# my first run at a planted tank in 10 years



## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

Plants in bunches should be broken up and planted individually.


----------



## klibs (May 1, 2014)

Raymond S. said:


> Plants in bunches should be broken up and planted individually.


+1
Also be prepared for ambulia / water sprite to grow really fast


----------



## cheeziscrist (Jul 28, 2014)

I'm ok with them growing fast, I kind of plan on the tank doubling as a secondary food source for my turtles. I figure whatever snails , platys, or plants I prune can just get thrown in with the turtles and africans. The water sprite I did separate as much as I felt comfortable doing, the ambulia I feel I'm a little late. They are dropping tons of roots to the sand though, can I just cut the bunch above the plant weight and replant each stem individually? And it should be moved from mid ground to the background correct? And the the hygrophilia, should that be background as well or mid?


----------



## cheeziscrist (Jul 28, 2014)

im re scaping tonight. moving all the rocks to one side, like a boulder cave, with all the water sprite behind it in the corner, and all the driftwood to the other side, like a dead forrest in the corner. done all the rocks but gotta let all the sand settle so i can replant the ambulia, and figure out how i want to do the forrest. plus im trying to hide equipment, and open the tank up. i liked my initial scape but just kept seeing more and more potential as i looked at it more and more lol. i have a question for an idea i have though. i always see people have what looks like rivers or roads or paths in differrant color substrate. how do they keep them so perfect, like clear forms or something? ive tried it thousands of times and in a few weeks it just get spread into the other substrate. im thinking i want to get some blue sea glass, and make it look like a babbling brook or stream cutting through the tank.


----------



## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

"plus im trying to hide equipment, and open the tank up"
Wisteria plants get big/can help in this aria a lot. Same/w Watersprite.
"can I just cut the bunch above the plant weight and replant each stem individually?"
Yes, in fact it's a common way to multiply what you have with taller plants.
"I liked my initial scape but just kept seeing more and more potential as i looked at it more and more"
Oops...caution..you have one of the "classic" early stage symptoms of a common
aquarium obsession known as MTS....Multiple-Tank-Syndrome...LOL...
Rationalization/justification usually accompany and assist any obsession and those common to this one have common telltail clues. Something like..."But I have all this
left over "stuff" like rocks, substrate and extra equipment so surely you can see that it would be waisted just sitting on a shelf in the closet." "So obviously I should put them to use by getting another aquarium."
And if this trend continues you'll soon be labeled...normal...LOL...


----------



## cheeziscrist (Jul 28, 2014)

mts ya say..lol

Bump: whats a good stiff tall plant i can put under where the aquaclear dumps into the tank that wont be beaten forward to badly?


----------



## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

Haven't had that issue to say from exp but I think a wall of some type/w a space behind it just enough to allow the flow to pass down behind them(most of it) without trashing them so badly perhaps? The Wisteria(for example) might go about 3" from the back just to the right of the pickup tube. The center of it but the next one to the left could be just an inch or so farther out into the tank and then the next one farther back again. They seem to have a fairly sturdy main stem on them and if a semi-circle like that were there it might help/w that.


----------



## cheeziscrist (Jul 28, 2014)

Ok, thank you. The water sprite seemed to be forced forward when it was there. That a all now behind the cave and hiding the canisters intake and outputs, and not getting blown all over the damn place lol.


----------



## cheeziscrist (Jul 28, 2014)

not totally cleared up yet, but im much happier with this design. not sure if i want to put background plants behind the wood, think im gonna leave that open, maybe one in the corner to totally hide the heater.


----------



## cheeziscrist (Jul 28, 2014)

ok here it is all cleared up. hopefully this weekend i will be adding quite a bit more plants and one more light, for a total of 120w.


----------



## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

I'm still subscribed and will be watchingf for the next picture after what you said about adding more plants. Relavent to the light(s) have you read darkblade's "A Primer to planted tanks" ? Can't say it prevented me from overdoing the light in my tanks, but did
help me to understand why certain things happen as a result of it and a better handle on controling it.


----------



## cheeziscrist (Jul 28, 2014)

No, but I will. Can you link it or is it stickied sonewhere?. I also intend to add co2, but still not sure how I wanna go about it yet. Gonna search for that primer now, thanks.


----------



## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

Under the green banner at the top: clic members list/on members search enter darkblade/clic about me
at the bottom are two links, one of which is it.


----------



## Aquadawg (Aug 18, 2012)

Nice scape. I see algae in your future with that tank sitting so close to the window. co2 will help.


