# Synaethetic's 20g | dat quad-t5 tho |



## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

3/18/2014 fts









Hello all. This tank is a fresh start from an algae disaster.

Equipment:
aquaclear HOB (soon to be 2213)

Rhinox diffusor with pressurized c02 via ten lbs tank
nano powerhead for extra flow
surface skimmer ghetto rig'd 
aquasoil amazonia with some powder'd type for the hill.

Flora:
glosso
blyxa
riccia
the stems are aromatica-something . . .

Fauna:
3 otos
1 orange shrimp

Lights are being ran for only 6 hours right now, will ramp it up depending on plant growth vs. algae growth. Dosing lightly EI, trying to avoid any algae. Ammonia is at 1.0 ppm and until it goes down I'm going to go easy on the kno3. Nitrates are at 10 ppm.

Attached here are some mediocre images of my tank. Got to bust out the tri-pod for some better shots. This is the tank three days in.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

The riccia is not going to be there for to long, I realize it looks awful in that spot. I'd like to incorporate it somehow into my scape, perhaps with proper riccia stones and better placement. The blyxa are very tiny now, but will look better once they've filled in the space to the left of the stems. 

I will be updating this weekly, hopefully there will be decent growth to show!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Broke up some slate today in order to make some DIY riccia stones, here are some pictures. 

Ammonia and nitrite are down to zero, so I went ahead and added 6 female cherry shrimp and one male. One of the shrimp came berried.

Dosing for now consist's of a little K2S04 and KH2P04, excel and a little Green Gain. N03 has been hovering around 15ppm without the addition of KN03.

Plants are growing in very nicely, I will post a full tank shot this evening.

Berried shrimp featured in the last photo.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Here's the full tank shot I've been lagging on.

Need to get down with some custom white balance on my next shots.


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## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

Nice! Can't wait till it's fully covered.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Here is a better shot. equilibrium had the water slightly cloudy for the last shots.

Switching from my aquaclear to this cleaned up 2213 i have. Considering ordering some Bio-rio and hemp filter floss from adg.com . . . thoughts on this?


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Glosso needs more trimming.


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## sketch804 (Mar 2, 2011)

wow i have to say you have a really nice tank here! Love the stones and how thick the glosso is and it seems to be growing in quite nicely! Keep up the great work, cant wait to see what the future looks like for this tank! And for a 20gal, this looks awesome! My 20gal never looked that good ha!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Everything is growing! Added two anubis petites, one of which is receiving much more light than the other, we'll see how each reacts to my conditions. 

I'm going to trim the stems soon, leaving all the stumps that have new stems sprouting near the ground, and planting all the tops at an appropriate height.

Not sure how long the riccia patch is going to stay there... I'd like to have more background plants which would require ripping up some glosso . . . unless i just plant it through hah. 

Speaking of which, the glosso is growing very fast. I've trimmed it in a few areas but I'm afraid to do the whole trim-right-at-the-substrate technique.. it's behaiving as it should under how much light i have + c02 rates. Strictly horizontal growth in most areas. 

Developing some minor GSA. Partly due to not dosing enough phosphate, 5 squirts now instead of 3 from my solution. Putting me between 2-2.5ppm. This GSA might also be due to how much light im running . . .50 watts from the t5 for all ten hours + 6 hours of 65w cf. The glosso loves it, but I need to keep up on the ferts to avoid the gsa from getting any worse. 

Baby shrimp! Spotted a whole bunch of them this week, havent seen any today but they've been getting bigger and redder day by day. Hopefully I'll have more to come, hope the c02 doesn't kill them hah.


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## Capsaicin_MFK (Nov 15, 2009)

Very nice plant growth. How does that diffuser compare to a regular glass one?


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

The glass diffusor you see in previous photos is an old rhinox i bought in 2006. It doesn't do a very good job, the bubbles are large and quickly move to the surface. This cheap plastic diffusor works pretty good hah.

I'd like to upgrade to an inline c02 diffusor, possibly a diy, or one of the many on the market. Configured with a ph controller ideally. My current regulator is also getting old, the solenoid works but the needle valve is crap.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Water change today, tanks looking good. Eager to trim...


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## sketch804 (Mar 2, 2011)

WOW is that tank looking nice! everything is filling in nicely! esp the glosso, its blowing up! Is that Ricca that is pearling so much in the middle behind that rock?


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## Hawkian (Apr 14, 2010)

Very nice! Where did you get the plants? What kind of CO2 diffuser is that on the left?


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## ChadRamsey (Nov 3, 2011)

Nice set up and your LIMNOPHILA AROMATICA is beautiful. I just love it.

I have a ton of it coming in for my 125g. where did you get yours?


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## kcartwright856 (Jan 16, 2012)

Gorgeous!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Thanks for everyone's compliments! It mean's a lot to me that I have succeeded at growing this plants and breeding these shrimp.

@sketch804: Everything except the aubis and blyxa pearl like crazy. Part of it is c02 bubbles landing on the plants, but there are tons of bubble streams rising from the glosso so I know the plants are pearling in addition to this.

@Hawkian: I purchased all of my plants at a lfs called Neptune's Aquatics in Santa Clara. The c02 diffusor is a no-name cheapo plastic one i bought there as well, it gets the job done.

@ChadRamsey: Ah yes, thank you for clearly up my uncertainty. Purchased it at my lfs; ^^^ It's growing really well. The majority all have little stems poking up at the bottom, so when i trim im going to plant the tops around the stubs to promote some bushyness. I'm beginning to dose low amount of iron to see if i can bring out the purple more.


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## sketch804 (Mar 2, 2011)

This is the one I was talking about...but I should have just re-read your original post, I believe its Ricca. But beautiful tank!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

I've made some new additions to the tank, including 7 Dwarf Red Tailed Rasboras, 2 crystal red shrimp, and 3 amano shrimp.

There is some algae I have noticed growing in several places on my glosso that I am unfamiliar with. It's very hard to see, but there thin green strings, thinner than a human hair, light green in color, about half an inch long in several patches. Filamentous algae? I was flipping through an ADA magazine and in the algae section I saw what looked like mine. ADA claims amano's eat it, therefore I picked up a couple.


In this macro shot you can see a strand of this algae behind the cherry shrimp.









Happy shrimps









So small and difficult to photograph! They don't school too much yet, I should add many many more. They are minuscule, perhaps the bio-load of an adult shrimp. In the lower left you can see one of the primary clumps of this new algae.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Bump for an algae ID, before this get's lost in pages of journals..


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## Hcancino (Jun 18, 2011)

i think its a type of hair algae. i got some recently and havent been able to get rid of it. hopefully you dont get hydra next like i did


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

One of my CRS has passed this evening . .well, if it's not dead it's close. I believe it was due to excess c02 . . . as soon as I saw it not moving I added an airstone and shut off the c02. Everyone else in the tank, all the shrimp and fish, including the other crs, seem to be fine.

