# Mysticalnet's 60L Underwater Forest



## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Have been thinking of getting ADA tank and pressurized CO2 for many years now. Finally I did it, comments welcomed!

Accidentally got a slight larger CO2 atomizer so had to DIY a little. 









Initial planting, about two weeks ago: 









I plan to trim the front and midground plants but leave background plants to be taller to hide filter intake/output and heater. 









Side view of the tank, I really like the foreground Utricularia graminifolia!









Thank you for looking!


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## Andrew H (Nov 17, 2011)

Looks nice. What type of atomizer is that?


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Thanks! Not too sure actually, just one off the shelf, has Chinese words so I assume from Hong Kong or China, works really well.


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Update 03.18

My background and midground plants are doing great, but my foreground plant UG is doing very badly, and I have no idea why...........

Anyone have any tips?


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## ChemGuyEthan (Apr 13, 2014)

Hmm, considering the speed at which it has died off, it was probably emmersed-grown?

So maybe too low of CO2 levels. I've not grown UG before, but I believe it would appreciate high CO2 until it acclimates to the new tank. What is the CO2 level for now? A new tank, so you can get away with cranking it at the beginning and then dialing it down when you add fauna.

The other plants are doing well though! Nice job!


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Thanks!! Yes I did read that they need high CO2 levels, hmmm I didn't test my CO2 but I am doing 2 bubbles per second. Yes it was grown emmersed. 

Maybe I'll crank CO2 up then and test CO2 too. 

Thank you!  



ChemGuyEthan said:


> Hmm, considering the speed at which it has died off, it was probably emmersed-grown?
> 
> So maybe too low of CO2 levels. I've not grown UG before, but I believe it would appreciate high CO2 until it acclimates to the new tank. What is the CO2 level for now? A new tank, so you can get away with cranking it at the beginning and then dialing it down when you add fauna.
> 
> The other plants are doing well though! Nice job!


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## ChemGuyEthan (Apr 13, 2014)

Yeah, no problem. With a new tank and one relatively large like this you could probably have the bubble rate at 3-4 bps or so. 

If you have a drop checker, just wait until it turns yellow and you should be good. Then the week before you want to add fauna, slowly turn it back down each day until the drop checker is green again, maybe 1-2 bps. 

Those numbers assume that you run CO2 only when lights are on...


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

ChemGuyEthan said:


> Yeah, no problem. With a new tank and one relatively large like this you could probably have the bubble rate at 3-4 bps or so.
> 
> If you have a drop checker, just wait until it turns yellow and you should be good. Then the week before you want to add fauna, slowly turn it back down each day until the drop checker is green again, maybe 1-2 bps.
> 
> Those numbers assume that you run CO2 only when lights are on...


You were right! I did a CO2 foam test and I found out that my check valve is leaking! So all the CO2 has been leaking out! Will get a better quality check valve this time and hopefully the UG will revive. No wonder I didn't see any pearling for the past week or so!


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## ChemGuyEthan (Apr 13, 2014)

Glad to hear you found the problem, hope that fixes it!


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## Azrie (Jan 5, 2011)

Do you have a list of what's planted right now? I like the look of the smaller leaved plants in the back left corner!


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Azrie said:


> Do you have a list of what's planted right now? I like the look of the smaller leaved plants in the back left corner!


Yes I do 

That plant is Ammania sp. Bonsai

The rest of the plants: 
- blyxa japonica
- hemianthus callitritriodes 
- didiplis diandra
- windelov fern
- staurogyne repens
- heteranthera zosterifolia 
- red tiger lotus
- utricularia graminifolia (melted lol)
- riccia fluitans
- rotala macrandra
- proserpinaca palustris
- salvinia natans

Update 2015.03.30 

UG completely melted, so I substituted with riccia instead. Had put on a tile and then bought a green lufa as the netting and zip tied it at the bottom of the tile. 










Side view:









The first explorer! 









More cherries









The HC is growing nicely actually, much to my surprise









One of my L144 yellow long fin bristle nose pleco, a little stressed after the transfer of tanks. 









Some crs hanging out









And having fun on/in the riccia carpet!


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Update 2015.04.02

Took a picture of my pleco and kuhli loach.


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Update 2015.04.05 - after a plant trim, all plants are doing great except plants behind rock on the right are growing very slow due to much less light blocked by the rock. Riccia carpet growing pretty well though. I still need to trim a little more in the front. 









Side view:


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

post trim lookin good


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## Lagarb (Jun 4, 2012)

Looks amazing, well done!


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Update 2015.04.07 - plants still doing great, did a mini trim and took some pictures of shrimps. I still can't get a shot of my emerald tetras!



















The large pleco is like an ostrich, it hides half of it's body and thinks we cannot see him, funny! 


















Plants really filling in on the left side.


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Lagarb said:


> Looks amazing, well done!


