as I feel the peak lighting added by the Sunblaster helped plant quality with a few plants. It may only be on for 30 minutes a day, but I'll need to experiment to obtain best plant growth with minimum BBA. For your tank, I'd say the lighting is perfect, I probably wouldn't change anything. BTW, my front light is a Current Satellite Pro Plus, 48", and the plants seem to be doing well, so the fixture is providing sufficient lighting for the plants I have.


Thanks to you, too, for always being supportive. As for the Sunblaster, I almost joined your ranks. I even had one in my amazon cart thinking I'd get one just to try. I felt that I just needed a little more oomph and seeing all you guys get that from not spending too much was very tempting. The mounting issue is what gave me pause and while I figured that out, the urge sort of subsided. It's unfortunate that you had a scourge of BBA. I, too, had/have a few tufts against the right front corner where the main outflow bounces against, but I'm going with "I lost my most recent BBA sentry (true SAE)." We'll see. I feel like a change .. if only to try something to try to convince my silly crypt flamingo to do something.



JJ09 said:


> It looks so lush and beautiful! So are you going to change anything with your lighting, based on the PAR readings? or just be more mindful of trimming plants that shade others?


Thanks! Figuring out the PAR was just because I was a little tired of just running on specs from the manufacturer sites. And Gregg said .. well, you gotta know! So figuring out the shading issue was a definite bonus. I'll definitely have to be more mindful of trimming and maintenance now. Anything for an incentive for my least favorite aspect  As for the lighting change, it's more of a coloring issue I want to say. 



jeffkrol said:


> First, credit where credit is due..Lovely tank...Certainly more masterful in aquaculture than I am..!!!
> Someday I'll change my lazy ways..
> 
> To be honest.. it's mostly a matter of "quantity"of toning. And also violet LED's..which you have none.
> ...


Thanks, @jeffkrol (beetlejuice!)! and I definitely understand the part about laziness. Even as recent as a couple pages back, I've allowed my tank conditions to degrade to losing entire species due to neglect ^^; It was definitely this current batch of journals, Gregg being a constant cheerleeder for upkeep, and this current active crew of members just inspiring me to go along and do a little more. The funny thing about identity and doing what one likes is, well, sometimes, one doesn't even know what he/she likes. So what do you do in the beginning? Emulate the leaders. I thought I remembered either you or someone I read championing 'sunlight' colored tanks opposed to those with the "magenta tone" in the past so somehow that idea worked itself into my psyche. Or maybe I (wrongly?) convinced myself to up the "yellow/orange" tone for mid day sun by dropping out blue. But now, I think the charge is for CRI and color popping so I've been convinced to "like" that look


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

Think it comes from my childhood (revealing age here) where 
"growlux" bulbs started replacing the old incandescent tube lights and "bluish" ones were few and far in-between. and relatively expensive..
would have done anything for tubes back then..oh and those were "expensive" too.. 








In case the site loses my image..well not "mine"..
https://images1.ratemyfishtank.com/photo/9/1180x438h/25000/24617/10980_1.jpg
https://www.ratemyfishtank.com/user/ABQyXDv4PX/188-gallons-fish-tank/planted-tank-photo/24617

don't know what happened.. just moved in a different direction..
some look at it as art, some as a small slice of nature in their homes.. Or any shade in-between..


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Hey hey, my family had a tank with an incandescent too! This was on an old little 5 or 10G. I thought the color was 'interesting' compared to the really cool purple blue of our "big" 45 gallon tank. As my parents used to say, you don't know the price of rice ... So, I really didn't know how expensive those tubes were. I don't think they did either. It came with the tank and well, it was 'good enough' .... for glorious neon plastic plants! Oh, there were some purple ones too :hihi:


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

Nice update and presentation on the PAR, and glad to see the meter was useful.

I am seeing a pattern with many of the most colorful tanks here.........100+ PAR. Not surprising. Dosing only goes so far. To get more color nothing works like more PAR. 

Tank is looking great. Nice job!!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2019-03b - Seneye fun continued*

So, being bothered a bit by the whole middle area above the hydrocotyle japan, I took another reading... this time taking some care to brush away some frogbit. Here's what I came up with and it's more in line of what I was expecting










I also finished up by taking a reading of the dark area behind the return where I've been trying to get my stems to grow. Growth don't lie... No light, no grow. 










Following @Immortal1's track and pulling from a modified version of my dawn/dusk lighting of W20, R75, G1, B50, here's a reread of the front middle. Much better PUR and much better coloring to my eyes this time. 










pulling back earlier image (W95, R100, G50, B0) for direct comparison: 










@jeffkrol, "simulated magenta and violet" 


















You'll have to take my word that the second picture is a bit colder. The phone camera seemed to have warmed up that violet a bit much. At the end, I preferred the magenta. That's the one that gave the color you see in the FTS above. A tad warmer and a little fuzzier feeling.

@Greggz, 100PAR may be what gets my color, but the conundrum is that I don't get to see it until I let off that gas. No way I'm going to run at 30PAR the whole day  And I wouldn't discount that dosing either. I was having some pretty ragged rotala macrandras before you championed those burr micros so they'd probably not fill out the tank in such glory. Guess that's why it's the 3 "pillars" . None are too important over the other and one has to "balance" the three.


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## Immortal1 (Feb 18, 2015)

ipkiss said:


> *2019-03b - Seneye fun continued*
> Following @*Immortal1*'s track and pulling from a modified version of my dawn/dusk lighting of W20, R75, G1, B50, here's a reread of the front middle. Much better PUR and much better coloring to my eyes this time.
> 
> 
> ...



Those numbers you got at 31 PAR look very similar to what I am running on my 20g low tech tank. For that tank, growth is very slow but as you noted - the color is much better. 

The 3 pillars - I like that. And you are correct - it is a balancing game. Tank looks like crap for several years then for some odd reason things start looking better. Then you finally realize your 3 way tetter totter is perfectly level :grin2:


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Immortal1 said:


> Those numbers you got at 31 PAR look very similar to what I am running on my 20g low tech tank. For that tank, growth is very slow but as you noted - the color is much better.
> 
> The 3 pillars - I like that. And you are correct - it is a balancing game. Tank looks like crap for several years then for some odd reason things start looking better. Then you finally realize your 3 way tetter totter is perfectly level :grin2:


I wouldn't dare lay claim to the 3 pillars phrase though. That honor belongs to my current favorite site owner 

https://www.advancedplantedtank.com/101-growth-plllars.html

But maybe I'll start using 3 way teeter totter after u. Man, I really gotta come up with my own analogy!


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## Chlorophile (Aug 2, 2011)

Nice tank!
I love the mixed species look in the front carpet.
If I get a longer tank that style is going to be very tempting!