I turned it up from about one-bubble a second to two. My drop checker never yellowed, remained green. It's been blue in the morning from running an air pump nightly.

I'm considering running my c02 24/7 at a low rate, while still aerating at night by raising my spray bar. This will keep more of a stable pH... right?

The unknown algae is spreading at a slow rate. I ought to add more amanos maybe, a little army of them to ensure it's taken care of. I've yet to take a toothbrush to it, but thats my next step.

I trimed the aromatica, and replanted it at the stumps, it's a quite a dense thickit now. I'll take a pic tomorrow but the tank is cloudy from a bacteria bloom. I had a primarily empty 2213, just filled the rest of it with some eheim efstrate? or whatever it's called, the porous rock.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Another week down, another water change. I changed out 10 gallons as opposed to the usual 8 due to some water cloudiness, that until i poured down the drain and saw the faint green tint to it, was under the impression it was purely a bacteria bloom. Seems to have gone away . . .

My nitrates tested much higher than usual on wednesday, almost 40ppm! Which is what killed one of my crs . . . the other is doing fine, and when i checked the nitrate levels last night they were under 20ppm. After this water change they tested at around 5ppm. I'm hesitant to dose it up at all . . . not knowing if they're going to increase at all or not. Do not want to loose any other shrimp! Speaking of which . . found a dead oto today. He was the smallest out of all of them . . maybe he got outcompeted for algae, the rest of them are much fatter.

Hacked the aromatica, and a few spots of the glosso. Need to do something with the riccia, it's out growing the stones. I don't really want it in the scape anymore... i'd like to re-do the middle. Not a clue what to add, if anyone has some suggestions let me know.

I believe my noon burst of 6hrs with the 65w CF 10,000k is causing the GSA development on the glosso . . . 115 watts is a lot of light to have over a 20 gallon, especially since it's all sitting right on the tank haha. I've gotten away with it so far but with having to lower c02 for the shrimp has let the algae start off. Maybe i should just run the T5HO fixture? I'm thinking so, but in the mean time i've cut down on my noon burst to 4 hours. The silk algae is also spreading... i think it's due to low micro's, which i barely dose....

Some photos:



















The silk algae is just barely visible on the glosso.










Shrimp hunting?















I'm leaving tomorrow morning for a backpacking trip, won't be returning til later in the week. I'm considering not having any noon burst while im gone to avoid anything getting worse. Not being here to dose the daily excel is really going to get to me :icon_lol:


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Returned from my camping trip to a cloudy tank.

It's been five days since I have reduced the lighting, as well as up the phosphate's and c02.

I trimmed the glosso very close to the substrate today, as it had begun to grow over it's self. I search for information on the subject, but couldn't find much advice here on the forum, however a few youtube videos gave a me a good idea of how i should do it.

I'm hoping it will grow in just as dense with half the lighting... even though my fixture apparently places my tank within the high light range. I'll avoid any GSA and silk/filamentous algae this way hopefully.

The greenwater will hopefully fade away now that I have addressed the issues... I really don't want to buy a UV, or fus with a diatom filter. Tomorrow I will change out ten gallons, it'll look pretty for a few days but I imagine it will get worse again . . 

Plants are still growing very well. I need to rid the tank of the riccia soon, which looks like crap and grow vertical . . . wish it was dwarf riccia. =/










drop checker getting greener, it starts off deep blue every morning after the air pump shuts off. It's about as green as my water between taking that picture and now.










Pearling aromatica.









Interesting new growth on the left, where the stems are coming from the base, pretty sure thats more of how it's supposed to look.









With a root system like this; I am hoping the glosso makes a nice recovery.









Juvenile and adult cherry's exploring their new landscape.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

And here's the tank after today's 50% wc. Some improvement I suppose.

Would performing another 50% in a few days do me any good in ridding the tank of greenwater? Or perhaps daily 10% changes?


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Love the design on the scape. Not sure what to tell you on the green water, wishing you a quick clearing.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Thanks 2in10, the scape is temporary. The riccia needs to go and I am going to re-do the center. I'd also like to rip out more glosso in the back left of the tank to have more stems on the left side, to balance the tank more. I'd like to get more anubis and plant them inbetween then glosso foreground and the stem background. Eventually I'll also remove the skimmer and heater and replace them with a lilly pipe and in-line heater.

Hopefully the greenwater will be gone soon!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Did a ton of searching and unearthed an ancient thread that I had started with my old user name; take a look if you would like too! 

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/t...hops-50-gallon-update-10-11-a-post348828.html

Some of you old timers may remember some of my other threads back then.


Update:

Greenwater is looking less green day by day, very glad theres an ending in sight, considering I didn't take any dire actions to rid the tank of it.


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

Looks good. There are two ways to deal with green water, wait it out or use a UV sterilizer. You can change 90% of the water but the spores reproduce so quickly that you will likely be in the same place the next day. 

Are you going to let the Glosso grow up to the height of the rocks in back? I think that would look pretty nice.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Waiting it out seems to be working, as it is not getting any worse. A week ago i could not see the back of the tank. Now, 3 days after the sunday water change, the water has clouded much more. It's still hazey, but with a larger water change this weekend I think it will be looking even better. I've upped the C02 a lot, my checker almost went yellow today but i turned down right at the yellow-green point. The shrimp did not seem affected.

Since I trimmed the glosso I've been able to watch all my young shrimp, they are super active. Watched them swarm a crushed snail today, battling over who gets it. Lots of snails in my tank, i crush the the ones on the glass close to the surface and I have observed all of my shrimp feasting on the remains.

Theres new growth on the glosso much quicker than I imagined, its been four days since I trimmed it to the ground and theres new bunches of leafs sprouting all over. With a higher phosphate level I am hoping to avoid all GSA with this new carpet. Hopefully it will be even denser than the last. I may end up removing the large section of glosso in the back, perhaps selling it on here. I'd like to make room for more plants, particular red stem plants of some sort.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Greenwater has been defeated, as a new foe rises. The silk algae has spread almost everywhere. It's not severe in any one particular spot, but it's an even spread in most sections of the tank.

The two methods of attack I am considering:

1) h202 doseage at 4ml per gallon, disconnecting the filter and shutting off the light for a few hours, letting it spread around the tank via powerhead. I would spot treat but it'd be a waste of time, it's everywhere.

2) complete blackout for X amount of days. X being at least three days.

Plant growth has been superb, here is a fulltank shot. The glosso I aggressively trimmed is sprouting new leaves everywhere, we'll see how long I can keep the GSA at bay.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Spirogya! I'm a fool for having not discovered what kind of algae has been spreading in my tank til this point!

Yesterday, a few hours before my lights came on, I went ahead and dosed 50ml of a seemingly fresh bottle of h202. It circulated in my tank via powerhead as I left my 2213 disconnected for a few hours, to avoid killing all my BB. I've also upped my dose of excel to 5ml a day for the last few days, which I have now stopped.

