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Kribs

Man those are nasty fish, especially if you have a pair. I had two for a while and they terrorized every fish in the tank even my gigantic Angels I used to have. I don't know how many Bensaf has but based on that hodge-podge he only has one. Don't even think about putting any rams in there.

My Scapes

Tetra,
So far mine have been pretty mellow. Just swimming aroundb exploring their new jungle home. If anything they seem a little shy twords the other fish. That could be though because they are young and also the new fish in the tank. Right now they are only about an inch and a half to two inches.

Where they breeding in your tank when they were mean or just mean to be mean?

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

I think to remember that I have read/heard about these fish being rather mean and that would be a reason why they can be even with larger fish in a community tank. And I think to have read/heard that they are rather bad when breeding.

Keep us posted Wings,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks for the warnings. I will keep you all posted!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Where they breeding in your tank when they were mean or just mean to be mean?

Just plain mean They weren't breeding, but would beat up on every fish in the tank. I eventually scoped them out and put them in my than empty 12g with a rock. And then they had just each other (and a rock) to be mean to. They are African Cichlids.

My Scapes

Wait to see how they settle in, you may have gotten a mellow pair. Now is the honeymoon period where they're getting used to everything, just keep an eye on them. Like all cichlids, though, they WILL be defensive and maybe even downright nasty if they breed.

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Back in the saddle!

I am still hoping that I got a mellow pair. Although the fish I have in there are not quite whimps. Rasboras, rainbows, loaches and such.

Having convicts for most of my life I know first hand how nasty cichlids get when its breeding time. I do have extra tanks I can put them in if worse comes to worse.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

I forgot to add one thing earlier today. The rainbow I mentioned with the cloudy eye seems to be doing better. I will keep a close eye on them though just to make sure things are ok.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

How come he is better now? Did you do a major water change? Has anything else changed? It would be interesting to know what bettered the condition...

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

LF,
I am very very sorry but I lied about the rainbow. His eye is still cloudy. I must have just messed it up when looking at them. I haven't done a major water change since Monday and sticking to EI I wont again until next Monday. As tetra says: you can't be all thing to fish and plants.

Until then I will still keep the close eye. Maybe mine is cloudy too thats why I missed it!


55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Here is a quick little update while I am slacking off not doing my homework....

I pulled out one of my crypts. It was getting much too large for my tank. In the process of pulling up I also trimed the Sunset Hygro and planted it in the empy space left from the crypt.

I am still keeping my fingers crossed to be able to do a work plant order sometime soon. Thus I needed to make homes for new plants. On the list of plants I would like is: Gayi, baby teardrop, and needle leaf Ludwigia. Maybe some more nana. Thinking of adding in more hard scape.

Shrimp: I have not gotten a good count on shrimp in quite some time. The last one I seen has grown a lot and is now deep red. Very nice looking shrimp if I ever get to see them. (The cat fish I thought might be eatting them is now in another tank.)

My rainbow count is now at 2. One male and one female. The male is the one with the cloudy eye. I am going to do a large water change tomorrow morning. I found a good amount of junk in the tank when I was pulling and replanting. Just out of interest I will probably do a water test tonight just to find out what it has to say.

That is all for now. I have no idea when I will get pictures up again. Maybe when we get Loan money we will get a camera... but probably not.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Sorry about the fish Wings

As for the P Gayi - it's a weed in the truest sense of the word. Nice as as accent, but left alone it's too thin to be effective, just looks kind of ragged. Beautiful deep green/ brown color to it, but it's not really a stand alone plant. It will take a few weeks to settle in, then when it does, runners shoot out everywhere.

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Back in the saddle!

As for the P Gayi - it's a weed in the truest sense of the word. Nice as as accent, but left alone it's too thin to be effective, just looks kind of ragged.

I saw this plant in a LFS. It looked just like Blyxa.

My Scapes

Must've been a short stem - it's much taller and not nearly as full as blyxa. Just a tall, thin, reedy plant.

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Back in the saddle!

P Gayii is not my favorite plant either. At some point way in the past, I purchased a couple of bunches, placed them in the tank until the weekend (came mid-week) to do a real planting, and threw them out right then. It somehow doesn't look right, too much space between leaves, somewhat ragged appearance, just didn't cut it.

Sorry about your Rainbow loss, if I read that right then you lost one that looked healthy before (not the eye one). I am curious of the outcome of the water test.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

It somehow doesn't look right, too much space between leaves, somewhat ragged appearance, just didn't cut it.

I knew it was too good to be true. The P.Gayi I saw looked very dense and compact like Blyxa. Looked like it could be used in the same way.

My Scapes

tetra and wings, look at the "before" picture in my 4G nano log and you'll see P Gayi on the left side. I think that's what you can expect from it. I've read about it being used as a short stem foreground plant, so I guess you could use it that way, tetra, but it is rather thin.

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Back in the saddle!

I guess the reason this plant (gayi) caught my eye was the darker shade of green. Right now my tank is 98% hygro and very bright breen. I kind of want to mix it up a bit. Any ideas? If I were to use the gayi... I am thinking of putting it in front of the sunset and keeping it a mid hight.