I was running the same two lights for a while on an 18" deep tank but I was only moderately successful with them, nothing like your tank!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Chlorophile said:


> Nice tank!
> I love the mixed species look in the front carpet.
> If I get a longer tank that style is going to be very tempting!
> 
> I was running the same two lights for a while on an 18" deep tank but I was only moderately successful with them, nothing like your tank!


You honor me by calling it a 'style'  Thanks! 

In another question to the community, I'm curious of people's preferences. If anyone cares... Left lighting or right lighting? :grin2:


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## Jamo33 (Feb 18, 2014)

I vote right.
Reason: the fullness of greens in the light are so vivid. Only concern may be loss of sharp red, but all of this is preference anyway!


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## Immortal1 (Feb 18, 2015)

Sorry, I'm a left kinda guy. The reds look fuller and that little bit of pinkish hue in the back stands out to me.


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

ipkiss said:


>


IMO, you have too much brightness when you take the picture. Here it is toned down. But it will be even better if you do it with your camera settings before you take the picture. If you are using a cell phone, try using Pro Mode and working through the settings. Try to find the one that looks most like the tank looks like in real life. Of course, this is very subjective, and you have good subject matter which is the most important!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

I see your point, @Greggz, but then how else can I impress upon the viewers that it's reaching 160PAR @ 13.5 inches? :grin2: The seneye is onto its next stop, but not before grabbing a couple more readings for this update. Many thanks again!

I've back-edited the pics in the previous posts to be a tad dimmer so whomever is reading this later on, no, your eyes are not deceiving you. Those pics looked way more overblown before Gregg posted an edited, toned down one. 

In addition, thanks to the generosity of @KZB, I've been able to mimic his setup of 2X Current satellite plus pros + Red/Blue LED strips. Apparently, he found these nifty led strips of just red and blue leds and its a 4pack. I only managed 3 in the pic so far. They are the silver strips on each side of the satellites. This is a pic of the light setup and I'll probably have to change it up a little because as it is, I can't open the glass to do anything. 











Here's the previous pic again, dimmed a little as per Gregg's suggestion so the highlights are not so overblown, but with PAR data included.











I've done a significant trim and taken new readings at the same lower right corner as one of the previous readings. For those who picked the left, it was lit with Satellites+R/B strips and for the right, it was lit with only Satellites. As you can see, the R/B strips that are enhancing the reds and making color temp just a little cooler.

The trim job alone was good enough to give me a roughly 30 PAR boost from the earlier 99 that I read in that corner. The R/B led strips give another 30. Given KZB's recent experiences with algae and given my current experience with occasional small BBA tufts, I'm inclined to follow previous advice and not fire up everything at 165 yet. Perhaps KZB has the right idea in his journal, dial down the satellites while leaving these R/Bs on just so that the PUR is better. But before all that, I've got to figure out how to mount and wire up everything in a way that works for this tank.


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## KZB (Jan 3, 2018)

Hello @ipkiss, are you able to remove the glass top? That's how I got my light set up to work. I electrical tape the RB light wires to the rods on the Currents Pro+. Any time during maintenance I turn off the front lights and stack it back to back on top of the other set. So I can still have a light on and get my arm in the water. Last weekend water change i kept a my par meter on the substate and adjusted the Currents white lights down till the par meter read 100par. Bringing the white to 50%. While keeping the tank still a natural color, not red dominant. Since doing that I was able to stabilize my gsa issue. Only say stabilize cause its still there but just not spreading. Which seems to be the only algae i am dealing with besides my typical gda on the glass. Even with a drop in 20 or so par, the plants are still happy, which is the main goal. Keep us posted, look forward to seeing more updates


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## Immortal1 (Feb 18, 2015)

ipkiss said:


> I see your point, @*Greggz*, but then how else can I impress upon the viewers that it's reaching 160PAR @ 13.5 inches? :grin2: The seneye is onto its next stop, but not before grabbing a couple more readings for this update. Many thanks again!
> 
> I've back-edited the pics in the previous posts to be a tad dimmer so whomever is reading this later on, no, your eyes are not deceiving you. Those pics looked way more overblown before Gregg posted an edited, toned down one.
> 
> ...



Such a good idea adding in the R/B LED's - wish I would have though about doing that when I was running those lights. Was my biggest reason for buying the Radion lights - poor red/blue values of the Satellite lights. I suspect if you add enough R/B LED's to the sides of the Satellite lights you will have something as good as my overly priced Radions. What might be really interesting is "IF" you could buy cheap strips of 420 blues and 660 reds then add / adjust the appropriate amount of each. I would believe your could equal the PUR of my lights for maybe half the costs.


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## Chlorophile (Aug 2, 2011)

ipkiss said:


> You honor me by calling it a 'style'  Thanks!
> 
> In another question to the community, I'm curious of people's preferences. If anyone cares... Left lighting or right lighting? :grin2:


I like the left - assuming thats more true to what you see IRL.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2019-04 *

This one is for the fellows in my boat who just can't seem to find a break to do some trimming  
I hear ya. I hear ya.


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## cl3537 (Jan 28, 2019)

ipkiss said:


> *2019-03*
> 
> So! Thanks to the "Brotherhood of the Traveling PAR Meter" (and majorly @Greggz), I now have some PAR data for this tank!


Okay someone please enlighten me on what that green stick is! @Greggz
Rubberbands and some sort of stick with bendable head is what I need I'm getting tired of the juggling act of holding the meter in my tank.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

cl3537 said:


> Okay someone please enlighten me on what that green stick is!
> Rubberbands and some sort of stick with bendable head is what I need I'm getting tired of the juggling act of holding the meter in my tank.


Haha, it's merely a 'plant stake'. Gardeners use them for supporting vine plants or orchid flowers -- that sort of thing. I was stumped too for a while when I was digging through my garage for something and lo and behold, a bendable metal rod! Home depot should have all sorts. Maybe even walmart. Just go in and get one with the right bending feel but still strong enough for support. 

Another tip is that if you look closer in this pic, I did have an extra crook at the bottom to support the flat back of the seneye so that it won't twirl around the rod.


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## cl3537 (Jan 28, 2019)

ipkiss said:


> Haha, it's merely a 'plant stake'. Gardeners use them for supporting vine plants or orchid flowers -- that sort of thing. I was stumped too for a while when I was digging through my garage for something and lo and behold, a bendable metal rod!


What is the bottom below the meter? You bent a plastic stake 90 degress and you rubberbanded to that thin stake that is it? Ha ha c>


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

```

```



cl3537 said:


> What is the bottom below the meter? You bent a plastic stake 90 degress and you rubberbanded to that thin stake that is it? Ha ha c>


yup! not even 90 degrees! but bonus, I kept bending it different angles to get better positioning too! 
beguilingly simple eh? 

this might work .. 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Vigoro-36-in-Plant-Prop-613672/100562892

just make sure you add an extra crook if yours don't come with one like the one in the link above because otherwise it'll spin if the flatside doesn't have anything to 'rest' on


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## cl3537 (Jan 28, 2019)

ipkiss said:


> ```
> 
> ```
> yup! not even 90 degrees! but bonus, I kept bending it different angles to get better positioning too!


