# 13 gallon Planted Office tank (56k warning)



## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Everything is looking swell so far :thumbsup:
Is that anubias nana 'gold'?
I would consider adding some anubias nana 'petite' and maybe some other red plants or plants that have some red in them like ammania sp. bonsai


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## funkyfish (Mar 16, 2009)

I think your scape is very nice actually. So far so good, want to see more pictures as the tank develops and want to hear your opinion on ADA stuff


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## mgdmirage (Mar 30, 2009)

I think it looks great  very artistic actually.


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## illumnae (Dec 27, 2007)

clwatkins10 said:


> Everything is looking swell so far :thumbsup:
> Is that anubias nana 'gold'?
> I would consider adding some anubias nana 'petite' and maybe some other red plants or plants that have some red in them like ammania sp. bonsai


Yup it's Anubias nana 'gold'. I had 6 pots lying around not being used, so I got 3 pots into this tank. Where should I add the nana petite alongside the gold? The wood/stone area looks rather cluttered already.

The Rotala wallichii 'long leaf' and Didiplis diandra are supposed to turn orange/red and pink respectively, no idea why they're various shades of green now. Hopefully they'll redden up soon.

I'm considering replacing the HM with Rotala rotundifolia, which would add another dimension of red into the midground.



funkyfish said:


> I think your scape is very nice actually. So far so good, want to see more pictures as the tank develops and want to hear your opinion on ADA stuff





mgdmirage said:


> I think it looks great  very artistic actually.


Thanks


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## mgdmirage (Mar 30, 2009)

Are you going to moss wrap the branches in there?


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## flagator (Feb 3, 2009)

I think your layout is rather appealing. Don't sell yourself short. Keep the photo's coming.....roud:


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## illumnae (Dec 27, 2007)

Thanks for all the positive feedback 

I won't be wrapping moss around the wood as I like to appreciate the raw texture of the wood.

I've replaced the HM with Rotala rotundifolia today. It's still in its emersed form so it's not too attractive. It's also rather tall now. I intend to trim it to a compact bush once it has had a chance to take root, probably next week. I will probably trim the Rotala wallichii and Didiplis diandra over the next 2 days.

Here's an updated picture:


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## chris1993 (Mar 6, 2009)

nice , i really like the layout , how are the ADA products for you ?


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## Strick (Apr 6, 2009)

illumnae said:


>


Beautiful! Great scape!


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## illumnae (Dec 27, 2007)

Still too early to say about the ADA products lol, however, I'm not too pleased with how the HC is doing. It seems to be growing up instead of spreading. I think my 3x 11w of PL lighting may be insufficient. Either that or I'm too impatient and should wait a few more weeks 

Regarding my fauna, I realised that I have a lone neon tetra swimming amongst the cardinals. I told my LFS to just net everything in the tank (he had a small school left) and didn't really inspect them. Now the OCD side of me is nagging at me. I know that it doesn't really make a difference...but i want a school of cardinals, and the lone neon is throwing me off!


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## illumnae (Dec 27, 2007)

Not sure if anyone is still interested, but here's an update. As you can see from the picture below, I've made changes to the flora and fauna. I've replaced the HC with dwarf hairgrass and the midground is now blyxa japonica. The Didiplis diandra and Rotal wallichii are finally starting to turn red, though it's not obvious from the picture due to light reflection. I'll try again with a better camera soon. I'm not sure if it's due to the additional iron i'm now dosing, or due to the light nearer to the surface.

I'm considering either doing away with the R. wallichii totally to form 1 huge ball of didiplis diandra in the background, or whether I should extend the R. wallichii bush to the left a little to make it thicker. At the moment, I'm leaning more towards the former


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## Matt724 (Jul 7, 2009)

NOICE!!! I LOVE IT. But i think you should put back some red in there, maybe in those back corners, cause they seem a little empty. I love the hairgrass, much more pleasing than the other foreground stuff. Now how much (around) did this all come out to be? I always thought ADA was a little more on the expensive side, but now that I see this, it may be worth it maybe for my room or something.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

Wow it looks great! Although I do think you could use some red plants in the tank as well


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## FrostyNYC (Nov 5, 2007)

Great job. And the hairgrass is a huge improvement over the HC (which didnt really look like it was taking well)


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## illumnae (Dec 27, 2007)

Thanks for the comments 

I am trying to put some red back in, hence the dosing of iron and the use of didiplis diandra, rotala wallichii and blyxa japonica - all are plants that are supposed to turn red. In fact, as i wrote above, the tips of the D. diandra and R. wallichii have actually turned bright pink. It's just not so visible in the photo due to the light reflection turning it all white  

I'm hoping with the regular iron dosing, the plants will now turn all red. I'll do a massive trim later and cross my fingers that the new growth turns as red as the ones near the surface!

I agree on the HG, the HC was actually taking off before I removed it, but I thought HG looked more "at peace" with the scape and wouldn't stand out too much. The intention was for it to be a lawn after all, not a feature! 

Any suggestions on the background? Should I leave it 2 species side by side or turn it into a giant D. diandra bush?

I'll try and post more regular updates


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## illumnae (Dec 27, 2007)

I've removed the R. wallichii and made the whole background D. diandra. Hopefully the scape will look less messy with less plant types.

One weird thing I've noticed is that my Anubias barteri "golden" is sending out a stream of bubbles, but none of my other plants are doing so! I find it odd because usually I find pearling on the faster growing plants, not the slow anubias.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Beautiful tank. The fish look great.


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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

Very cool!


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