Rainbows: Saturday morning I pulled a male that was dead in a plant. Sometime later that day the wife picked up a female on the floor. Right now I have one male and one female. The male is the cloudy eye. I did a NitrAte test and it showed about 15ppm. Not all that high.

I did a large water change of about 50-70% this morning and dosed as normal. See what happens with Mr. Cloudy eye. If he is not better by the end of the week then its to the freezer.




55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

As most of you know it has been hotter than.....well really hot in the northern US. We do not have AC in our house so the tank temp = the room temp. My plants seemed to like this a lot. I had to trim them 2 last week because they just started to over take the tank.

Any thoughts on this?

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Yesterday we got some new plants in at work. So I just had to bring some home to try in the tank. The plants are Rotala Magenta and P. gayi. Right now I just kind of stuck them in the tank but I am sure they will be moving in the time to come. My scape is still kind of at a loss. I don't know where I want to go with it. I would rather not copy one of your tanks or anyone elses for that matter. I need to come up with something of my own creation.



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Any thoughts on this?

At work the air conditioning is broken and I guess there isn't the funding right now to fix it. Last couple of weeks while it was really hot I noticed my display tank was at 92 degrees. Fish and plants looked normal. There are even some rainbows in the tank and they made it through just fine. Plants may grow faster due to the increased temp - I'm not sure if their metabolism is related to temperature for sure though, it would make sense that it was though.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Forgot to add something. LF you will much happy to know that the "thing" is on its way out to door to one of my co-workers today. You will never see it in one of my tanks again!

when I pulled it out I realized that the Anubias nana had at least tripled in size since I got it. In a bigger tank than mine I think this would be a pretty nice chunk of wood. Moss covered, big nana on it and a nice java fern growing on its side. Maybe I should sell it....

Have a good day guys!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

I guess my question was related to plant growth with higher temps. It seemed as the temp went up the plant growth did too.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

A little sad news on the frontline today. Last night I found one of my cherry shrimp dryed up on the carpet. That for sure moves my count down to 5 but I am guessing there is way less than that in the tank.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Wings,

Sad to hear that the Thing is gone for good, what do I have now to complain about

Truely sad though is the fact that a shrimp jumped ship. How is that possible? He climbed up the glass or what?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

little sad news on the frontline today. Last night I found one of my cherry shrimp dryed up on the carpet

Sorry to hear that. I lost a CRS when I moved my 12g from upstairs to downstairs, while transferring the fish. I think he jumped out of the net while transferring.


My Scapes

Sorry to hear the shrimp jumped out. Didn't your wife also find a rainbow on the floor. Is your tank an open top?

Anyway, sorry for the losses.

Cheers
TW

I am not sure exactly what happened. I have found the the glass shrimp are pretty good jumpers and I think that cherries are probably the same way.

My tank is an open top. I have not found any water any where on my light so I am not overly worried. I like having an open top so I can look down in there, the lighting is much more even and I don't have to clean it because of the liquid rock for water we have here. I found that with the glass lids they were dirty after only a couple of days and my light was very less than what I get from an open top.

The wife did find a rainbow on the floor too a week or so ago. I think it must have been spooked when she was vacuming or something of the sort.

I am hoping to find a few shrimp in the tank the nexy couple of days when I am around. Some reason I dont think I have many left. Maybe one out of six. Stupid me for having a catfish in there.


55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Hope the shrimps turn up

Cheers
TW

Look what I got my hands on...

Pictures of the big tank will be coming in the next day or two. Just a little swamped with homework right now!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Nice Wings,
That could be fun to scape. I see a nice mound configuration.

My Scapes

Thanks tetra!

Right now I want to add a larger rock to replace the grey one. Maybe I can get them both in there...

I also wouldl like to add some taller wood to it.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Well I am being a bad student.... Here are some pictures!

Close ups first:
Guppy
Female Krib
Flowers
Middle of the tank

Full shots:
From the Right
From the Left

Another from the Hex


I think LF had the same thing going on in his tank with the flowers. They go crazy! I have lost count now with how many I have had. It is kind of crazy.

Things are starting to shape up a little bit from my jungle of wild plants. The Sunset gives me the most problems because it grows like a weed. Maybe it is a weed!

I pulled out a lot of the wisteria forground and I now have Java Moss on rocks. I would really like to try some other types of moss though.

Any comments, complants or if you are in the mood...complements are more than welcome as always.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Wings,
I really like the flower shot on top of the water, very nice.

Here's my view on your tank overall for what it's worth.

The sunset (is that all sunset I can't see the pink in the pic) anyway the poly is just way to big. It doesn't grow in a neat shape like rotala where it can be a hugh mound without looking messy. Poly sorta grows like a vine in different directions and looks better if used as an accent or a smaller group, it's even more effective if used from back to mid like a street sorta the way Dr. Bonke used it in his dutch-style setup.

I like the left side, but with all that poly it almost looks like it's waiting to be consumed by the poly-monster.

My Scapes

Hey Wings, looking good. I like the middle shot detail. You have a nice variety of different colours & textures.

Did you score the hex all set up, or just no pics until you'd scaped it.