Thanks I'll look for one of those.
I have never been able to keep straight what angle I want the meter at. I'm just comparing max values getting it flush to the substrate in the corners and sides is difficult and then maybe tilting it towards the centreline seems more accurate in the corners/sides.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

cl3537 said:


> Thanks I'll look for one of those.
> I have never been able to keep straight what angle I want the meter at. I'm just comparing max values getting it flush to the substrate in the corners and sides is difficult and then maybe tilting it towards the centreline seems more accurate in the corners/sides.


Actually, now that you mention this.. I remember that I didn't necessarily have the best idea. Cheapest maybe... but not the coolest one. Check out @KZB's selfie stick. It looked like it was made for a seneye!

https://www.plantedtank.net/forums/...-amateur-starting-journal-9.html#post11181003


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## NEKvt (Jun 17, 2007)

Tank is looking good, even in its untrimmed state. I kinda like the effect the floaters are having in the most recent shot.


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## Blacktetra (Mar 19, 2015)

Part of what is most encouraging about your journal is seeing how long it took you to get where you are. It's taken me a few years to get where I am, and now I'm encouraged to know I'll improve with time if I keep at it. 

Thank you for going through all the trouble to keep this journal, and make the reading enjoyable too.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Blacktetra said:


> Part of what is most encouraging about your journal is seeing how long it took you to get where you are. It's taken me a few years to get where I am, and now I'm encouraged to know I'll improve with time if I keep at it.
> 
> Thank you for going through all the trouble to keep this journal, and make the reading enjoyable too.


 @Blacktetra, you're welcome! Glad you got that out of my ramblings!

I guess, to paraphrase an old chinese proverb 



'constant grinding will turn an iron rod into a needle' 



I still have a ways to go. For one, I still can't scape ... 

Maybe I'll never be able to. But you know what?

At the end of the day, for us, 

It's only a hobby!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2019-04b*

Freshly razed, morning after ...


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## Blacktetra (Mar 19, 2015)

Do you get pearling? I've not seen any in these shots, but they aren't super close up, and with sufficient CO2 I'm seeing a little in my tank that has even lower light levels than yours.
If not, do you find that raising your CO2 that high is excessive and doesn't improve much?


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## tredford (Jun 29, 2018)

Post-trim shot looks awesome! Room for the plants to breathe.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Blacktetra said:


> Do you get pearling? I've not seen any in these shots, but they aren't super close up, and with sufficient CO2 I'm seeing a little in my tank that has even lower light levels than yours.
> If not, do you find that raising your CO2 that high is excessive and doesn't improve much?


Do I get pearling? 

I'd like to think so! :bounce:










why yes @Blacktetra , there is a pearling occurrence 0










my name is pearls galore ... :x










yes sir, we got more pearls than davy crockett :|












-------------------------------

Pearling though, isn't the be all / end all sign of proper or even excessive co2 injection. 

From my readings and my limited understanding of it, the dynamics of what causes pearling is sort of complex. The gist is that an oxygen bubble forms due plant respiration output into an area of water that is so oxygen saturated that the water will no longer absorb any more. But if you think about this, you can affect this by differences in flow, surface scum, and agitation. You could say that this is due to the tank being filled with oxygen from all the other plants respiring (lots of happy plants photosynthesizing and working hard) or you could say that the water was already being filled with oxygen from your own agitation gas exchange (not much respiring required to get pearling here). There's no easy way of truly knowing. 

Here's some more discussions in the past: 
https://www.plantedtank.net/forums/33-plants/108723-pearling-myth.html
https://www.plantedtank.net/forums/33-plants/708362-pearling-=-success.html

Anyway, assuming good tank and plant appearances, pearling is a positive sign I suppose. I happen to like it, some people don't like the fizzy soda look. Not too fizzy in this recent video, but I've had fizzier days when the flow was a little more jammed up or the surface scum wasn't being cleared as efficiently.







As for raising co2 high, I'm not too ashamed to admit I'm of the plant first, fish second clan. So, while I care about the fish to give them good surface agitation / oxygen, I am not afraid to crank that co2. Aside from affecting fauna (and in a very bad way, admittedly), from a plant perspective, I've not read of any issues of running excess co2. But there's always tons of issues when you don't have enough.


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## Blacktetra (Mar 19, 2015)

ipkiss said:


> Do I get pearling?
> 
> I'd like to think so!
> As for raising co2 high, I'm not too ashamed to admit I'm of the plant first, fish second clan. So, while I care about the fish to give them good surface agitation / oxygen, I am not afraid to crank that co2. Aside from affecting fauna (and in a very bad way, admittedly), from a plant perspective, I've not read of any issues of running excess co2. But there's always tons of issues when you don't have enough.


Thanks, those are some very happy and beautiful stems. What's the white one? Bacopa?


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Blacktetra said:


> Thanks, those are some very happy and beautiful stems. What's the white one? Bacopa?


Hi @Blacktetra, 

It's one of my new acquisitions, golden lloydiella. Got it for its bright whitish/yellowish/light green color. Guess it worked because you noticed it!  Seemingly easy so far in my tank, growth looks happy but is not as fast as I hoped. Maybe it's still adapting. I haven't tried it low tech yet either. However, I did have it in a little bowl of water for almost a week with no melt (changing water daily) before I managed to get it home.


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

That's some nice growth ipkiss!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2019-05*










a tank, looks forlorn
owner, with too much on plate
Hark, a water change!

algae, everywhere
owner, he's now on a tear
Hail, lithe plastic card!


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

Nice!

Amazing what a little elbow grease can do!


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Wow, what a difference. Looks great!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

A thriving plant tank
The meter approaches zero
A dark precipice


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## Ankhari (Apr 30, 2018)

Your posts are delightful, not only visually with a beautiful aquarium but with whimsical poems. Please keep posting!

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk


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## Gillionaire (Oct 26, 2018)

Dang! Just realized I have come to the last post on this thread. This has been a great read and look forward to future updates!

SUBSCRIBED!


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## KZB (Jan 3, 2018)

Not only finding the balance for a successful tank, but finding the balance between tank and life is very hard to achieve. Something it looks like you achieved....Well done my friend. I hope to find that soon


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Journey to Keg King
Refills for the tank AND me!
Live another day.


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## Blacktetra (Mar 19, 2015)

ipkiss said:


> Journey to Keg King
> Refills for the tank AND me!
> Live another day.