----------



## cheeziscrist (Jul 28, 2014)

ray thanks for the info. it was a good read. and thanks aquadog. co2 is in my future, and if algae does become an issue i can always drop the curtains back and close the blinds. im considering trying my hand at wine making, so i may try to use that as co2. anyone ever do that? i cant be the first guy to see it as a win win situation lol


----------



## cheeziscrist (Jul 28, 2014)

added a bit more plants this weekend, and a beautiful betta, 2 kuhli loaches, and 3 albino corys. added thr 3rd lightstrip, wich came with a 32w 8000k bulb, so that is in between the 2 40w daylight deluxes. pretty happy with the color temp now. also rigged up a temporary diy co2, just to do it cause i was bored basically, ill probably remove it unless i see some drastic results. noticed a few of my plants pearling when the sun was on them, made me feel like i was doing something right lol.


----------



## cheeziscrist (Jul 28, 2014)

Any clue why my wooden airstone on my one co2 input is growing whit slime of fuzz it looks like?


----------



## cheeziscrist (Jul 28, 2014)

did away with the wooden airstones in favor of glass diffusers. like it much better. considering either adding anther fluval 206, or a powerhead for a little more flow
plants are looking better and alot of them are pearling now, and my java moss is finally coloring back p. hopefully ill be able to start my lawn soon


----------



## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

That plant on the bottom right in the last photo(post #17)...is that camoba ?
How is it doing now that there is Pearling in other plants ?


----------



## cheeziscrist (Jul 28, 2014)

The red ish one I forget the name of, but it's not cabomba. Behind it is ambulia. They all seemed to be doing well yesterday morning, but this morning everything seems a little bland. Not sure if I need to do a water change, or up my fertilizing, I do know I will be swapping out fu first 2 liter and adding the 4th today. Yesterday I added 2 plants from my local lake, see how they do. Gonna try to I'd them myself in a little bit. Also caught a redfin dace, who looks quite awesome in with the plants.see how that goes as well


----------



## cheeziscrist (Jul 28, 2014)

ok, these are my two local plants i planted. pics are kinda crappy, but one i believe is coontail. the other i havent the faintest. they're still green and actually seem to have grown a little though


----------



## cheeziscrist (Jul 28, 2014)

ha since im running diy co2 now, should i have this moved out of low tech?
mods?


----------



## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

cheeziscrist said:


> I always see people have what looks like rivers or roads or paths in differrant color substrate. how do they keep them so perfect, like clear forms or something?


I used metal flash guard to keep the division. Then covered the metal with lava rock. I have seen other's use plexiglass. Using white gravel in the road was the easiest to keep clean.


cheeziscrist said:


> im considering trying my hand at wine making, so i may try to use that as co2. anyone ever do that?


TheDrake has a thread on it here.


cheeziscrist said:


> ha since im running diy co2 now, should i have this moved out of low tech?
> mods?


Some here still consider DIY Co2 low tech


----------



## cheeziscrist (Jul 28, 2014)

thanks for the info. guess im a wine maker now too lol. heres today. still playing with my co2 diffusion, but think im kinda settled, so eventually that hideous contraption will be refined and hidden in the back. almost wish i drilled the tank and ran a sump, still considering doing it. 4 of 5 co2 bottles are now in play, 5th goes in on wednesday. then i start rotating them. also considering modding my old seaclone skimmer into a co2 diffusion reactor thingy, just still trying to research it a bit. but i figure if i run the co2 line into the venturi on the pump, shouldnt the mesh modded pump completely mas up the co2 into the water? like if i pulled off the collection cup and capped it with a fernco cap, it would just be a huge reaction chamber then correct?


----------



## cheeziscrist (Jul 28, 2014)

trimmed, pruned, slightly rescraped


----------



## cheeziscrist (Jul 28, 2014)

today after trimming and cleaning. dealing with some kind of string algae. not bushy like hair algae, like a long hair gets in the tank and grows algae on it, but its clearly a form of algae. any ideas? co2 is running great. changing out 1 of the 6 bottles every 5 days. keep messing with recipes, and first bottle is drinkable, but gonna age it. second bottle... might be freezing to get the alcohol out and decant it. think i need to start running an air pump at night. randomly losing fish at night. lost my beta , a few variatus and guppies, and my black stripe dace. may be switching jobs and moving in a few weeks. gonna replace a good amount of my substrate. gonna go with a thin layer of miracle grow, a layer of my current substrat, and gonna cap it off with black flourite and black sand. if anyone could give me some pointers on moving a planted tank, they would be much apprecciated. im tearing down my saltwater system, and doing away with it for a while, partly because of my track record with moving it, and prtly because of my losing battle with briopsis. i imagine the planted tank will be a whole lot simpler though. also, any idea what the plant in the 5th pic down is? it came out of a local pond. i now the pic isnt the best but its hard to keep clean. it almost seems to attract dirt and dust. but it grows well. and looks prehistoric.


----------