Your flowers are nice. I hope one day I see some too.

Do you have a camera now, or did you borrow for these pics.

Anyway, looks pretty good & your female krib is pretty. Any chance of seeing the male?

Cheers
TW

Sunset color: I figure if I wouldn't trim the tops off on a weekly basis, and trimmed the bottems I would have much more pink color.

Any ideas for a plant I could use in a larger grouping?

The left side of the tank has only really two plants. A crypt and westeria.

Hex: I have had it for a while now. Just havent had much time to play with it.
Old Hex picture

Cammera: Sorry but I haven't gotten my own yet. This one was from one of my classmates. She couldn't get the pictures on a disk for me (not very good with tech.) so she just gave me the cammera to take the pictures from. While I had it I couldn't resist taking some tank shots.

Thanks for all your comments! I like your input.



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Nothing too new with the tank as of yet.

Next week I am going to hook up with a guy to buy about 15 CRS for a buck each. Most will go in the 40G but a couple will get added to the hex.

I still don't have any new thoughts to what plants I wan to try. I might pick up some more red ratala this week if someone doesn't buy it up before I get to it.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Tonight I picked up 3 Amano Shrimp for 2 bucks each. For the time being I am keeping them in the 2G Hex.

On other fish tanks news:
The neibor guy has a 29G with two 10" oscars in it. Amazingly they are not beating each other up. I agreed to take them off his hands as he needs to find them a better home.

For the time being they are going in my planted tank. Thus why the shrimp went in the 2G Hex. I have a feeling that they are going to destroy my plants but I was told today that I suck at plants so why bother.

Ok so here is the real deal. There really are a couple of oscars and I am going to take them in for a short time(I hope!). They are not by all means going in the planted tank. I have put way too much into at this point even though some may think that I suck. They are going to go in my 55G that is below the 40G. Hope no one makes the jump down there!

So yeah thats about it.....



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

I think your tank looks nice, and your plants look healthy. Who says you suck your green thumb?

And are there really oscars in your planted tank? They should move asap. I don't care how much I like someone, I wouldn't take oscars into my planted tank. I'd help them take their oscars to the lfs, but that's about it. Anyways, I hope you were joking, and the oscars are in another tank

I don't remember you adding all that stuff about the 55G....I think you tricked me then edited it *shakes fish at wings*

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I have a feeling that they (oscars)are going to destroy my plants but I was told today that I suck at plants so why bother.

I'm usually a silent reader of your logs, with only occasional little comments made by me. In all my reading, I don't recall anyone saying "you suck at plants" I think you made that up

Your tanks are nice. Don't let an oscar destroy it.

Cheers
TW

but I was told today that I suck at plants so why bother

What is going on? Can't I even go on vacation without you guys having a nervous break-down ?

I reserve the rights to whine about tanks to myself these days, so please refrain from any attempt to top me in that department.

Wings - I believe the others are right and that the Oscars may mess up your planted tank quite a bit. I completely understand the urge to help these fishies, but at what cost? I don't know what makes you believe that you suck at plants, but it cannot be so bad that you would like to risk an established tank.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Sorry to cause a bunch of issues. I was a little ticked off at one of the bosses yesterday. It dealt with plant stuff and he trys to make you feel like crap just about everyday. It's pretty cool...or maybe not so much.

Oscars are coming to my house but not in my planted tank. I have put way too much into it. I am pretty sure I said that they are going into the 55G below the 40G (planted tank).

I am going to keep them until I can find a better home for them. Right now they are in a 29G. Each fish is about 10 inches. I figure my 55G is better for them for a while. I talk to enough people that I am sure I can find a home for them. Sometime soon. Beside that I am making the wife happy because she likes them.


I guess you guys got a little worked up and missed this!

Ok so here is the real deal. There really are a couple of oscars and I am going to take them in for a short time(I hope!). They are not by all means going in the planted tank. I have put way too much into at this point even though some may think that I suck. They are going to go in my 55G that is below the 40G. Hope no one makes the jump down there!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

But the Oscars will eat your plants ...



I got it now, that is what happens when you go away and then, after return, only read the last few entries and think that you know what is going on. I blame the others for misleading me in my answer

I thought that classmate of yours is going to take them back when he has the bigger tank ready, or was that wrong too? As you now mentioned that you are looking for a better home for them.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Not a classmate of mine but the landlord next door. They were left by his last tendents and he didn't know what to do with them.

He gave me the fish. Tank and all the goodies. I will be looking for a home for the fish. Right now they are very happy in my 55G that is below the planted tank.



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Wings, I'm glad that they're not going in the planted tank, but LF, do not blame the others. How were we to think otherwise

For the time being they are going in my planted tank. Thus why the shrimp went in the 2G Hex. I have a feeling that they are going to destroy my plants but I was told today that I suck at plants so why bother.

PS Wings, don't let your boss get you down. Your tank speaks for itself.

Cheers
TW

Yeah, most management tries to exert control over people by making them feel dumb....fight the power*shakes fish at power*

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Maybe I should start putting all the dead fish in his truck!