You know, that seems very efficient. I might just need to look into that myself for my next CO2 refill.:grin2:


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

If only my local Airgas sold beer too... Then again, welding supplies and booze probably aren't the best combination.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

As usual, thanks for the kind words, all.. not possible without this forum so I share my thanks back to the community.



KZB said:


> Not only finding the balance for a successful tank, but finding the balance between tank and life is very hard to achieve. Something it looks like you achieved....Well done my friend. I hope to find that soon


Hah @KZB, you don't have to be too wistful. It may all be an illusion. This is what I resort to. Posting at 5:00am after being woken up by my progeny as the tank and house is starting to fall into disarray again!  



Blacktetra said:


> You know, that seems very efficient. I might just need to look into that myself for my next CO2 refill.:grin2:


Unfortunately, it sometimes gets expensive because he procures very interesting stuff. 





Phil Edwards said:


> If only my local Airgas sold beer too... Then again, welding supplies and booze probably aren't the best combination.


I used to go to a welding shop too that did some beverage fills on the side, but the guy who "knows about co2" seems usually unavailable and they would chill my tank for a good 45 mins before filling. They swore this was necessary. Refills became a chore -- sort of. Needed planning for taking the trip, finding a place to kill an hour, then returning. Then there was this time, they did that, filled for what seemed to be 20 mins and I STILL went home with a low tank. Then, it was kismet that this keg guy popped up closer to home and I happened to be looking for someone to do refills. Dude shocked me when he chilled the tank for 10 mins .. sometimes even less! So, while we were in conversation to pick beers, he would just casually stroll over to the freezer, grab my tank, and fill in what must have been 20 seconds, and weigh. I had my suspicions about the short chill and fill as the other place drew this process out immensely. This guy was confident, showed me the scale, and sent me home. After many times of repeating this, and always giving me the "baker's dozen" equivalent of a fill, I've learned that the welding shop just didn't have qualified guys for co2! Imagine that. At the heart of it, I think it was because they were too lazy to keep their big tank of co2 filled properly. So, there you have it, if you're ever in my area, go to the The Keg King. Give him business. Especially if you run that kind of business. He sells full kegs too for parties and restaurants. Help keep him around for my benefit. I will thank you too! >


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2019-05b*

So it's not a "planted tank" update unless I actually talk about the tank right? How dare I fill my journal up with inane chatter about beer, life, and kids? I must not disappoint those here for tank updates!! 










The difference between April and May may not ( hehe, may may .. ) look like much and bonus points if you're bored enough to do a what's different before reading on . 




but in reality, there were much changed. First of all, there were many spare hours spent digging this hot mess out of the tank .. 










That quantity was repeated at least 3 times. That moss was inanely intertwined with everything and it was painstakingly separated back out wherever possible. Clumps of hairgrass and stuff were parted from the mess and replanted. The project was just too immense to tackle in one go so I just did small sections whenever I stole some time. Was probably thankless in general appearance. The only visual clues are subtle. The hairgrass and microswords are in their own batches now, the monte carlo is now in a 'patch' to give some room for other plants. But most importantly, the middle ground area of plants have been cleared up to provide more swim space for ..

didja see it? sleight of hand! misdirection! It's new fauna!!! + 115% 










For the first time in probably over a year, I've acquired some new fish. Wife has always complained about lack of space (i.e. jungle) + lack of fish. "Where's the fish in the tank??" "I don't feed *your* tank because there's no fish to feed" etc. 
So, seeing some recent posts from @Greggz and @Immortal1 about the little blue-eyed rainbows had reminded me about my bunch a few years back ... 






Goodness!! Look at that crazy algae! 

(sidenote: youtube is horrendous for video editing. I mean, I understand free stuff is not necessarily good stuff, but in this case, it sure feels like free stuff is intentionally hobbled so you don't use it. .. all I wanted to do is remove some audio. Really. I'd love to hear the explanation of why that is so hard -- even if it was a business decision. You can choose tracks to "blend" with your audio, you can clearly muck around with the audio track. Where's the piece that just simply lets you erase it?? Good thing someone told me about openshot )


So, at my last Gold Coast Aquarium Society fish show a few months back, I had become aware and had visited a new LFS called The Aquarium Show. I saw the rainbows then, but was sort of hesitant to spend the money for them. I mean, I'm used to spending 99 cents for fish!  Ok, ok, I went as far as 2.99 for cardinals and/or glowlight tetras. Anyway, dude had a very clean and beautiful shop and I was compelled to support local, so I went back for some of those mini "bows." Pretty cool place, pretty legit guy. Go check him out. Please also help keep him in business for my benefit .. >

Unfortunately, they were out of forktail blueeyes, so I settled for celebes. 





























Wife wanted some neon rainbows, so I obliged. 




























Will probably go back for some blue-eyes when they do get them. Granted, these guys are no specialized fancy rainbows, but eh, it's a start 

annndd, that brings us up to 2 weeks already since the last 'tank update'. hopefully, I'll get a chance to do some trimming and pull off a water change by the time you guys read this.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi @ipkiss,

I've kept the 'fancy' rainbows and have learned to appreciate the 'plain' Melanotaenia praecox “Pagai”. If I obtain quality fish of any species I appreciate them. What I truly like about M. praecox is their strong 'schooling' habit, they don't 'wander' as singles very often in my tank.

Gary Lange Melanotaenia praecox 'Pagai' (F4)


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

@Seattle_Aquarist

Have they ever "accidentally" bred for you?


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## Discusluv (Dec 24, 2017)

ipkiss said:


> *2019-05b*
> 
> So it's not a "planted tank" update unless I actually talk about the tank right? How dare I fill my journal up with inane chatter about beer, life, and kids? I must not disappoint those here for tank updates!!
> 
> ...


Those Congo tetras are pretty amazing as well.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Discusluv said:


> Those Congo tetras are pretty amazing as well.


*were*  

I said a *few* but it was more than a few years ago. Unfortunately, I didn't care for them so much at the time. I was delusionally trying to raise some shrimp in the tank and they were constantly a worry. I guess they were ok while they lasted. One lasted quite a while after the other but in time, even it moved on. If journal pics are correct, I had them from 2013 to 2016.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi @ipkiss,

Almost every morning before the lights come on pairs are diving headfirst into the Eleocharis (hairgrass) in that picture - shortly thereafter the Corydoras sterbai are in there having breakfast. I'll probably breed them in the future however right now my 10 gallon fry tank has about a dozen Melanotaenia lacustris (Lake Kutubu / Turquoise) rainbowfish fry in it. I picked them up at the AGA convention and they seem to be doing well.