I didn't see the algae fizz much, however there was an increased rate of pearling. A large patch of my overgrown riccia broke off from the bottom where it was shaded, likely due to dissolving browned growth. I was doubtful of it's algaecidal effects. 

Today when the lights came on I discovered a few dead shrimp and some dead snails. The algae has definitely taken a blow, theres not much left anywhere in the tank. The rest of the inhabitants, otos, tetras, amanos and abundant RCS are doing fine.

I'm considering dosing about 20ml this evening to finish the job... hopefully it's not going to be overkill.

I've hooked up the powerhead again to increase flow, as well as installing my T5's legs to elevate my light off the tank a little. Air-stone running all night, no noon burst, etc.... I believe I've safely eliminated the causes of my recent greenwater and spirogya outbreak. GSA is no where in sight with the new glosso foreground, which is looking better and better every day.

The middle section needs a severe rescape. I really want to try out some tonia, but i don't know if that will be too much green.

It's unfortunate that photobucket has ruined the saturation of these images. If only I had the latest PS installed on my new hardrive I would be able to post some better images. For now these will have to do. 

Take note in the clarity of the water, it's really turned around!


















The new foreground, and some shrimp roaming to feast on their fallen brethren. 








BBA has been appearing in a few spots, need to treat it with some excel soon.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Purchased some plants today, the tank needed some red. Moved the blyxa and anubis petite to accomodate them. You'll notice I also trimmed the rear glosso down. 

Any feedback would be awesome.... any at all hah.

Here are some shots:


















Happy cardina japonica


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## Pugman (Jan 27, 2012)

Your tank looks great. Have you thought about moving some of that equipment to the right? You've got plenty of tall plants to cover it up. Regardless it's pretty awesome.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Thank you! The heater and skimmer just kill me, theres so much crap within the tank. I have an inline hydor heater hiding somewhere within my house that I cannont find, and I'm also shooting to get an inline diffusor soon. I'm pretty sure the skimmer is unnecessary, running an airstone through the night keeps the surface pretty much film free.

If I had an inline diffusor, then I would not need to use a powerhead to distribute the c02.... overall I definitely agree that the tank would look more appealing clutter free.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

It's been a few weeks, I suppose I will update this.

There had always been a couple tiny patches of BBA hiding with the glosso in this tank, but recently it has began to spread around. It seems to be avoiding most plants, growing on the rocks and i between the glosso where it can find room. I've been dosing about 17ml of h202 for the past few nights, keeping my filter sealed off. It doesn't seem to be responding, so I probably could have dosed more. But rather than going that route, I'm going to see what improved c02 levels and double dosing of excel does.

The ludwigia has really taken off, the wallichi has taken some time to adjust but the new growth on it is lovely.

I need to do some trimming... but heres a few rough shots of the tank. The glosso is growing very nicely in the excessively trimmed areas. Aromatica is growing back very thickly, and will likely dominate the wallichi unless I do something about it, either take it out or replace it...


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## .Mko. (Sep 23, 2010)

I love your glosso it looks great =) is that airstone used for O2 at night?


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Yep, I run it runs from when the lights turn off at 10pm until noon the next day when they turn on. I'm curious that if I run my c02 24/7 i will have better luck against the BBA ... but i think the airstone would outgas any c02, but i could be wrong. Does anyone have any comments on this subject?


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

3/27/12








Removed some glosso, trimmed and replanted some stems. Added a lilly pipe... Crummy photo, I'll take a better one tomorrow with less bubbles. 

I think it looks pretty decent at this point. There is however an infestation of bba growing stealthily alongside it.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

BBA loving the rocks... ive upped the c02, to the point of a yellow drop checker (which you can see reflected.) However, I ran out of excel about a week ago and it had started spreading quickly. The shrimp don't touch it... :{


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## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

I can't help with the BBA but I really love the tank. If you don't mind a suggestion, I would actually switch the ludwigia and the wallichi so the red it acts as more of a focal point between the two stones to the right. If you want to get really wacky, have you considered adding some moss? Especially around the stones, I think the dark green would really stand out wonderfully around the glosso.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

There is some moss growing, about a golf ball size piece growing in front of and onto the large rock on the right. I ought to utilize it more effectively in the scape. Swapping the ludwigia and wallichi is a great idea, i will have to try it.


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## mahko (Dec 10, 2011)

Nice layout. Gives me some ideas thanks. 

Few questions: Why does your output point directly at your intake? Changing that layout might allow you to remove the power head to improve aesthetics. Intake and output on the same side of the tank allow the water to circulate better.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

I've been moving the equipment around a lot lately. Today I moved the outflow and powerhead to the left side of the tank, and the c02 diffusor to the right side. I'm not very happy with it already, it doesn't spread the c02 as it did the way before... in which the bubbles have no chance to reach the surface.

I'd really like to get a lilly inflow . . and an inline heater and c02 diffusor. The equipment clutter really detracts from the scape. Until I have some spare funds to support the tank I'm just going to have to deal with it. 

You can see how tall the glosso is in the previous photo. Since cutting the 120 watts down to just the 50w T5HO the glosso has decided to grow much more vertical . . . I'd really like to purchase some sort of improved lighting which I could hang with a DIY light stand. I know there are some ADA knock off's of Solar 1's and whatnot . . or maybe an LED alternative.

I trimmed the glosso today and discovered a dead oto which seemed to of wiggled his way down into the 3" thick carpet and never get out. Poor guy. Looked like he had been dead for some time... 3 otos remain! The shrimp were happy to finish most of his remains. Without the glosso forest you can really see the bba. On the rocks, small crypts, a bit here and there on some wallichi stems which are still transitioning to my aquarium. I need to start dosing excel again. 

I'll get around to taking some pictures tomorrow.


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## Hyzer (Mar 9, 2010)

Looking forward to some more pics. Sweet tank!

I was debating whether to go with glosso or not for a carpeting plant. This thread sold me.:hihi:


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Thanks Hyzer! The glosso is a lot of work, especially since it's more prone to vertical growth with my cut back lighting. 

This scape is alot of work. I cut about 25 stems of aromatica today, removing the stumps which have been in there a few months. Insane root growth, I was surprised. replanted a mere nine of the nicer looking tops. Chopped the ludwigia down a lot too. Now the wallichi has plenty of room to grow, and plenty of light to use.











Moss rock.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Quick cell phone pic update. Ludwigia is growing back nicely. Once I have a larger amount of red wallichi I will trim and replant, hoping to hone in on some sort of completed scape. The aromatica needs to go, I am sick of it,


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Added some stalks of purple bamboo. Considering removing the powerhead . . the wallichi and the purple bamboo dont seem to like the flow of my tank too much . . .

I hate to update this thread with no photo . . . will have to post one tomorrow!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)




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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Baby shrimp . . . baby shrimp everywhere. It's delightful scanning the foreground and every other place you lay your eyes you notice a tiny shimplet. :icon_bigg

The glosso is becoming irritating. I either need to replant it all and start a fresh carpet or switch it out for something better... HC I'm thinking.