Yeah, most management tries to exert control over people by making them feel dumb

And as I know from all my Education classes. That doesn't work. People get angery. When people are angry they don't work as they could or should.



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Just a little tank update:

Last night I pulled out my skunk loaches and put them in one of the 55Gs. I did this because I have read the loaches will make a sack out of shrimp.

In the prosses of removing the loaches I pulled up all the sunset hygro and only replaced about 10-15% of it. My goal is to start trimming the bottems to see if I can get the tops to turn bright pink. It would be imposible to do this with the mass I had of it. All the extra is going to take a nice little trip into the store today.

Earlier this morning I bought a nice little handful of CRS for $1 each. The plan was to buy 15 but he gave me at least 20 of them. Most of them were babies so they went intot the 2G hex while the larger ones will go into the planted 40G. There are about 9 or 10 that are about 3/4 of an inch long.





55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Well the lonly shrimp I have found in the 40G are ones the krips are eatting. (Not a happy Wings!) So far, I have seen both the female and male each get one. Who knows how many they have really ate!

I guess if I am going to do shrimp in this tank I am going to have to try larger ones. I added one Amano yesterday too but I haven't seem him come out of hiding yet either.

Game plan is to either try and grow up the little guys in the 2G hex and then add them in at full size or try bigger shrimp. Something like Bambo or Amanos.



On another note. Any good ideas for plant to try in my tank? I seem to have a lot of room being I cut the hygro moster down to size.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Well the lonly shrimp I have found in the 40G are ones the krips are eatting. (Not a happy Wings!) So far, I have seen both the female and male each get one. Who knows how many they have really ate!

If my Apistos ate my CRS than those Krips will suck them in like spagetti. I don't even think the Amano is safe.
I was thinking of getting a Bamboo. I don't think they'll do much for algae, but they'll interesting.

As for plants, what can you get your hands? If it's the sunset hygro than you probably need something with a rich green to constrast. I know alot of people don't like them, but if you could grow a dark green cabomba really well it would probably constrast nicely. From your pic everything looks on the lighter shade of green.



My Scapes

Tetra,
I think we are on the same track. The thing that bothers me the most about my tank is the lack of contrast in colors. It is almost all bright green.

Here is a painted picture

This is kind of what I have going on right now after the major plant pull up.

Red: Rotala Magenta
Green: Gayi
Pink: Sunset

I am not so sure the Rotala is going to make it. I think it was grown is some extremely high light when it came into the store(very small leaves).


It is most definatly subject to change as I am not really happy with it. I would like to try some new plants. The thing is I am probably going to have to order them being I can't really get much localy unless I do a road trip or wait for a club auction.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Here are some plants I am tempted to try:

Egeria Najas
Didiplis Diandra
Babytears
Bacopa caroliniana

I know there are not a lot of color differences in these plants but I like the idea of differnt leaf shapes and such. Chances are I would have to make an online order or do some extreme sweet talking to my boss to get my hands on them.

I am also temped to try making a moss wall but I have a feeling that could be quite messy.



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Here are some plants I am tempted to try:
Egeria Najas
Didiplis Diandra
Babytears
Bacopa caroliniana

I've had didiplis diandra. Very delicate, even more so than stargrass. It will be red in highlight, good fert environment, but if not it will be light green. I eventually gave up on it.

Babytears is nice, but it get's all over the tank.
The Bacopa is a firm plant and will be easy to maintain. It's got some color to it.






My Scapes

The Bacopa is a firm plant and will be easy to maintain. It's got some color to it.

It also has a lovely smell to it and adds a nice seasoning to your favorite seafood dish.

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Back in the saddle!

It also has a lovely smell to it and adds a nice seasoning to your favorite seafood dish.

Nowher you making fun of me . You've become quite cocky since your Nano Success. I believe Bensaf once stated it quite nicely "Checky Young Pup"

My Scapes

I've had didiplis diandra. Very delicate, even more so than stargrass. It will be red in highlight, good fert environment, but if not it will be light green. I eventually gave up on it.

Babytears is nice, but it get's all over the tank.
The Bacopa is a firm plant and will be easy to maintain. It's got some color to it.

Thanks for the advice Tetra. Didiplis diandra might be a little more than I want to take on right now. Egeria Najas seems like a pretty easy plant though from their discription. Might have to make an order for it someday.

The Bacopa we have at work right now so I think I am going to use the Sunset I brought in as a trade for it.

As for placement of the Bacopa I am thinking on the back side of the Sunset. What do you think?

It also has a lovely smell to it and adds a nice seasoning to your favorite seafood dish.

Nowher,
I know I have heard you talk about such things before. Have you actualy tryed it? I have read in a book somewheres about it too. I think tetra is feeling threatend by your giant looking mini tank. His panties must be in a bunch....



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

His panties must be in a bunch....

Now I'm getting scared



My Scapes

Well you weren't playing very nice with Nowher so something must be wrong!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Bacopa actually does smell very nice and minty. I bet it is edible. I almost tried a little nibble when I had it in my tank.