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

I will never keep moss in a thickly planted tank ever again. Maybe not ever again period unless it's for animal breeding. Like yours, the stuff I had got everywhere and caused all sorts of issues. Once it's in a tank, it's in there for good. I had to do a significant substrate cleaning that involved sieving it to get fine sediment out and found moss fragments growing IN the substrate. I thought I'd gotten it all out after the last major purge and clean, but I guess not. From now on it's getting the Riccia treatment; any tiny little bit that shows up gets yanked immediately, no mercy. Best of luck with yours.


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## Grobbins48 (Oct 16, 2017)

Those are some beautiful pictures you took! Nice work!


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## Jamo33 (Feb 18, 2014)

Looking awesome mate,
Truly a big fan of the chaos in these tanks. Jungle at its best and I love it!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2019-06*










Not much for June. I guess no news is good news sometimes. 

New fish are doing okay for the most part. There seems to be a celebes who's too clueless to eat or has something obstructing its throat. There's always one of those ... 

Now that things are a little stable *knock on wood*, I have time to pay attention, enjoy, and nitpick. I didn't notice this previously but the crypts are not the happiest. Neither is mermaid weed. They're there and not dying, but they're also not flourishing. Interestingly, the main flamingo crypt shed most of its leaves, I swore it died, and suddenly, it pushed up two or maybe one daughter plant. Can't tell for sure on one of them. They look like they're in the right location for a flamingo daughter but the leaves look more like regular red wendtii. 

So, since I'm no cutting edge experimenter, I'm probably enacting changes that guys on the Share your Dosing Thread has done half a year ago. I'm going to drop the K a little. 

NPK: 4.80 3.60 9.30 is being changed to 
NPK: 4.80 3.60 6.90 in a fresh macro mix. 

and because I'm a lazy bum and don't change water unless it's 2+ weeks, it'll probably work out to 
NPK: 10 7 14 

+/- 2 depending if I drop another mini dose to stretch me to the next water change.. 

Oh! recently @Maryland Guppy has posted about dosing once per week. He's discovered that EDTA Fe from CSM+B and I'll assume DTPA is pretty darn stable. 5 days with no deterioration. So why the heck am I still doing micros daily? See these are ideas I'm down with. Anything to lessen my efforts! "Front Loading" (tm @Greggz ) micros here I come. I know I just said I'm not an experimenter, but this is for a good cause  


Maybe with all the talk about osmocote balls, rich substrates, etc, I'm mulling dropping a couple beneath those crypts. I did have some in there a while back hmm... 

Oh, Monte Carlo mat lifted like everyone else's due to lazy trimming. Only a matter of time. So, since I can't get the whole mat back in, I've just resorted to 'patches' and just sifting substrate on top of the edges and the middle to hold it down. I've seen some 



 lately about adding 'details' to a tank to make a it more interesting so I guess, here's a "few extra details". 

Well, guess that's about it for now.


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## Hendy8888 (Mar 6, 2008)

I really enjoy the sense of depth in your tank. Not sure if it was intentional or not but everything draws me towards the open space in the top left. Very nice.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Hendy8888 said:


> I really enjoy the sense of depth in your tank. Not sure if it was intentional or not but everything draws me towards the open space in the top left. Very nice.


Coming from you, that's pretty high praise! Thanks! I've always enjoyed YOUR tank and aspire to be even half as fastidious in the way you keep your plants. Rest assured that any cool "technique" or design you see in that tank was not intentional. I am not that cool. Maybe all that scape browsing lately is paying off as the echoes of inspiration that I may have seen are starting to emerge. 

I _have _been working on that moss wall lately and that's currently the point of growth. I _did_ wonder about that space -- whether I liked it or not, whether I wanted the growth to close up the entire back. The space does 'feel right' and your noticing of it is now a vote for me to keep it.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Twilight besets us
Contents of a glass box rests
A good night to all


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## Immortal1 (Feb 18, 2015)

Great twilight pic!


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## Desert Pupfish (May 6, 2019)

ipkiss said:


> Twilight besets us
> Contents of a glass box rests
> A good night to all


Love the planted tank haiku!

Reminds me of the Bashō classic: 

And old pond
A frog jumps

Fuzuru ike (fools you care)
Kaeru tobikomu (cowards to become)


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Immortal1 said:


> Great twilight pic!


Yea! I had one of those moments that you and Gregg had. Just off of a water change and had only the back unit on while I lifted up the front one to give me access and saw the golden lloydelia and said .. heyyyy! 

but what good is a calming pic without an accompanying amateur high school level haiku?



Desert Pupfish said:


> Love the planted tank haiku!
> 
> Reminds me of the Bashō classic:
> 
> ...


Haha, I'm nowhere near that kind of level of serious about it. Shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as someone who has earned the right to have "classics." But thanks. I only do it to add some whimsy. As long as some folks find it entertaining, I'll try to do it as a mind exercise!

In tank news, 

It was time to roll some new micros!










So, I did some calculations and realized I was rolling with these amounts of dosing per 2 weeks -- kinda sorta. Always been a little lazy about the daily routine.
B 0.42 Cu 0.02 Fe *2.4* Mn 0.96 Mo 0.01 Ni 0.006 Zn 0.6
Look at that Fe! Well, the mid 2019 scuttlebutt about Fe is that's sort of excessive. So, the new mix has Fe down to 1.2 with everything else the same. 
B 0.42 Cu 0.02 Fe *1.2* Mn 0.96 Mo 0.01 Ni 0.006 Zn 0.6

A half hour later futzing with granules: 250mls worth and ready to "roll!"












Also, coinciding with this is the decision to go "Front Loading" micros too. Sorta kinda went front loaded for 5 days last week already as water change was delayed for 5 days and I decided to ride on what was already in there after the previous 2 weeks of dosing. Wait, um, wow, might have to rethink my concentrations. I just poured 30mls in. It felt -- unnatural.


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

ipkiss said:


> I just poured 30mls in. It felt -- unnatural.


With Burr's micro mix
In the small planted fish tank
Dose more at low strength


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Phil Edwards said:


> With Burr's micro mix
> In the small planted fish tank
> Dose more at low strength


so you're saying ... do NOT front load? at least not for only 20G? 
mind you, even at 30ml, it was merely 0.6ppm Fe this round. 

1.2 was calculated for both weeks cumulative.


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

My high school level haiku was in response to the comment about adding 30 mL feeling unnatural, nothing more.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Phil Edwards said:


> My high school level haiku was in response to the comment about adding 30 mL feeling unnatural, nothing more.


In a view too close
did not see high school haiku
Oh, terrible fail!


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## aquanerd13 (Jun 22, 2019)

Beautiful! I will be doing a 75 gallon planted tank soon

Bump:


ipkiss said:


> In a view too close
> did not see high school haiku
> Oh, terrible fail!


the second line has 6 syllables. it is not a haiku!!