I need some opinions, I'm going to be upgrading my light soon and I'm leaning towards either a 150w or 70w metal halide from fishneedit.com. I did some searching for reviews on these lights here and found that they give a very similar par reading to some ADA fixtures. They're tek t5's are apparently wimpy due to their ballasts so I haven't considered them an option.

*FEED BACK WOULD BE APPRICIATED!*:bounce:


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Current FTS:








Excuse the ugly pipes and neglected rear pane of glass!

The tank has gone through some phases which I have not documented on here. I ditched most of the stems, let the moss over take the foreground, let the blyxa over grow in the back. Ditched a lot of moss, hacked the blyxa and now the tank looks as it does in the picture. 

BBA has really been a PITA. I have raised my lights and stayed consistent with c02 and ferts. This combined with manuel removal is working well. 

The shrimp are booming, they never stop breeding, and somehow I've wound up with yellow shrimp when I have never had any before hah.


I'd like to take this tank down soon and move the shrimp to a shrimp specific tank, they just get in the way at this point hah.


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## onekraz3 (May 24, 2012)

Wish my blyxa looked like that.. Theyre growing but leaves are dying at the same rate. Like the tank makes want to revive the 20..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Removed the black background, cleaned up the glass.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Today I rigged my c02 to turn on 2 hours before the lights, and shut off a few before lights out, hoping that the early start would give the plants the advantage as soon as the lights turn on. I also turned it up a little as the rate seemed low. . . which was a bad idea. My current c02 rig consists of a atomizer leading into a rex reactor, the result is very little mist into the tank. Superior diffusion. I need to get a bubble counter, as I don't rely on the drop checker anymore.

Well, when I arrived home at 11:30 the lights were still on ... an hour and a half after the lights should of been out, however the c02 appeared to have shut off around 8 as I set it to. Oddly enough the tank looked super gassed, all the plants pearling far to much . The shrimp were all frozen, not moving, but not on their sides.

I feel terrible.... the air stone is running and they are moving now but still . . . I need to move my cherry shrimp population to a stable non-c02 no fert tank before some mishap kills them off!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Cell phone shot from today:


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Things are going well. C02 is out, going to refill as soon as possible!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

No replies since april?! What's going on around here! 

Is it because this isn't another 12 gallon long journal?

It must be the obnoxious equipment people dont like...


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## Chyrol (Jan 18, 2012)

Great looking tank! I read through the journal this morning, and it was cool to see how it has evolved into its current form. I agree, if you are worried, then you should get the shrimp out of there before something happens.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

nov 3rd:









Glosso is growing like a weed again. Note the patch of HC I am trying to nuture and spread .. slowly but surely


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

looking good


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## Smitty06 (Mar 25, 2012)

Looking good, but the anubias leaves seem to not quite wit right, it might just be the angle of the pic though. The leaves of the anubias seem to through off the scale a little.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

That's very strange! I thought they provided a nice transition from the foreground into the background. They're doing very good, and are usually the first to pearl during the photoperiod. Keeping them GSA free requires daily dosing of phosphate which the plants can't seem to get enough of.


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## beedee (Jul 1, 2010)

synaethetic said:


> No replies since april?! What's going on around here!
> 
> *Is it because this isn't another 12 gallon long journal?*
> 
> It must be the obnoxious equipment people dont like...


hey, i resemble that remark! :flick:

in all seriousness, nice looking tank man. it is very lush and calming to look at, well done!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

HC 10/17









HC today:










Full tank shot from today:










Shrimp shot with some plant detail:










As you can see I have torn up a lot of glosso, unfortunately there had been some moss growing very thickly right underneath it and the only way to remove it was to trim it out. 

I threw in some HC a while ago and it's starting to take off pretty good. It had come from my buddies no fert non co2 nano tank, and the HC seemed to need a while to transition to my conditions. Everything has been pearling lately, the anubis about an hour into the photoperiod and everything else by midday.

I've been keeping up with a steady dosing regimen, primarily of phosphate, the occasional nitrates and micros, and potassium at the waterchanges and midweek. The amount of shrimp waste really creates a noticeable amount of nitrate, so i barely need to dose much to maintain 20-30ppm


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## sketch804 (Mar 2, 2011)

wow, everything has grown up so nicely in this tank! Looks so natural!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Thanks! The tank has gone through a lot of phases, the glosso took over, then my blyxa did, now the blyxa isn't doing so great and the crypts are taking over, sending out runners everywhere. 

Where I once was not able to keep any shrimp alive in the beginning, I now have a thriving population that is still expanding.

My main focus right now is cultivating the HC, and possibly ridding the tank of glosso to make room for an hc carpet. If I can get the HC to take over I will probably remove all other plants and have a sleek HC iwagumi.

Deep down inside, we all just want a sleek HC iwagumi within an ADA set-up . . .


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

ShrimpZone


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

I received two Geissman Mid day 6,000k bulbs today. They are very bright in comparison with the 2nd hand, very used, bulbs I had been using for the past year, which were gifted to me from a friend. 

Will I notice an improvement in growth? I hope so! 

Posting some full tank shots tomorrow.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Intense pearling! These geissman bulbs are great. Here is a full tank shot for everyone. I've plucked some large crypt leaves, and you can also see where the glosso is growing back where i trimed.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Everything is growing very good. The blyxa will take off again I am sure . . . it's been loosing leaves and yellowing since ive moved it a few months ago. Hopefully it will come back.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Not much of a change, except for my melting blyxa! RIP blyxa, it's been fun growing you!

The HC marches on


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## Overfloater (Jan 12, 2004)

You won't be trimming that HC anymore if you let the glossy take care of it. Nice tank.


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

So lush. Looks amazing.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Overfloater said:


> You won't be trimming that HC anymore if you let the glossy take care of it. Nice tank.





talontsiawd said:


> So lush. Looks amazing.


Thanks guys!

The glosso drives me nuts, as does the moss that grows along the substrate with it. Very annoying. Never going to have moss in any of my tanks again!

Trimmed the glosso today, still having some substrate problems in the front. The shrimp really move the soil a lot.

changed out about 9 gallons today, dosed macros + micros and iron. Remineralized with equilibrium as well.


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## karce87 (Dec 6, 2012)

Totally in love with the carpet! Great tank!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Both of my current issues can be seen in this photo.

1) the nearly half-inch worm in the center of the frame. There are a lot of these guys. I dosed some fenbendazole last week and it seems to have done nothing, dosed a stronger solution today. We will see if it works...

2) GSA! I'm sure my anubis cannot handle their current location in the scape, receiving direct unblocked light. My phosphates are good, I'm almost postive it's due to my lights being too close.


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## Overfloater (Jan 12, 2004)

Have you been feeding blackworms?


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

I've never stocked this tank, only otto's and the cherry shrimp. 