Oh, didiplis was the plant I forgot about in my thread. I'm hoping that stuff will do well for me. I will need some small red plants for contrast I think, and it will probably be a good indicator of good/bad ferts.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Nowher you making fun of me . You've become quite cocky since your Nano Success. I believe Bensaf once stated it quite nicely "Checky Young Pup"

I hope I haven't been coming off as cocky I'm just excited about planted tanks again after having some success with the nano. It feels good to know doing something a certain way works, then actually doing it and having it work. Tetra, with your tanks you must certainly know how it feels. I feel like I'm getting my aquascaping vision going, I'm better able to imagine layouts and picture how something might grow, see it in my mind's eye - it's a good feeling My apologies if it came off wrong!

As for the bacopa thing, I was not making fun, I'm serious about the smell, it smells great and I know it - along with other plants, Pennywort being one - is used to season food in some places. I've tried it before, it has an interesting taste. It not going to make you throw out the fresh basil you're growing in your garden, though. Take a bite, it won't kill you. (This advice coming from the guy who once accidentally rubbed cyanobacteria in his eyes and had conjunctavitis for two weeks

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Back in the saddle!

Nowher,
No I actually thought you were making fun of the way I described the Bacopa, I honestly didn't know about the culinary benefits. No need to apologize either way.

Your not cocky just checky

My Scapes

Darn,

Another day that I am tied up at work and you guys get all feisty

Bacopa - Schmapopa

All I can say is that mine didn't smell and I cannot state its flavor as I have never tried it.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Schmapopa???? I tryed to google it and nothing even came up!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Well last night there was a random power outage on our block. If you looked a couple of blocks down there was power.

Everything seemed to be just fine in the morning. The power came back on in the middle of the night and all the filters restarted except the one on the Hex.

Right now I am having a bit of a problem with my timmers. They are getting stuck and it is starting to bug me! I might have to go out and get some new ones....

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

The timer problem is fixed. Lets just say that I am not always the brightest cookie in the jar. What i had going on was a timer running a power strip and another timer on the power strip. If the Power goes out to the strip the timer on the strip doesn't keep time any more..... Somedays I don't know what to do with myself.


As for the tank itself. Things seem to be growing pretty well. I think my style is starting to lean more towards a Dutch set up. I wish I had a cammera to show you some pictures but I don't have one right now. My brother is moving into town and I will be able to steal his in the future.

One of my goals with the tank when I did the major thinning of Sunset was to get the Sunset to color up better. I am coming to a couple of ideas. One, Sunset needs lower N levels to color up like a lot of red plants. Two it grows too fast to change colores.

I was talking to a costomer at work about his Sunset that I sold him and he said that his is turning bright pink. The only thing I know for sure about his tank is he has way less light on a slightly larger tank than me. 55G with 30W. This is what has lead me to my two ideas.

Yesterday when I did my water change I trimmed it down pretty short to see if as it grows it will color up. If it doesn't then I will start lowering my N levels to see if that helps.

Any thoughts on this?



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Wings,

Sorry, I have no idea on how to turn the Sunset to pink, not my realm of expertise (what is my realm anyway?). But I am interested on finding out what you were doing with a timer hooked up to a timer? Doesn't that always throw off the second in line. Believe me, when I thought about wiring up the 125 I came to similar constructs, but of course they didn't hold merit.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Doesn't that always throw off the second in line.

Thus the problem I was having. I didn't quite think things through. Good thing I didn't go out and buy a new timmer!

My new hook up is: Plug to strip, On the strip is two timers. One runs the CO2 and a non planted tank. The second runs the 40G with the lighting break.



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Well I am going a little expermental with my lighing. No I am not starting strait out with the 10WPG. That would be a bit nuts! I did add the second ficture to my tank though. I cut the lighting back to about 10 hours a day with the second light on for an hour in the after noon.

Goal is to try and get the Magenta Rotalla to take off and more pink in the hygro. I will keep you up dated. First signs of things going really bad I am going to pull the plug.



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Wings,

It is worth a try. And I think with 1 hour only and reducing overall lighting period not much damage should be done.

On the other hand, because the change is not too much, bad things may happen so slow that it will take a while to recognize a noticable difference, so keep you keen eyes open.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

keep you keen eyes open.

I look at my tank more than anything else except my wife. Though I do tend to look at my tank first when I come home........I mean its right there when I walk in the door...

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

I look at my tank more than anything else except my wife

Glad your wife gets more looks, than the tank. Even though your tank is very nice to look at.

Cheers
TW

Thanks TW! She is a great woman.

I have found a problem with having two fixtures on my tank. I can't do anything in it without taking one of the lights off! The second fixture is a 4x 65W but I would have to get the square pin to strait pin conectors for it so I could change out some of the bulbs. Will have to check into that today at work.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

I ran out of CO2 tonight. I started running it around college spring break which is in March. That put me at 6 months of run time on a 5Lb tank. If I can fill it up for around 10 bucks then I will be a happy guy. Tomorrows quest is to find a place in Kzoo to fill me up.

So far running the second light hasn't showed much change for the good or the bad. Hopefuly this week I will get the strait pin to square pin addapters so I can run only one light and actualy get into my tank without messing with a light.