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## Grobbins48 (Oct 16, 2017)

Curious to hear about how the micros go- I want to join you on this journey, but I missed a water change this weekend with the beautiful weather and back to back weeks of travel. Maybe I'll get a good reset this weekend and give it a go!


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## [email protected] (May 22, 2019)

Can you wrap up your experience and make a conclusion of what to do and what not to do, for those who are just getting into the hobby?


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

[email protected] said:


> Can you wrap up your experience and make a conclusion of what to do and what not to do, for those who are just getting into the hobby?




Hi! @[email protected] 

Well, I was asked a similar question about half a year ago about lessons learned from the tank, and this is how I answered... 

https://www.plantedtank.net/forums/12-tank-journals/936906-10-years-stumbling-6.html#post11147373

I reread it, just in case I thought differently, but I still feel the same about it, so I'll let you jump back to that post if you haven't seen it already. Be sure also, to go beyond that post into the Pro tips thread mentioned there. It was an innocent question that garnered a lot of useful tidbits from many experienced members of the board. 

Ahh, what the heck, here's the pro tips thread for anyone else who wants to read it instead of my drivel  
Planted Tank Members Pro Tips Thread! -- A veritable goldmine of thought nuggets!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

@Grobbins48, two weeks of front loading micros, 1 water change later, no noticeable cries of dissatisfaction from the plants yet.


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## Grobbins48 (Oct 16, 2017)

ipkiss said:


> @Grobbins48, two weeks of front loading micros, 1 water change later, no noticeable cries of dissatisfaction from the plants yet.


I am liking this story so far!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2019-07*

What a surprise. 










The left front crypt is a flamingo after all. After weeks of just looking generic with those maroon roundish leaves, it pushes up a pink one! And gooo osmocote. As I was telling Phil, I "acquiesced to these petulant" crypts by burying a good 20 osmocote balls .. single balls! not whole tabs! .. around the area of the three crypts and am seeing new leaves being pushed up pretty fast now. Previously, those things only pushed up leaves when it lost them so it was a net gain of nothing. Kinda just there in limbo. not growing, not dying.

but, all is not well in the tank. From the seat of my pants @Grobbins48, I'm not sure if front loading micros is working out too perfectly. The majority of the plants seem to be fine, but now that we're a few weeks in, some of the testier plants are not too happy. 

Check out the tips of these guys










A little out of focus and excuse the background floating weed. But this is "Red Nesea" being a bit unhappy. Crinkled tips. 

Even the flamingos, this shot a bit after the earlier above shot. 









Note the same left side front one. It pushed up a new leaf even, but the new leaves just won't open up -- stays scrolled up.

Some other guys I didn't take a pic of just overall didn't look so juicy and happy. Even midway last week, I ended up giving an extra shot of micros and then macros. So compromise and do a 2x/week dose? Probably will go back to daily drudgery of daily micros for a bit to see if I can get this new growth more consistent before I try that. Have to figure out if the flamingo just ran out of osmocote or if it's the front loaded micros. 

And finally, nothing like hearing Gregg's chiding voice when I'm slacking on my water change. Delayed by a week, but was pushed out this morning. 

Post water change happiness. 










Managed to luck out and got a pretty decent shot of the celebes










might have to change my avatar pic!


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## Maryland Guppy (Dec 6, 2014)

Ammannia praetermissa / Red Nesaea (Family Lythraceae) can be a tough one!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Yea. That was probably couple weeks ago. Got annoyed and lopped it all off. This is with the midweek erratic, behind on my water change, haphazard dosing. 

Photobombing rainbow included 

















I am realizing that I have nowhere near enough light to blast it back to its original red state from the store's tank. 

Btw hoping you may be able to identify these, @Maryland Guppy , it was sold as "stellatus", no other details!


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## Maryland Guppy (Dec 6, 2014)

Pogostemon stellatus !


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Thanks!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Maryland Guppy said:


> Pogostemon stellatus !


Thanks. What made it more interesting was that I got it in emersed form and took weeks to get it to the state you see.


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

ipkiss said:


> And finally, nothing like hearing Gregg's chiding voice when I'm slacking on my water change. Delayed by a week, but was pushed out this morning.


LOL that's a good one. 

I guess I have mentioned maintenance and water changes on more than one occasion.:wink2:

Good to see pics of tank. Everything is looking great!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2019-08*

Morning all!

So, got to apologize first, pics are sort of more noisy/blurry than usual. Messed up phone camera settings and didn't notice how cruddy until photos were uploaded. 

News wise, front loading micros experiment was officially a bust. Sorry @Grobbins48 . At least in this tank, I don't think I can go more than 2 days without micros. A day skipped is pretty safe, but hesitant to play with 2 days. Consistent micro fert'ing brought me back to this (Front loading macros still works of course) : 










"red nesaea" compared to a few weeks back... it was NOT happy. 











pogostemon stellatus is turning into one of my favorites










Trying to make the flamingo farm a little better. Realized back in January, I tweaked and lowered the dose of my gh booster. Was rewarded with steady declining crypts and the flamingos were no exception. The slow decline made me not realize how badly they suffered until I scrolled back in the journal. As the flamingos were making a comeback thanks to some osmocote pellets, I noticed that the leaves were still all curled lengthwise. Guessing it to be a possible calcium issue, I bumped up the gh booster a bit and there seem to be some life now. Let's see where the upcoming weeks take us. 










Finally, full tank shot after some much needed trimming. Not too visible but there was a lot "brush clearing" to create "elbow room" (or is it "leg room" in this case?) in the hidden areas. The jungle look was pretty but it was melting lloydelias and rotala ramosiors at the bottom half stem. Now there's a back channel between the last row of stems and the moss wall for fresh co2 water to sluice through and it seems to have improved the situation some. 











BBA wants its time in the sun too .. yea, I get it too. 










Can't raise jellyfish, so frogbit will have to do. This guy floats around... 










And finally, some parting shots of photobombing fish.


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## KZB (Jan 3, 2018)

The controlled madness you got going in your tank really makes a relaxing sight to see. That's the goal I am trying to reach but I am still trying to find a balance. With light co2 and ferts. Been doing this over 5 years and still feel like walking a tight rope. More like fell off tight rope more often than I would like. Lol


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

In magenta sky
Fuchsia plants bask in glory
Florida Sunset


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## Streetwise (May 24, 2019)

Beautiful tank and sunset, and nice haiku!


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## Ken Keating1 (Nov 22, 2017)

Great photo with the matching sunset, we don't see photos like that very often.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Yup. Couldn't believe what I was seeing myself! That moment lasted about 2 minutes before it went darker. 2 minutes earlier and it was a little too peach.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

very cool picture!