I have only ever fed hikari shrimp granules and algae wafers.


After the 2nd dose of the dewormer two days ago; they appear to of been wiped out. Might add a little more next week just in case.


The GSA on my anubis is getting worse. I need to relocate them to a shadier portion of the tank, or ditch them all together for high-light only plants.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Pearling action


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Beautiful tank, very well planted and great choices


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)




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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

A week ago I added some rotala macandra and hygro-something, I cannot remember what it was labeled as. The rotala has adjusted well, the other is taking some more time.

Blyxa should be boucing back, here is a reference shot from when the tank was dominated by the blyxa back in august of 2012.









The new stems should add some more variety of texture and color to the scape. My next move may be to add more stems in place of the growing java fern, and remove the rest of the crypts. They started as tiny plantlets... now they have spread and reached the surface, pretty much taking over the tank. I like the look of all stems, and trimming to allow more depth to the scape.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Hello everyone!

Here's an update on how this tank is doing at the moment. I've been photographing this tank with my smartphone and while the pictures are decent, they are nothing to that of my DSLR, which I am temporarily unable to use. So I apologize for the lack of quality with these.

The rotala has taken forever to adjust to my aquarium; almost half of it has melted away/never taken root, although my dosing has been consistant and everything else is doing fine. I am also uncertain of what kind of rotala this is, it was listed as macandra but doesn't quite have the broad leafs.

















FTS:










The HC is doing great:









ive trimmed a portion to show the density it's achieved. I'd like to propagate it throughout the whole foreground, which would mean no more glosso.

The glosso is looking good, right now its about 1cm in height with it's fresh new growth popping up after trimming a week and half ago:










*Looking for plant ID:* This broad leafed plant here in my background is beginning to grow very quickly. Lots of new shoots formning on the tallest one. It was listed as hygro- something, does anyone have an idea?









The anubis nana has been doing well, in this image below you can see my two thickets, the one on the left has been recently replanted in a more neat, precise manner, composed of 7 individual rhizomes. The patch on the right, which is more shaded and develops less GSA is composed of about 5.


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## binbin9 (Jan 31, 2012)

great journal I love the glosso growth!


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## sketch804 (Mar 2, 2011)

your plant ID I believe is hygrophila corymbosa 'angustifolia'. It can grow fast and very large if you let it. And the tank is coming along nicely, growth in here is amazing!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Java fern take over







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## freph (Apr 4, 2011)

If you plan to propagate the HC more, you want to pull the glosso ASAP, especially out of the HC as I see some of it doing.. It invades HC really aggressively....found that out the hard way.


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## manzpants92 (Dec 6, 2012)

such a nice tank man. nice work


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Yes the glosso will be getting torn out sooner than later.

It does invade the HC, but the runners have thus far been easy enough to remove. It is tedious though, not nearly as tedious and invasive as the java moss has been. 

The java moss is everywhere, under the glosso, random parts of the tank, etc. Little pieces find their way everywhere and proceed to grow with out problem. Annoying!


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## Frank Abagnale (Jan 31, 2013)

The tank is looking really great. Very cool to read through all the post and see everything transform.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Long awaited dslr shot. No more glosso.


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## jacob_can (Oct 14, 2008)

RIP Glosso.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Here is a diy cube tank ive had set up for a while. Barebottom, no c02.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

I'm rather proud of how well this photo turned out. Utilizing the custom white balance creates a great representation of how the tank looks to the naked eye.

Rotala is growing very slow... as is everything else. im considering upgrading my lighting to speed up and improve growth. my choices are between a fishneedit 150w MH, or adding another aquaticlife t5HO 2x 24watt. Any lighting input would be appreciated. I have heard good things about the MH fixture and figured it would be a solid choice.

Shrimp population hasn't been doing so well... getting random deaths here and there. 

Here's the fts from tonight.


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## alkatraz (Jul 28, 2012)

*synaethetic's 20g aquascape (3/1/2013 Update)*

Looks very nice and healthy!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


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## plecostomouse (Jun 9, 2011)

Super cool!


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## Overfloater (Jan 12, 2004)

Very nice. 

FWIW, I have been using a fishneedit t5 fixture for a year now with no issues. I can't speak for the MH fixture.


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## Lil' Swimz$ (Jul 24, 2010)

Your tanks are beautiful! They are very clean and the growth is very healthy! nice work.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

alkatraz said:


> Looks very nice and healthy!





plecostomouse said:


> Super cool!





Overfloater said:


> Very nice.
> 
> FWIW, I have been using a fishneedit t5 fixture for a year now with no issues. I can't speak for the MH fixture.





Lil' Swimz$ said:


> Your tanks are beautiful! They are very clean and the growth is very healthy! nice work.



Thanks for the kind words everyone. I've been drawn to the 24inch quad bulb t5 by fishneedit but after reading some negative reviews about it here on the forum I have been weary of it's quality. I realize the reflectors may not be HO but I am more concerned about the ballest's malfunctioning at some point. I've never owned a MH fixture but I understand I would have to put some distance between my improved lighting and the aquarium with whatever I choose, which would of course require the construction of a light stand. Simple enough, I've seen what everyone else has used and have been waiting to design something of my own.

With improved lighting I would like to switch out the crypts and java fern for stems of a variety. I want a lush background that i can trim and shape. Stems are easy to switch out and move around, the java fern and crypts are not. It's going to be a mess when I remove them, and a shame when I have no room in my barebottom tank for any more reject plants.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

I've stumbled upon the lighting I'd like to purchase; the Hydrofarm Designer T5 4 tube system. Looks like a fair quality lght, with decent wide reflectors.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)




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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Hay guyz,

Been a month since I have updated this thread, so I am stopping by to post a recent pic!
The tank is doing allright, since the last pic I have trimmed the plants quite a bit, mainly the HC. I had neglected the task long enough for the undergrowth to all die, leaving me with this patchy carpet you see here.










I was up too late last night browsing the forums when I decided to order a Finnex Ray II for this tank. I think it will promote plant growth, my t5HO is getting weak it seems.


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## melanotaenia (Mar 26, 2013)

The Finnex II is awesome I have it on my aquarium and it grows HC and Glosso very well. It also gives off much less heat than a MH or Fluor. fixture

Tank looks good!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Here is a lousy picture of the tank right now. Stems were trimmed harshly on the day my new lighting arrived, almost two weeks ago. HC was trimmed just yesterday. Blyxa is taking off. 

Unfortunately i did not increase the c02 initially and some BBA is appearing on lots of the slow growers and down low on the glass in the back of the tank. excel will be arriving ina few days to battle the outbreak.

The stems in the background were sold to me as rotala macandra, and they seem to only grow side shoots as opposed to pure vertical growth, they're growing awfully slow, even with an increase in light, c02, fert. 
Perhaps they just need more time to recover from the trim... are there any tricks to growing this plant? It was very different looking when i first introduced it.