Other news on the Homefront:
Oscars are at their new home which leaves me with an empty 29G because I moved the Green Sunfish back to his 55G below the 40G. The game plan is to have the wife take over the 29G for fish while I use it as a plant grow out tank. I plan on using a Life-glo 2 on it.

Has anyone used this bulb?

Today marked my first day of my last semester of classes. It was a great day until my instructors told me my class load is going to be "extremely intense". If this is going to be the case then I will see you fokes in December. Just a warning.

Doug

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Hey Wings

Have I learned a new thing tonight? I don't remember seeing your name before. Hi Doug

Cheers
TW

Now we learn more and more about Wings,

First we learned that he likes to wear a handkerchief on his head, and now we get his name

Wings, or Doug, I have never used that light, sorry I can't help you with that. But for the tank with temporary no CO2 I would reduce the light as well until you have a new bottle hooked up.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

No worries about the lighting my friends. It ran out late last night in the last bit of the light cycle and I have a new one hooked up before the lights are on this morning.

Bottle cost: $12 and some change. Not too bad for 6 months of use.

Below is a link to the Glo light bulbs if anyone is interested. I will either try a Life or a Flora in the 29G.
Glo lights

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Well the cost of the CO2 bottle just went from 12 bucks to very expencive. Here is the very stupid and sad scoop:

I hooked up the bottle and opened the needle valve. Somewhere I read that it was good to start a new bottle with it open. Needless to say I was planning on running up stairs for a minute to only forget that the valve was open when the timer kicked on. It ran full speed ahead for about 30 minutes. My first step was to turn the thing off. Once I did that I found my fish half floating and spinning circles. Next came a huge water change. I don't know for sure how much because I was pulling water out and filling at the same time. About half way through this I remembered I had an empty tank set up. I pulled out everyone I could find. All have been a counted for except one of the rasboras. Lost my SAE and 2 of 6 Rasboras. The kribs are still kicking but don't look great.

After the water change I found one Oto still in the tank swimming around so I figured anyone who looked good in the 29G was going to go back to the 40G because the 29G doesn't have a heater hooked up right now. Everything got a large dose of prime in the process of things.

While I was in the process I found 2 or 3 CRS still alive swimming around in the tank. Which is the only good news I have to share with you about the events that played out because I was an idiot.

Right now there is 1 rasbora and 2 kribs in the 29G. Each tank has an air stone running it it.

Now that I have told the story I am going to go beat my head aganst something hard for a while....

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Man really sorry to hear that. I hope most of them pull through. If you in this hobby long enough things like that are gonna happen, especially with a busy schedule.

I had a mishap recently, but it didn't affect my fish. I opened the cylinder and I didn't have the regulator knob opened and I thing I busted the low pressure gauge cause it always sits all the way to the right.


My Scapes

Sorry to hear of the mishap Wings. It happens though, that's all I can really say. Wish it didn't, but sometimes we make mistakes At least you didn't ruin any of your equipment, like when I waiting a month to clean out my filter system from the old 46 gallon

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Back in the saddle!

Hi Wings

Sorry for your loss of SAE & 2 rasboras. Hopefully everyone else will recover. I once came back to my tank to find it running far to fast & everyone at the top gasping & looking very poorly. I turned C02 off & added 2 airstones & left them running overnight. Everyone recovered, so I hope you will find the same.



Cheers
TW

Thanks for all your good wishes. I was a bit of a mess this afternoon when everything went down. So far all fish seem to be doing fine. The kribs are getting back on track but I don't think they like the cooler temp of room temp water. I will have to do some digging around to find them a heater. While they are in another tank I will add some of the larger cherry shrimp from the 2G hex and let them find some hidding spots before I put the kribs back in the 40G. I would really like to get the CRS established in this tank because they are super cool. Later this week I will probably add some more rasboras to up my school around 8-10.

Is it a good idea to have the needle vale all the way open when adding the new bottle?



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

I usually never change my low pressure gauge and needle valve position when I change a bottle. I think the only one that for sure blows it our is if the needle valve is all the way closed.

Sorry Wings, what a bummer.

Forgive me for maybe not reading the details, but I seem to not have found the answers to a few questions that bug me about this:

- How long did you have the bottle open for?
- Why are the fish not back in the tank by now?
- Shouldn't a large water change have been enough to reset the tank?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

- How long did you have the bottle open for?
- Why are the fish not back in the tank by now?
- Shouldn't a large water change have been enough to reset the tank?

~ It was open for about 30 minutes.
~ Most of the fish are back in the 40G. If they looked good in the 29G they went back to the 40G. If they didn't look good I kept them in the 29G because it would be much easier to find them if they did pass.
~ The large water change did reset the tank enough that the one Oto that I didn't pull out was fine still in the tank.

This morning I am going to add 3-4 adult CRS from the 2G hex to the 40G. I will give them a few days to get used to the tank before I add the kribs back in. This should also help the young CRS in the 2G grow up.

Thanks for helping me out with the needle valve question LF.



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Well on my quest for CRS from the 2G hex I could only come up with 2 adults. I pulled out both chunks of DW and the large rock but I still could only find 2 adults and a couple that were not quite large enough for them to be safe in the 40G.