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## chicken.nublet (Mar 29, 2018)

ipkiss said:


> In magenta sky
> Fuchsia plants bask in glory
> Florida Sunset


That is absolutely stunning ipkiss.


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## Chlorophile (Aug 2, 2011)

Man I need to get me a seneye! 
sometimes I wonder if I have way more par than I think!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Hm, woah. no updates since September of last year! I guess end of year happenings came and went pretty fast. All a blur. Oh I miss it so. Let's see if I can see where I left off. 

.. scanning my tank photos ..

oh! seems like not too long after the previous update, I have these fishy photos. I believe I got caught up in a photography thread and it got me inspired to whip out my camera for some shots.





































and of course, the full tank shot of what was happening around that time as well.


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## Matt69 (Jul 9, 2017)

Nice story haven’t read it all yet, but so far a good time.


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## Grobbins48 (Oct 16, 2017)

Good to see an update! Great photos!


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Your photos are beautiful. I can't get anything so clear and crisp like that. Of course, your tank is a lot prettier than mine, too!


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## minorhero (Mar 28, 2019)

ipkiss said:


> In magenta sky
> Fuchsia plants bask in glory
> Florida Sunset


Awesome, really great shot and great tank.


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

Good to see an update and the tank looks great.

So those pics were from awhile ago?

Then what's going on now? How is the jungle doing??


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## Immortal1 (Feb 18, 2015)

ipkiss said:


> In magenta sky
> Fuchsia plants bask in glory
> Florida Sunset



Not sure how I missed this stunning FTS - Impressive!


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## Discusluv (Dec 24, 2017)

Ive been waiting patiently for an update! 
Thank you-- those photos made it worth the wait.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

*2019-10*

the tide ebbs and flows
the moon waxes and wanes
the life of a tank


Well, the "tank of madness" or chaos continues. Amidst the many things in life pulling me from the tank, I find my attention waning as usual and the tank becomes a bit more chaotic than usual. 










During a waxing moment, I did add to the collection. Here are: 

ludwigia white and 
Eriocaulon ratnagiricum










it gets pretty thick. that frogbit is not playing around.











another massive hack job later and we're back!








]

Well, it seems like the moss wall has entirely taken over the back. A nice flow of water through the back has brought the golden lloydelia's back to life. I think I also painstakingly cleaned out that entire mat of monte carlo of stray hairgrass. This is the trouble of intermingling species. That hairgrass -- just loves to get everywhere. Everytime I fall into disarray, some of the demanding stems get annoyed for having their light choked out by the frogbit. (Red Nesea, Pogostemon Stellatus) So, their tips show pretty ragged as a result. That crypt flamingo. I probably should give up on it. Also disapproving of my methods are the Rotala ramosior florida. Down to a single stem here. 

Anyway, this round got a lot of extra moss, hairgrass, microswords torn out to create nice flow paths for the water. Here's a more angled shot to show how "little" (hah, right) mass is left.














To finish the month off, a fortuitous sunlight shot! I guess this is how these fish look in "real light"












*2019-12*

there's a saying .. 
chicken poop is only hot for a little while 


so goes with the upkeep as the tank goes through another ebbing period.










I mean, it *was* the holidays -- or that's what I excuse myself with. I don't know where the last two months went. 


*2020-01 * 

a new year! a new beginning! a new round of trimming! 

fresh off of a water change, 









Looks like this time I've escaped with minimal damage to picky stems. Or at least, if they were annoyed, they recovered fairly quick. I was smart enough to wait a week to take the pic! heh. Oddly enough, it seems like this ludwigia white did better with less light. Here, it looks half okay, but since the taking of this picture, I've pushed a little more peak burst period with the R/B strips and it's looking less better than it looks here. There's something not right, so I think when it gets too lit up, its suffering. Either way, it looks nowhere as glorious as when I first bought it. It's becoming a problematic plant like my crypt flamingo. The erio rat, I thought it was doing well and during a turkey basting squirt and siphon session, I squirted all its leaves clean, but it immediately rewarded me with complete leaf melt! Down to the stub you see there. Since then, it seems to be recovering but there looks to be two plants in its place. Leaf melt triggered by squirting? Coincidence as it was going through its natural reproductive phase? I guess I'll see for the next time around. Other plants seem to be decent now. Golden lloydelia is real happy about the extra water flow. So's the Rotala macrandra. They form a nice red/green contrast right in the middle of the tank. Never thought I'd see the day of something like that a few years back when I was struggling with red plants. Counting blessings and knocking wood. 

was toying with post processing in google photos and came up with this: 










I was trying to correct what I swore was an improper white balance setting on my phone (honest! ) from the first pic, but man, the results .. 
felt almost dishonest to use this one, so I posted the original too, but at the same time, which one is real if it's just a little white balance, a little tint, a little color, ok ok. I promise to only post what I can tweak on the phone.. but that's post processing ... isn't it? 😄


@JJ09, eh, thanks for the hardly deserved praise! I suppose there is beauty in chaos. The Jurassic Park guy (Malcolm) sure does love it. For the crisp photos, if you want some ideas, here's the aforementioned thread that started me up again: 
https://www.plantedtank.net/forums/149-photography/1296849-photo-help.html
There's more than a few nuances on how to extract a good photo and there's more than few shots that end up on the "cutting room" floor when one does these. Thank goodness it's all digital now and not film wasted in the days of old. 

@Greggz, I see you actually "read" my drivel. Well, here's the update up to the beginning of January. I had meant to add this sooner, but you know, I get pulled away too easily.  @Discusluv, here's the real update!

And of course, as always, thanks for everyone else for the kind words and time spent on this thread!


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## zivvel (Apr 17, 2013)

@ipkiss, I am now current on your journal after first clicking in a few days ago. Great read! Your stumbling trail of trials complete with error and success is real and relatable, and you tell the story well.

Do you sometimes feel like @Greggz is a bot designed to make us all feel guilty when we miss our WC dates or skip the trim because "I'll get that tidied up next WC"? DON'T READ THAT GREGGZBOT

But seriously, great journal! It truly demonstrates progress through learning from your experiences and those you read about. Your tank has come a long way and is simply stunning.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

@zivvel, 

thanks so much for taking the time to read through my ramblings! Welcome to the forums!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Wow, and before I know it, it's been a year. Where do I start. I think right around after the previous post, things took a gradual downturn. Somewhat so slow that before I realized it, I lost my erio rats and crypt flamingos around February. That was my wakeup call. I realized something was seriously wrong with the tank and I had no idea what. I tried to backtrack and I couldn't seem to reverse the damage. I had random stunting all over the place and I just couldn't place my finger on the solution. Tried going back in my own journal here and couldn't seem to catch a break either. Finally, after another 4 months of traveling fruitless paths, I felt like I needed some quiet time to think and analyze things. I started to collate another journal of sorts outside of this thread and finally, was able to keep going further and further back to reverse things I did. I happened upon a change I did a whole *HALF YEAR* prior that ended up to be the key to the whole thing. 