As of lately my CSM + B Plantex mix has grown moldy very quickly after mixing, even when i refrigerate it.... So I have not been dosing many micro nutrients aside from iron. This is likely contributing to the poor growth of my rotala.


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## freph (Apr 4, 2011)

Mix the CSM + B (you may also want to add some chleated iron to the mix for more iron-rich dosing) with some Excel (10~15% of your mixture should be fine). It stops the mold.


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

just read through the whole thread, love the progression of this aquarium and aquascaping


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Heres a video for you all to see.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Just a few shots from today. I've upped the K, Ca and Mg this week and I might just be imagining things but the blyxa has exploded with growth.

I've got a shot from two weeks ago and one from today of the blyxa, lots of growth in that time.

The BBA is really taking over the crypts . . . I've already pruned them heavily lately, and I am afraid I may remove them completely. Regardless, there is excel in the mail, it should be here by monday if I am lucky! Until then I will just have to keep the c02 high and manually remove it. 

BBA loves to grow on the lower portions of the rear glass, down by the substrate in the shade. Lots of GSA down there too. I have a favorite method of removal for these hard to reach patches of BBA. Start a siphon using a small airline tube, into a bucket or whatever you choose. Reach down with the tube in your fingers and gently scrape the BBA away with the end of the tube. It should suck up whatever you scrape off, getting it out of your tank, rather than just suspended in your water column. BBA also grows on various pieces of aquasoil that arent covered with plants, i use the tube to suck these patches up as well.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

I really wish these images kept their saturation! They are nerfed, the tank looks much better in person. 

Yesterday I took out what I thought was going to be only a few blyxa . . well it turned out to be a lot, so I phoned the LFS and took it up to them. Got some ottos and two different kind's of stem plant (which were in horrible condition) that were unidentified there. I am hoping someone will be able to tell me what it is! You can only see one of them in my images, the other is too short to take pics of, we will see if it grow in. But this bright red plant is already pearling in my tank. Seems like it will adapt and flourish.

I removed all the crypts to make room. It is simply amazing how many had grown into that corner, there was no room. Just a few chuncks of plants, as opposed to numerous ones like i thought there was going to be. I'll upload a pic of them from my iphone later tonight, the sheer amount of plant mass is rather impressive. Too bad they had become infested with BBA

Speaking of the BBA, the excel i ordered 8 days ago is still not here. When it arrives I can begin my assault on the algae and finally dose some CSM+B











Need Plant ID



The shrimp are on the comeback. Numerous berried females have been sighted lately, hoping to spot some more babies in due time, It has been a few months since I have noticed any in here.


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## fishboy199413 (Jan 20, 2010)

The tank looks great, I sort of miss the crypts though. The plant is Rotala macrandra.


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## jargonchipmunk (Dec 8, 2008)

read through this whole thing just now. Gorgeous tank and I love all the changes. One tank, many identities. I ordered the Finnex Ray II as I'm setting back up with a 20l. How are you liking it so far? I can't tell from the pics obviously, but how is the color in person? (say, compared to a standard T5HO 6500k setup)


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

fishboy199413 said:


> The plant is Rotala macrandra.


I agree. It should color up quite a bit as well.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Thank's for the replies everyone. Yes I miss the crypts as well and it was a shame the BBA took them over, pulling them out was tough.

*Today*









The macrandra is growing very quickly haha. Same with everything else, yikes. I really want to achieve that dense stem plant background. Going to be moving the anubis and rock with moss in a few days most likely.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Here is a crappy picture showing some of the growth lately.... things are moving along.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Full tank shot from this morning, right after the ray 2 turned on.

Too much blyxa! Things have started growing fast now that I am adding Excel daily to combat the BBA, which is disappearing.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

To further emphasize the rate of growth, here is a shot from just a moment ago. You can see certain stems are almost 1/2-1" taller than earlier today.

Spotted some baby shrimp as well! Despite high c02 levels the shrimp are breeding still.


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## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

Looks great!!!!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

rescaped the tank a bit. Took out a lot of the blyxa and trimmed everything, moved all the anubis into better locations.


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## All that is Fishy (Jul 27, 2013)

Great tank! Loved looking at it progress!


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## Duck5003 (Oct 1, 2012)

Tank looks great! As much as i love Blyxa, i think the tank does look better without it. At least in the position it was. Great update though, cant wait to see that carpet filled in!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)




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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

I got the urge to switch back to my good ol' ugly spray bar, took out the algae ridden lilly pipe for a cleaning. Removed a good amount of moss, trimmed the HC, cleaned the glass . . . plan on trimming the stems down significantly and planting the tops. You can see my two types of rotala on the left growing. The more reddish looking of the two is not growing very well ... you can see how magenta the Macandra is on the right hand side of the tank, which leaves me wondering why my troubled stems are not growing very nicely. Too many off shoots, inconsistant color, etc. I may end up swiping it out for something that likes my conditions a little more.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

9/19/13


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

synaethetic said:


> 9/19/13


That coming together very nicely sir.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

I've got BBA growing on snails . . time to order a liter of excel!


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## kwheeler91 (May 26, 2009)

Nice


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Time to wage the war! 2liters of seachem excel vs. the BBA infestation of my tank. I have also raised my lighting, as well as decrease the photoperiod from a foolish 12 hours to a manageable 8 hours. Going to be performing more rigorous water changes to see about improving the water quality.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

So the tank was looking good back in mid october .. like so:









The rotala macrandra was growing good, i trimmed and replanted the tops and they decided to take a turn for the worse . . they havent been growing well since. 

I have removed and manicured the algae leaves off the anubis, replanting each one of them allowing the HC to take over the entire forground. I have risen the lights about an inch, and reduced the photoperiod from a little over 12 hrs down to a solid 8. C02 has been switched from my faulty mixmax reactor back to a typical ceramic deffusor, which turns on an hour before the lights do. 



I want to focus on the three rotala species in the tank, and growing them all in unison. I am assuming my main hedge to be rotala colorata, based on internet research. Correct me if i am wrong. 

In the far left corner is a few stems of what I believe to be rotala magenta, which grows extremely slow for me. I have allowed them to grow out over the colorata to suck up as much light as they can, id like to designate an area for it to thrive in but i would need to hack away some of the colorata.

The crypts you see in my Halloween update have been removed. I am considering removing my blyxa, it has no proper place in my scape now, and without i would have a nice spot to plant some of the rotala magenta.

Here is a photo from the 12/6:










This past week I have increased CSM+B and Nitrogen and the stems have really responded quickly. I was seeing some deficiencies across all three species and I believe they were due to a lack of trace, iron and nitrogen. New growth has been much different and healthier than what I have seen before in my tank. I will post a fresh picture tomorrow!


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## Steezy B (Apr 19, 2013)

Stunning tank! Do you see any aggression towards the shrimp from your rasboras?