Thanks!


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## wrenn420 (May 22, 2014)

Beautiful job. you definitely have a green thumb. What are you going to do with all that open space right in the middle? A rare plant or a nice piece of driftwood would be nice. Also nice selection of fish by the way... great job.


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

wrenn420 said:


> Beautiful job. you definitely have a green thumb. What are you going to do with all that open space right in the middle? A rare plant or a nice piece of driftwood would be nice. Also nice selection of fish by the way... great job.


Thank you! I was thinking of leaving it open, like a path into the forest. Though a small rare plant might be a good idea too.


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

2015.04.10
Got some chilli rasboras today. Also finally got one stem of limnophila aromatica, hopefully it will do well. 





































Some of the plants especially the taller ones seem to be yellowing, so I dosed more potassium, might need to increase CO2 a little as well.

Thanks for looking!


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Update 2015.04.17:

Went away for a couple of days, when I came back my plants were crazy! This picture was taken after trimming:









The mountaineers:


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## rick dale (Feb 26, 2014)

*tank*

Beautiful tank. Great job.


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

yeah lookin great


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Update 2015.04.28

Finally was able to take some shots of my emerald rasboras and still young chilli rasboras.



















Pearling (photosynthesising) riccia and crystal black shrimp:


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

2015.04.29 - some shrimp close up shots!



















Thanks for looking!


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

wonderful tank! really well done and your shrimp look very happy


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

andrewss said:


> wonderful tank! really well done and your shrimp look very happy


Thank you! Yes they do


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

Nice tank, and great picture quality. 

You should try to propagate those couple stems of mermaid weed. A little horizontal line of it where the left one is would look good I think.


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

burr740 said:


> Nice tank, and great picture quality.
> 
> You should try to propagate those couple stems of mermaid weed. A little horizontal line of it where the left one is would look good I think.


That's a great idea! I'll do that once I get my stronger LED light. I'm glad you like the pictures, it's just my phone camera!


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Update 2015.05.04: 

Got new lights today! 










144 crazy bright 7000K LEDs!!









Pulled up some plants on the left and used those plants in my other tank. Added rotala indica and hygrophila polysperma.  yet to grow tall.


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Update 2015.05.12 - crystal black shrimps, otocinclus and CO2 regulators!


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Update 2015.05.22:










Plants are getting quite a bunch. Riccia as a foreground plant is getting out of hand, it keeps wanting to be uprooted, I guess it is "fluitans" after all. 

Need some suggestions, should I replace the riccia with HC or micranthemum "monte carlo" ?


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Update 2015.05.26 - I've decided to get an Ista max mix CO2 reactor, no more mini bubbles and all CO2 is dissolved; also switched out riccia with hc. Replaced some stargrass and added some red plants. Hope they grow taller and fill up the gap soon! 










Limnophila aromatica growing well


















My current plants:

- ammania sp. bonsai
- blyxa japonica
- hemianthus callitritriodes 
- staurogyne repens
- heteranthera zosterifolia
- red tiger lotus
- rotala macrandra
- proserpinaca palustris
- salvinia natans
- ludwigia hybrid red
- alterneathera reineckii rosenaervig
- alterneathera reineckii mini
- pogostemon erectus
- eriocaulon parkeri

Inhabitants:
- six emerald rasboras
- twelve chilli rasboras
- three L144 yellow long fin bristle nose pleco 
- three kuhli loaches
- six otocinclus
- one japonica shrimp
- cherry shrimps
- crystal black shrim ps
- crystal red shrimps

Thanks for viewing and reading!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

How often have you been trimming the riccia?


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

AquaAurora said:


> How often have you been trimming the riccia?


Every week!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

mysticalnet said:


> Every week!


I tried doing riccia tied to ss mesh with fishing line but it would lift and expose the ss.. might try using slate and scrub-y thing like you did.
I attempted dwarf baby tears but they came on a may that was wrapped in a non ss metal mesh that killed half the shrimp colony >.<
If you get hc, don't by the pre-grown on cocofiber mat one-its not safe. Best to buy several pots and plant them yourself. No experince with monty carlo to give an opinion on it.. I _think_ from seeing other people's posts on the forums that monty carlo is much easier to grow and maintain.. hc will lift up if not kept trimmed short (small roots+ buoyant stem/leaves=large floating carpet mat mess without trimming)
hc floating up(not my photo)


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

AquaAurora said:


> I tried doing riccia tied to ss mesh with fishing line but it would lift and expose the ss.. might try using slate and scrub-y thing like you did.
> I attempted dwarf baby tears but they came on a may that was wrapped in a non ss metal mesh that killed half the shrimp colony >.<
> If you get hc, don't by the pre-grown on cocofiber mat one-its not safe. Best to buy several pots and plant them yourself. No experince with monty carlo to give an opinion on it.. I _think_ from seeing other people's posts on the forums that monty carlo is much easier to grow and maintain.. hc will lift up if not kept trimmed short (small roots+ buoyant stem/leaves=large floating carpet mat mess without trimming)
> hc floating up(not my photo)


The riccia tied to slate with green bath lufa actually works really well, I think if I had trimmed more and lower each time it probably would have been okay. Though, it still grows way too fast. You should give it a try, it's still a very nice plant as long as you can keep it down. 