With this I should have about 4 CRS and maybe 1 Amono in the 40G. If we still have a few Amanos at work and the boss will give me a good price on them I might pick some up.

Right now I am tryin to take advatage of the Kribs being out of this tank. Maybe I will leave them in the 29G so I can pack the shrimp in the 40G.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

It was open for about 30 minutes

Interesting to read that 30 min will do so much damage. I would have assumed that the vast majority of the CO2 will not be absorbed by the water and instead degas.

Kribs: Who else is in the 29?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Kribs: Who else is in the 29?

My last dwarf neon rainbow. I might take her into my store or add her to one of my 55's.

Interesting to read that 30 min will do so much damage.

Interesting if it didn't happen to you! Actually I was kind of surprized myself as the water above the Glass Diffuser was frothing. I figered over 90% of it was getting out of the water but maybe that 10% was still a very high amount of CO2 in the water or the drop in PH was too much for them.

I should have saved out a sample of water to do a PH test on but I was a little worried about losing every fish in the tank.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

I should have saved out a sample of water to do a PH test on but I was a little worried about losing every fish in the tank.

That was my first thought when I read about your desaster, but then I realized that this would have taken quite some cold heart to say "well, the fish are dying right now, but I need a water sample first anyway".

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

this would have taken quite some cold heart to say "well, the fish are dying right now, but I need a water sample first anyway".

I think we sit in the same boat on this one. Nether of us have that cold of a heart. In fact it didn't ever cross my mind until after words.

I think the wife would have killed me if I would have killed off everything in the tank. The phrase would have been "That's not in the budget!" This is one of our clasic full time student/young married couple quotes. Not that we are doing terible but we don't want to screw up either.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Well I just wanted to give you fokes a little update on my tank.

Since the CO2 things have been going well for the fish. I didn't have any extra fish losses after the first 3.

Today was the first day that I have been around to watch the tank when the 2nd set up lights came on. This set of lights puts me at 260W's and 6.5WPG. It was quite interesting to see my plants start bubbling like crazy. I watched the tank for a few minutes before the lights came on and there werent any bubbles. I think they really go nuts photosynthesizing with the extra light.

Also since the CO2 issue I have had the Kribs in the 29G. I now see 3 CRS and my one Amano quite often.

My Otos today have been extra crazy too. I have never seen them so active. Everyone of them is out and about eating on just about every plant in the tank. I wonder if it has anything to do with our weird wet weather we are having.

Thats it for now.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Wow, sorry to hear about your disaster, wings. That's a real bummer. If it makes you feel any better, I'll tell you a story about my manager(I hope he doesn't read this). So in the store we have a 2000(that's 3 zeros) gallon freshwater planted setup with all sorts of little community fish and the star centerpeice(s): 4 Altum angels. Normally these don't do well in captivity, but they seemed to be making an exception in such a large tank, as we'd had them for about 8 months. We also had a breeding pair of albino BN plecos, shrmps, corys, etc etc. So.... water change day. 12pm: gravel vacuum(yes, large syphon). 2pm: continued draining main tank by syphon and total emptying of sump. At about 5pm a little less than half the tank volume is drained, start filling the main tank, add some dechlor. 8pm: start filling the sump and turn on pump in the basement. 9pm: close shop. 10am next day: clam chowder. He forgot to stop filling the sump and eventually the chlorine took out the fish and biofilter killing nearly everything in the tank. The survivors were mainly super sturdy barbs of some type. I forget which. Anyways, that should make you feel a bit better.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Wow your store must be huge! Does it have a website? Any pictures of this jumbo tank?

I think there are always stories like that with LFS's. We have Water Change systems at our store for all the fresh water fish which flood sometimes. More often the problem is the coral tanks. They have fill pipes for filtered fresh water and salt water to top them off or refill after a water change. It is pretty easy to turn on the water and go help a costomer and then another and another. The next thing you know you have water all over the store! Its a lot of fun to say the least!

We had some Altum Angles when I first started last year. They didn't do well. I have a feeling someone didn't aclimate them right. Very neat fish though.

Something else I forgot to add is that I bought some Bacopa C. to start a jungle of it in my tank. I like this plant because it has farly small leaves and doesn't grow out of the tank in a day or two.



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Nope, no website and no pics of the big tank. We were going to start a website, but the owner didn't want to pay anybody to work on it(but didn't tell us that), yet told us to do so anyways, we put a whole bunch of time into it, and never got paid for it, so we stopped building the web site. I have pics of a few other things as I was starting to take pics for the site, but never got to that part of the store. At this point it's not worth taking pics for you, because there isn't anything back in the tank yet and it looks like doody. I'm sure someone has taken pics of it, but not that I know of. You'll just have to come visit us.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

That was quite some story Matty,

And I thought draining my tank takes long

And I don't like it when people ask you to do something and then don't want to pay up

Or was that during work hours? In that case I would have done it. But I guess that there is a good chance he would have been too cheap to rent space on a server for the site anyway

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

It is always too bad when the emploies are willing to make the store better but the bosses aren't game for it. It seems that most things cost money the bosses don't want to fork out for one reason or another. Like I tell most of the costomers "I am just a peon, I don't make the decisions".