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Very keen eye you have there! I failed to mention that I have added 12 rasboras to the tank. They school very nicely the majority of the time. I wouldnt call it agression, but they do check out the shrimp when one deicides to swim around as opposed to sticking to the bottom.

I would like to add a few more of them to tighten up the group


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## Steezy B (Apr 19, 2013)

synaethetic said:


> Very keen eye you have there! I failed to mention that I have added 12 rasboras to the tank. They school very nicely the majority of the time. I wouldnt call it agression, but they do check out the shrimp when one deicides to swim around as opposed to sticking to the bottom.
> 
> I would like to add a few more of them to tighten up the group


haha thanks, they brighten up your tank quite a bit! I'm interested in adding shrimp with either rummy nose or harlequin rasboras, but scared about the shrimp becoming an expensive snack lol


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Here is the tank as it was today before trimming:









And here is the tank post trim/replant: . . . stirred up some debris in the water column.










Removed 80% of the blyxa mass. Some of it had BBA so it was necessary. Trimmed BBA ridden anubis leaves. Replanted the r. magenta to the right rear, and also did the same for the r. macrandra right in front of it. Trimmed the r. colorata hedge to give the other species a fighting chance for some space in the tank.

Didn't get a chance to touch on the HC, it needs a GOOD trimming. 

Everything grows very fast now that i have been dosing CSM+B and N almost everyday. Off to work now, maybe I will do some light night carpet treatment for this tank :hihi:


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Power went out for about a minute today, when it turned back on the fish were in a strange formation . . long enough for me to snap this photo. I had to toss some flake food in the tank for them to snap out of it.


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## lamiskool (Jul 1, 2011)

Thats awesome haha


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Nice tank! Really like the choice of plants and rocks. Your HC carpet looks great too. Seeing the progression of your pictures, looks like you got the nice hedge of rotala going. I"m surprised the bottoms aren't dying and stems are floating up since it looks so dense!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Some of the bottoms rot, but with increased nitrogen dosing I have reduced this. I've added a noon burst with my old t5HO, geisman midday and a 10,000k. Tank color looks great, plants pearl like mad but i still havent tuned my c02 correctly. My needle valve sucks, really need to invest in a new one, recommendations are needed!

Here's how the tank is looking right now:

















Lesson learned; keep your HC trimed nice and low . . . or else this happens. I am working on replanting the HC i do have left, and will trim it lower and with more frequency.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Carpet is slowly coming back, however my macrandra has slowed down a lot!
Sprayed some of the BBA with h202 today, we'll see if it had an effect...


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Boosting my nitrates and iron to fight some deficiencies. 
Did a minor trim today, the rotala grows much quicker in the middle of my tank than it does on the sides, but im seeing some progress all over.










Post trim


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Seeing some improved growth on these rotala's. I have been running my Ray2 with an addition T5HO with one geissman midday and one 10,000k bulb. I believe my nitrates and c02 have been too low, so I've begun injecting and dosing more with the plants responding within just a couple of days.

Plants are responding very well. It seems whenever I upload through flickr, or imageshack in this case, my photos come out very desaturated and lightened. It's pretty annoying. Need to get back into PS.


















Captured my rasboras practicing their synchronized swimming routine with this shot.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Here's a better shot to emphasize the rotala shrub. It has come a long way from when it was patchy. The right side still needs a lot of work, the macrandra is missing some key nutrients. With so many stems I am thinking i am simply not dosing enough. I've upped the NPK significantly and refined my trace and iron dosing.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

*Synaethetic's 20g aquascape*

Did some trimming today , finally getting this scape to where I want it


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## parrottbay (May 14, 2012)

Looks awesome, congrats. Got any Macranda left over?


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

It's getting there


























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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Awesome tank! Love the round mound bush look you got going with your rotala. I planned one mixing some harlequin rasboras and RCS. Notice any significant predation or is the cover you have enough for the shrimps? They look pretty peaceful all together.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

The rasboras exhibit a lot of natural behavior in this tank, unlike any other fish I have kept before. The males face off and swim adjacent one and other with fins tense and colors vibrant. A pair have spawned once, but the eggs didnt seem to last where they put them.
I started with 13 but somehow there is only 10 in the tank. I can recall two deaths but the third is a mystery. I plan on adding perhaps 8-11 more to fill out the tank.

Never noticed any predation on the RCS, the population has plateaued for the last year. Currently I can see many berried shrimp within the tank, but dont see many babies. Keep in mind I don't have any mesh over my inlet, most of the water is takin in at the surface through the skimmer, which usually has a small amount of debris around it to keep the shrimp from going up and over. The rest is sucked through the bottom behind all of the stems. 

Still tuning my fertz, heres a picture from today. My friend has a 29" 4x24w T5HO aquaticlife fixture that he going to let me use , does anyone recommend what bulbs I should throw into it? I currently use geissman midday and a 10,00k, figured i would order an aquaflora bulb and some even redder bulb.


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Thanks. I'm hoping to breed an RCS population like roaches. Tank is looking good there. LUSH rotala growth I must say. How are the stems fairing near the substrate? I went to AFA in SF. In one of their display tanks, they had stems about 2 feet high with 6 inches of good growth and the rest full of rotty old stems. Nice string of bubbles behind the macrandra.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

First day of quad t5
Bulb list: 
Zoomed ultra sun (6500k)
Zoomed flora sun (5000k ?)
Zoomed ultra sun 
Aquatic life 10,000k

Should solve some spectrum issues I may have been suffering from having only white light before. 


























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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Asu1776 said:


> Thanks. I'm hoping to breed an RCS population like roaches. Tank is looking good there. LUSH rotala growth I must say. How are the stems fairing near the substrate? I went to AFA in SF. In one of their display tanks, they had stems about 2 feet high with 6 inches of good growth and the rest full of rotty old stems. Nice string of bubbles behind the macrandra.


I haven't pulled and planted my rotala shrub in what feels like almost a year. I trim and let them regrow every time. Near the bottom the stems are a mess of roots, not much rotting.

The macrandra was loosing it's lower growth from some phosphate deficiencies which have since been corrected. As you can see from my photos I have yet to master consistent growth with my macrandra and magenta. Not enough traces? Not enough phosphate? Too much nitrate from dosing it to combat some growth issues with the colorata on the left? Perhaps it's a number of things.... I'm dosing more daily with traces and more heavily with phosphates while keeping the nitrates lower . . . c02 has been bumped with the additional t5's as well.

Only time will tell!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Rotalas love the quad t5!! Co2 and dosing improvements have began to payoff with some lovely growth. 











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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

Wow, impressive.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

talontsiawd said:


> Wow, impressive.


Thanks, man! 

There are still minor signs of deficiencies in the tips of both the r. colorata and the r. macrandra. Really can't figure it out, as 85% of new growth is lush and healthy while the remainder seem to not be getting something they need .... following a dosing regimen similar to what Tom Barr uses on his successful tanks. 