Ouch re: shrimps and non ss metal mesh... 

I actually couldn't get monte carlo for cheap but managed to get dwarf baby tears for a good trade/price so I went with dwarf baby tears:










It was grown emersed so I'm expecting some plant shock even yellowing before it gets used to being submerged. 

Thanks for the advice, I shall keep the dwarf baby tears trimmed well! It should grow a lot slower than riccia though right?


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

mysticalnet said:


> The riccia tied to slate with green bath lufa actually works really well, I think if I had trimmed more and lower each time it probably would have been okay. Though, it still grows way too fast. You should give it a try, it's still a very nice plant as long as you can keep it down.
> 
> Ouch re: shrimps and non ss metal mesh...
> 
> ...


Slower than riccia but still a fast grower in a high light co2 tank.


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Update 2015.06.05

Added some stainless steel mesh to prevent hc from floating up. 

I should probably do a trimming of all plants soon!


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## kimchilee (Mar 2, 2015)

beautiful tank! plants filling in so well. good job!


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## BayazGouramiz (May 13, 2015)

Nice growth! Ur tank looks great. I really like the unique selection of fish. Also what is the small dwarf plant in the foregroud ( between the carpeting plants)?

Bump: Not the elo one but the leafed plant.

Bump: It kind of looks like mint w/e it is I'm going to get some for sure.

Bump: Also I was wondering if the fish hang out and hide in the thick vegetation? Do they utilize that space? Or is that species specific? I'd imagine schooling fish don't kick it in thick growth? Either way I think it'd be cool to see them find cool places they like to hang out.


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## Islandgaliam (May 24, 2014)

I have really enjoyed watching this tank blossom...it's just stunning! Plants look so healthy, nice job


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

kimchilee said:


> beautiful tank! plants filling in so well. good job!


Thank you!


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

BayazGouramiz said:


> Nice growth! Ur tank looks great. I really like the unique selection of fish. Also what is the small dwarf plant in the foregroud ( between the carpeting plants)?
> 
> Bump: Not the elo one but the leafed plant.
> 
> ...


Sorry for the late reply! Thank you for your kind words  the dwarf plant I think you meant staurogyne sp. repens? They are pretty cool plants and as long as you trim them, they will grow low. 

Yes the fish definitely love hiding in the bushes and they even have their own territories! Schooling fishes go in and and out of the bushes together, like the chilli rasboras, pretty cool


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Islandgaliam said:


> I have really enjoyed watching this tank blossom...it's just stunning! Plants look so healthy, nice job


Thank you very much !


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Update 2015.06.17 - full tank shot and top view of some plants. I think I need more schooling fishes! 



















And just for awwws, my sister in law's hamster:


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## kimchilee (Mar 2, 2015)

looks great! what schooling fish you going to have?


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

kimchilee said:


> looks great! what schooling fish you going to have?


I have about a dozen chilli rasboras already. I think I might get more and also some emerald rasboras.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

HC has carpeted nicely! Tank looks great!


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Update 2015.08.01


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## Hetzer (Sep 23, 2012)

Spectacular!


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## LRJ (Jul 31, 2014)

Great looking tank! How are you liking the Ista max mix CO2 reactor?


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

LRJ said:


> Great looking tank! How are you liking the Ista max mix CO2 reactor?


Thanks! The CO2 reactor works like a charm! Certainly also makes taking pictures a lot easier without the tank looking like a tank of pop!



Hetzer said:


> Spectacular!


Thank you!


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Update 2016.03.10 work tank:

So, because I was so engrossed with my home tank: 
Mystical Mountains http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=961058

I totally neglected my work tank. 

Before trim, I can't even see any fish!









Before trim, top view, almost no flow, all plants have grown out of the water too:









After trim, I had 6 full hand sized bags of plants:









Side view:









Pygmy cories apartment!









Baby crystal red shrimp, adult one, and a L144 yellow long fin bristlenose pleco:









Pregant CRS:









Kubotai rasboras and galaxy rasboras swimming fast:









Thanks for looking! 

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

2016.03.11 - Some new additions 





































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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Update 2016.05.16:

Some pictures of the inhabitants of this tank:





































Limnophilia aromatica









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## Jamo33 (Feb 18, 2014)

Wow this tank is beautiful! 
Good work mate I love it!!!!


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Jamo33 said:


> Wow this tank is beautiful!
> Good work mate I love it!!!!


Thanks mate!  

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