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Another quick tank update:

Shrimp: Last night I counted 1 Amano and 4 CRS. One CRS was amazingly dark red compared to the to others.

Plants: I am seeing that my crypt is doing some wierd stuff. Its color has went from a dark brownish red to a tanish color. It has some wierd issues with its leaves too. They look like they have started to melt and look like a 3 g fork. I will draw some pictures some time this weekend. My guess is that it is missing something in terms of ferts or the extremly high CO2 issue messed with it. Most of my plants don't seem like they are growing like they used to.

Any ideas?

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Or was that during work hours?

Well when I was taking pics it was after hours, but I included it on the time sheet, but all the work on the site was done at home. I easily spent a full day's work on it, and didn't get paid for it. And yes he is too stingy to pay for a server. We were using one of those free ones just to start out with, see how it worked out.

It is always too bad when the emploies are willing to make the store better but the bosses aren't game for it. It seems that most things cost money the bosses don't want to fork out for one reason or another.

This is the only thing I hate about our store. IMO it will never become any more than it is, even though it has a solid customer base(been open for 17yrs) and I'm sure it pulls in some serious dough. Almost all ideas are shot down, no matter how brilliant they are, even if they are low cost, high profit, and don't take up much space. About 10 yrs ago, the store was all about changing and growing, but the owner changed his business plan I guess. Other than that, it's a great place to buy healthy fish and plants.

About your plants...I'd give them a while to settle back in. Plants don't respond well to rapid change either.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Just a quick update before I have to bust my butt with homework!

My plants seem to be back growing well after the CO2 issue from a while back. On Friday I hooked up with Bob and he gave me some Rotala so I wanted to say thanks to him. I looks really nice in my tank. So far it seems to be growing well and even pearled last night.

I am going to try and steal a cammera this week to get some much needed pictures of the tank. Hopefully I will have some time.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

That is very nice of Bob, do you guys live in the same town? What kind of Rotala did he give to you, Indica? I think Indica is also called Rotundifolia, right?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Yeah we live in the same town. I am not sure the type of Rotala because I haven't taken the time to look it up. Too many other things to do.

It gets pink tops though!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Here are some pictures of my tank!

Attached Image:

Most natural color

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Straite on shot. This gives you the best view of the layout.

Attached Image:

Strait on

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Dwarf Lilly and Rotala from Bob. The Rotala has some nice red to it. You can also see some of the Sunset is turning pink.

Attached Image:

Red

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Two of the three or four CRS. They often hang out in this spot.

Attached Image:

Cherry Red Shrimp

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Being it has been about a year since this tank has started I though I would give a little over veiw of the changes as inspired by LF. (Oct, 25)

Attached Image:

Starting out

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

This is still before I went to pressurized CO2 and a canister filter. The pictures date is from December '05.

Attached Image:

Look at that "THING"!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

This is from the end of Jan. '06.


Attached Image:

First days of the rainbows

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Mid March. You can see my new toys in this tank!

Attached Image:

Can we say growth!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

The end of march.

Attached Image:

Even more growth!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Things were getting a little out of hand! (April,10)

Attached Image:

Over growth!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

For some reason the tank is really dark... oh wait! The plants are growing across the top.

Attached Image:

I think I was busy then...

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

This is after I got married and moved and such... The tank was a bit over grown but I kind of liked it in this stage.

Attached Image:

Post Wedding Day

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

The Sunset hygro was a little over kill. (Mid Aug.)

Attached Image:

Hygro Monster

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Well I guess that is all I have for now. Let me know what you all think. I should really get going on my water changes then try and get some homework done tonight so I can take I can take it a bit easier tomorrow.

Thanks for all your help in the past year or so!

Edit: I am only doing a trial premium membership. I don't know what happens to the pictures after the 48 hours.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Well congrats on the year .
Definitely a big improvement from the first pics when the "thing" was in the corner.

Why did you stop in mid "August". Is there a current pic.
Anyway based on the last pic it looks like the tank has more shape overall, but IMO what you need to work on are leaf shapes. Most of plants look to be big leaf plants and you need more constrast to show off the plants better.
I might have missed this, but why is the moss gone or is it there and playing a smaller role? You definitely need some fine-leafed plants. Even green cabomba would probably help if you could get it to stay in a tight group. somewhere in the left-mid back. Most LFS always have some.

Otherwise plants look nice and healthy and I don't see any protists from this distance anyway.



My Scapes

Tetra,

Sorry about the confusion. The first three picturs on this page are from last night before the water change. Durning the water change I did a bit of triming and thining.

Here is a simi-close up of the left side this morning. This should show you a little more of what is going on for leaf sizes. I still havent figured out how to take good full tank shots yet. It probably doesn't help that I am using a different camera every time.

Attached Image:

Thined crypt

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

That's what happens when you show things out of order. hey, that may actually not be such a bad idea, I could re-arrange my images so that the pretties ones show last. I will have to think about that.

Anyway, does that mean you have now a new light fixture from Current? How is that one working out for you?

And yes, big improvements ever since the "Thing" had been shown for the first time

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club