Leading me to believe it's like c02 or 02 problems . . . running 2bps and afraid if i adjust my crappy needle valve any higher that I will gas my fish . .


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Did a minor trim today.


Before









After 









Tank is due for a water change and glass cleaning. I will be moving across town in a few weeks so This tank will either be torn down or transported as is. 




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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Still need that trim ....


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

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## jcgilmore2 (Jul 10, 2013)

synaethetic said:


> Still need that trim ....
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Tank came a long way man.. Looks great. Makes me want a bush of rotala.

What is the blue tinted bulb? 


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

jcgilmore2 said:


> Tank came a long way man.. Looks great. Makes me want a bush of rotala.
> 
> What is the blue tinted bulb?
> 
> ...



Thanks! the blue tinted bulb is a 10,000k, it only really looks blue in the photos though, to the naked eye it is basically white.


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## gnikwoc (Jan 9, 2014)

How's this tank doing?

Also- you posted one shot of your cube, that looked fantastic! I want to know more about that! 
Don't see other posts by you about it.


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## Capsaicin_MFK (Nov 15, 2009)

I saw that you were once interested in buying the Hydrofarm light. I have the 4 bulb 48" light over my 100g and it is a really nice fixture. I hang it from my ceiling and because it doesn't have a splash guard, the bulbs are easy to replace and move around.


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## Chris_Produces (Feb 19, 2014)

Just came across this journal today. very nice, love the transition. I can definitely relate in that area lol. Actually trying a nice bush of Rotala myself. Looking great!


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Long time no update. The shrub has come a long way guys, but unfortunately I ripped it out and replanted with more stems, no rocks, pure dutch now. Will post pics of the tank today from the last few months to give you guys an idea of the plant density this tank reached. Got so overgrown I lost some of my fish to the jungle. New scape is promising, ill get some pics up later today.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Here's some progression pics I've taken over the last six months.


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## Jalopy (Aug 11, 2013)

Great looking tank.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Thanks Jalopy! 

Here's the beginning of the new chapter... Aquasoil is getting pretty worn. Still looking to start a new tank soon with fresh aqua soil. Good news is the BBA is pretty much nonexistent in the new scape ... Keeping my fingers crossed it will stay away this time.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

mating killifish. Not sure which species of they are, but they're a mated pair.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

View attachment 369953


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Incoming new carpet. Leveled it out and replanted. Trimmed the DD on the left which is growing the quickest at the moment. Things are looking good, got algae under control for now. Going to have some bushes soon if I prune and dose accordingly. 
View attachment 370817


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## umarnasir335 (Mar 2, 2014)

This is probably the most evolved tank on this site. One heck of a tank in very capable hands


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## dbw27 (May 19, 2014)

gorgeous


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

One month update. Had some nice bushes trimmed up, and then the moneywort decided to float up one day... It had been growing sense foliage but not many roots, anyone know why it would do this? Everything else is growing good, got a patch of Staghorn algae on some hc but it's fairly dormant for now. 
View attachment 378385

View attachment 378393

View attachment 378409

View attachment 378401


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

View attachment 378802









Dosing more micros, seeing some results.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

I envy how lush your tank is coming in! I am too much of a cheap ass to use co2 (and too lazy to mess with diy co2) so I'll never get that lushness XP


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Thank you, Aquaaurora

Co2 is my limiting factor at the moment. My aging eheim classic 2213 is barely cutting it these days. It powers my Mixmax co2 regulator which has a spinnning impeller to breakup the injected c02 bubbles. When the flow slows from buildup in the filters mechanical media, the impeller stops spinning and the c02 has a harder time breaking up, leading to a pocket forming with waterflow kind of falling through it. 

I'm thinking of upgrading to a 2215 and using some broader mechanical filtration to allow better water flow, thus powering the regulator more efficiently allowing better c02 levels.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Some growth over this week


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## Mumford (Nov 12, 2012)

Love the setup, you've swayed me into getting another light so I'll have 4 bulbs as well lol.

With the amount of light you have, how often are you keeping them on?


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## Sub1117 (Sep 21, 2014)

Hey synaethetic, I may have missed it, but what's your exact dosing schedule? The Colorata color is amazing! :hihi:


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## pebesiteuthis (Mar 12, 2014)

*Great Tank!*

I just read through the entire log. You've come a long way! I have a 20 gallon i've had going for a few months too, i think you're really doing well scaping for the dimensions.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Mumford said:


> Love the setup, you've swayed me into getting another light so I'll have 4 bulbs as well lol.
> 
> With the amount of light you have, how often are you keeping them on?


The Finnex i was using before was just not enough, even with the additional T5. Switching to the 4x T5 really boosted my growth, and with my bulb combination I am seeing good color at only about mid tank height, where as in the past my stems wouldnt color up until close to the top. I keep them on from Noon to 10:00pm. Anymore than that and I start getting too much GDA on the glass.



Sub1117 said:


> Hey synaethetic, I may have missed it, but what's your exact dosing schedule? The Colorata color is amazing! :hihi:


Lately I have been dosing standard EI with dry fertz, using equilibrium at water change and half way through the week for potassium, dosing KN03 and Kh2PO4 
for nitrates and phosphates. Aqua vitro envy for trace, supplemented with iron and csm+b. However, Ive been bad about dosing addition potassium and i fear ive been going overboard. Which could have contributed to my recent greenwater. So I'm switching to premixed solution of macros and a trace mix, to more easily dose using a syringe with ml's instead of mixing dry ferts each time i dose. The recipe I followed uses 5ml increments, one 5ml dose putting you at the low end of the EI suggestion. To meet the demands of my growth rate I am going to pay more attention to dosing on the higher end with this macro mix, while staying consistent with a csm+b, iron and Envy trace line up.



pebesiteuthis said:


> I just read through the entire log. You've come a long way! I have a 20 gallon i've had going for a few months too, i think you're really doing well scaping for the dimensions.


Next tank will be a 40gallon breeder, or something with a large footprint. I am not a fan of the lengthy tanks, this 20g high gives for a decent amount of vertical room to get some color in.


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Not sure where this tank is going, but I am noticing the R. Colorata responding to my mixed ferts I have been dosing this week. I believe i was lacking in some trace nutrients in the past. Getting redder growth at a lower depth in the tank. 

Kind of want to rip out the Cabomba caroliniana on the right hand side. It's a pretty plant, but it loves growing horizontally over the Blyxa. The 4 x T5 has a very even spread of light throughout the tank, id like everything to grow perfectly vertical but some stems decide to compete more with others. I've needed to rip out and replant the tops of the Cabomba caroliniana two or three times already in just the few short weeks that I have been growing them. I chopped the tops this time and just read that it takes considerable time to form new growth. However, sideshoots from the bottom were occuring in several stems which is apparently rare. I think the blyxa would like more of the room in that section to grow.

It'd be more suitable to find a red species to blend well with the D. Diandra and R. Colorata to fill that section. Unsure what I'd like to track down but im going to begin some research.


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