I present to you, the "other journal" in all its glory. A year's worth of updates in one post! A year's worth of babbling and insight into one crazed mind. Obviously, I don't expect everyone to pore through it in its entirety, so feel free to jump to after the quoted section for the conclusion. 



> 201901 for 2:1 thoughts
> https://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=11163893
> From natemcnutty post, burr suggested 2:1 ca to mg while lowering k a little. Nate's tank was lacking in mg and his ludwigia was suffering. I wonder if I had a similar issue. Before it died, it was stunting badly and I do tend to od k in previously possibly misdiagnosing pinholes in leaves?
> ( 2019-02-07 there's a lot of talk of K antagonizing the other macros -- mulders chart. )
> ...


Well, the super condensed version is that sometime, late last year, I decided to reduce my K dosing. My current conclusion is that this somehow resulted in less than robust root health that cascaded into poor plant health. Then, late this year, I encountered clogged co2 check valves that took a while to identify. I'm finally at a point where I feel content enough with the tank to start posting again. If nothing else, the side trip this year has resulted in me finally acquiring a bunch of testing reagents and equipment and forced a rescape. 

Of course, all these words mean nothing without pics. So let's see if I have some snaps from the relevant time periods. No doubt, I was too bummed to take many shots during the lowest point so, there may not be any of those. 

So, as an idea of how blindsided I was, this was a picture in February. As usual, I love to get these sunlit shots, and as a whole, the tank looked "ok." In clarity of hindsight here, the crypts, erio, lud white, frogbit, hydro japan have all declined. Questionable frogbit roots should've been my first indicator if I could go back in time and tell myself.

*2020-02-03*










So, there was easily a gap of 6 months here where I can't seem to find pics of now. I keep telling myself, I'll snap some pics to document the struggle, but I guess I also kept saying, I'll take the next one when things look just a tick better. In the end, I guess I never did. Luckily, it's all documented it as indicated in the quoted journal above. Here's a shot in August where things seemed to 'start' to recover. I suppose I should say that despite the "struggles", I never really lost the majority of the plant mass so the ordeal was .. eh, relative I guess. There's probably not a huge disaster pic where everything was melted -- the majority of plant mass lost would probably be during trimming and rescapes. So, perhaps this year was more an inferiority complex of how cruddy my tank was compared to really good ones out there.

*2020-08-02*









August was roughly when I had the clogged co2 check valve issues, so I think the biggest sufferers here were hydro japan, rotala macrandra, and monte carlo. Pogo stellatus was also being erratic.

September saw a huge jump in plant health I felt. A lot of things recovered. If the other journal blurbs above were busy, it may just have been me obsessive over things. But that, after all, was the lesson this year. To see the small signs and react before things get bad. 

*2020-09-30*









I think this September post trim pic from a downward angle is more able to capture just how much plant mass had been removed. Gone are the huge globs of "stuff" on the left side that hides the filter pipes and there's clear paths for water flow to circulate between the "rows" of plants now.

Here's the rest of the shots for the year -- not much else to say, just maintenance and trying to keep things stable, always searching for that last little bit of optimization for the trouble plants: 

*2020-10-31*









*2020-12-09*









*2020-12-15*









Well, I suppose that's all for now, if any a reader has been gracious enough to stick through this entire post, I applaud and thank you for doing so! I also have to give thanks as always to the regulars here, and to people not on here, the 2Hr Aquarist, Green Aqua who keep sharing and inspiring. As you can see in the quoted alt-journal, they matter greatly in my thought processes and I would not have been able to dig myself out without your findings and inspirations. Finally, I feel like a special mention is that this year also forced me to recommit to the ole Greggz mantra of maintenance and elbow grease. Without robbing due credit, to all the beautiful tank threads on here -- hendy, burr, immortal, grobbins, nntnam, those pristine green aqua tanks --just to name a few, I'm sure you guys all had your part in convincing me, but it's Greggz who always badger people with it wherever he goes 

So, I close with an amalgamation of Greggz's maintenance/hard work mantra with another earworm as one of my younger kids have recently discovered finding nemo and finding dory: 

just keep trimming ... just keep trimming .. just keep trimming .

Happy New Year, folks!


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

Great post and good to see an update.

And yes, you have revealed one of the secrets to a planted tank.

Not glamorous, but good old fashioned elbow grease goes a LONG way.


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## Immortal1 (Feb 18, 2015)

Great post @ipkiss - kinda amazing when you put a years worth of ____ in one post. Especially considering most things in our little hobby don't happen over nite (i.e. slow descend into death, leading to excess yuk, leading to algae).
Really like your Halloween pic.
And yes, where would we be without @Greggz constant badgering about maintenance? See (section) above, LOL. Honestly, GreggZ insite and help to most everyone probably goes unappreciated way too much.
Well ipkiss - here's to another 10 years of "stepping" in the right direction.


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## Grobbins48 (Oct 16, 2017)

Great post, and happy new year to you!


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

fresh off of a new year's day trim 












some angles just impress more than others sometimes 




















and since I posted in the share your dosing thread, it'd be wrong to not include it in my own journal, eh? 

funny enough, seems like I came close to full circle from a while back. Either I lost a year to experimentation or this is the best I can figure out for now:


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## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

What an utter delight. I came at this sucker hard, and it still took me a couple of days. Thoughtful, funny, and pretty pretty pictures. it's why I'm here. Thank you and press on!

(what's that little spiky fella in the front right?)


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Reginald2 said:


> What an utter delight. I came at this sucker hard, and it still took me a couple of days. Thoughtful, funny, and pretty pretty pictures. it's why I'm here. Thank you and press on!
> 
> (what's that little spiky fella in the front right?)



Thanks! I'm glad it entertained. Those spiky plants are Eriocaulon ratnagiricum. More info on them can be found here and more info on eriocaulons in general can be found here. I've referred to them through my past musings as erio rats, so if you've seen me complaining about them.... those are it. They still stump me somewhat. I love them to bits, but ... they drive me nuts, what with the periodic melting of almost all their spikes -- as you can see in the one in the upper left corner. At least lately, I've been able to get them to recover. The first set that I lost melted and never came back at all. 

There's something I'm missing. It may very well be that I can't get at changing the water frequent enough to keep their soil area clean and thus every siphoning around them, there's a huge amount of debris that land on their spikes. Or around trim time, their roots get damaged by my pulling of their neighbors that invade their area, or trim time debris land on their spikes too. I'd consider squirting their spikes clean with my turkey baster, but I swore I triggered off a huge round of melt that time too. Sooo, all speculation and kid gloves for now.


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